Unfolding Joy: The Joy of Following

Mark 1:14-20

Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God, and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.”

As Jesus passed along the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the lake — for they were fishermen. And Jesus said to them, “Follow me and I will make you fish for people.” And immediately they left their nets and followed him.

As he went a little farther, he saw James son of Zebedee and his brother John, who were in their boat mending the nets. Immediately he called them; and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men, and followed him.

Personality Typing and Quizzes

• Strengths Finders
• Myers Briggs
• Hartman Color Code
• The Enneagram

Best discovered in community. One number blossoms into a fuller awareness of self. 

“I am called to a few things, not all the things.”

Discernment

• Focus questions
• Internal and external call

Mark’s gospel lacks details. Bring your own!

JOHN THE BAPTIZER – IN JAIL

• The movement in fluid
• Leadership is shifting
• Baptism, repentance, the kingdom of God

JESUS, UNFIT TO TIE HIS SANDALS

• Not a cult of personality
• We can’t pin him down
• And he doesn’t pin you down either

ENNEAGRAM – PERSONALITY TYPING

1. Reform
2. Help
3. Achieve
4. Stand out
5. Observe
6. Commit
7. Celebrate
8. Challenge
9. Peace make 

Jesus isn’t one thing. He doesn’t go looking for one thing in followers, either. He is building beloved community. 

SIMON, THE FISHERMAN

• Honest
• Open 
• Temperamental
• Impulsive
• Good intentioned

PETER, THE ROCK

• Solid
• Discerning
• Focused
• Impactful

It’s not a binary. Jesus does not change Simon into someone else. He sees more of who he has been the whole time.

Jesus doesn’t hold auditions for discipleship in the temple. He shows up where real people are at work, in their element. Invites them to join a collective:

• Fishermen
• Tax collectors
• Sex workers
• Widows
• Tradesmen
• Zealots

Bethlehem:
“Sharing in the work of God’s vision for a healed world.”

The disciples have the skills to participate and the prerequisites to follow. And so do we. 

If God had in mind only the fancy or professional or esteemed, creation would have heard a refrain of “excellent” or “perfect”. But rather God’s delight remains, “good” and “very good”. 

Jesus does not wait for folks to decide we’re presentable enough, skilled enough, together enough, knowledgeable enough, or faithful enough to be worthy of the call. 

God is catching us in the act of ordinary, doing the work of the people, practicing the skills we already have. Hear me when I say:

Your knowledge transfers. 
Your faith travels. 
This trust translates. 

Jesus is here to reveal the kingdom of heaven in the midst of our isolation, our independence, our competition, our breaking and fear. 

Jesus is here to reveal the kingdom of heaven so what we have and who we are add up to more than a pile of numbers, so that when we come together we are not forsaking ourselves but finding ourselves, so that real people and real stories become instruments of liberation, repairers of the breach, a movement gathered and sent by the One who makes us One. 

May God meet you in the ordinary labor of this day, and notice the fullness of your life with the delight you’ve been longing for. 

And may your grip relax, holding what has been a little more lightly, opening to what can still be when we move forward together.