Third Sunday after the Epiphany

By Bruce Epperly

January 25, 2015

Today’s scriptures invite us to let go of the familiar and live in the ever-flowing stream of life.  We may have to let go of our job security, theological certainty, or way of life, or at least our attachment to these as the final ends of our lives.  But, God’s holy adventure provides us with possibilities and encounters that are more than we can ask or imagine.

It’s a whale of a story!  Swallowed by a great fish and then spat up in your enemy’s capital city!  Who would want to trade places with Jonah!  Suddenly finding yourself – like the protagonist of the 1980’s television show “Quantum Leap” – in the midst of an ISIS camp or an al Qaeda cell group. Job isn’t sure what to do or say, except now to do as he was initially told and preach hell-fire and brimstone to the persecutors of his people.  Jonah didn’t even want to do that.  They weren’t worth the warning, and what if they actually heard Jonah’s message, repented, and saved their skin.

Jonah’s problem was theological as well as ethical and evangelistic.  He fled from God precisely because God changed the theological rules of the game.  Sure God was global but really only loved the children of Israel.  Now, God says “Have pity on Nineveh,” preach repentance to the infidel, reach out to the immoral pagans.  He counters God’s action, stating “This isn’t the God I was taught about in temple school and I can’t follow such a radical message.”  Jonah probably believes that his flight is a sign of fidelity to his people’s traditions but he soon finds out how mistaken he was.  God makes him turn around and go straight to Nineveh and, to his chagrin, the people repent and God changes God’s mind.  Jonah is really steamed now, not just at the Ninevites’ ability to change, but at a God who inspires a changed heart and a new spirit.

The scope of salvation can be unsettling and challenge our theological viewpoints, and if we go further into the text of Jonah, we discover that God’s care goes beyond human enemies to include cattle and other beasts.  The love of God is scandalous its surprising and global hospitality; it even embraces the non-human world.

God’s good news is all about change.  That’s the heart of Mark 1:14-20. Fresh from his spiritual retreat, Jesus begins his public ministry, calling his listeners to hear God’s good news, turn around and change their paths, and become part of a new realm of Shalom, love and justice. Jesus encounters a number of fishermen in his peregrinations.  My reading of the story is that Jesus likely spent time with Peter, Andrew, and the Zebedee boys – in conversation, helping them mend their nets, and sharing his sense of God’s realm and his role in it.  At the right time, he asks for a decision. “Will you follow me into the realm of uncertainty, with no guarantee of success, or will you settle for familiarity and security?  There are risks in following me, but the promise is that you will have many adventures and discover more about yourself and God than you could ever imagine?”  (For more on Mark’s Gospel, see Bruce Epperly, Mark’s Holy Adventure: Preaching Mark’s Gospel in Year B)

Paul’s passage will strike contemporary readers as curious and perhaps offensive and irrelevant.  Yet, there is wisdom beneath his comments about marriage, economics, and emotions.  Paul is saying that we live in a world of flux.  Everything is changing, and we should not hold onto the past or present as if it is permanent.  Life is, as Alfred North Whitehead asserts, a process of perpetual perishing.  Relationships change, and shouldn’t be frozen in time.  Our emotional lives are like a river, worthy of observation and care, yet constantly on the move.  Economics and material things pale in comparison to the soul.  Just as Jesus called the disciples out of their comfort zone, Paul is telling his listeners that change is inevitable and time is too short to fixate on any particular life situation.  In holding on to a particular situation, we may miss God’s present calling for us in this wild and precious, impermanent moment.

Bruce Epperly is Pastor and Teacher at South Congregational Church, United Church of Christ,

Centerville, MA, on Cape Cod.  He also serves as a professor in the D.Min. program at Wesley Theological Seminary. He is the author of 34 books, including Process Theology: Embracing Adventure with God and Finding God in Suffering: A Journey with Job.He may be reached for conversation and engagements at drbruceepperly@aol.com.