GIVE ME YOUR TIRED, YOUR POOR...

Dr. Richard J. Henderson February 8, 2004

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Isaiah 6: 1-8
Luke 5:1-11

Introduction

After three years of study, a young man finishes his seminary studies. He decides to go on and pursue a PhD in the graduate school. When he finishes with that program, he applies to churches to find a job. There is a job as pastor of a church which he really wants, but after his interview he discovers they have not chosen him - something about not being that good of a preacher. He is deeply disappointed. Finally this young man finds a position as pastor of a small church in Montgomery Ala. He is not well known and apparently not an exceptional pastor or person, but then one night his phone rings at home. It is a friend of his, named Rosa Parks; she is calling from the city jail because she has been arrested for not giving up her seat on a bus to a white man.

This young man with Rosa Parks, and others begin a bus boycott in the city of Montgomery. A new era begins in America and this young preacher is leading it. In a single phone call he finds the mission for which he has been called.

*          *          *

A middle-aged woman has been active in her church for several years. She has taught Sunday school almost from the time she joined, she has headed the vacation Bible school program, and for the last two years she has been the junior high youth leader. But she's still not sure what her calling is, or if she has one.

One evening she gets a call from the nominating committee of her church asking her to serve as an elder. She asks for some time to think it over. She says yes, and joins the Evangelism Committee

Right away she has some ideas for how to improve what the committee does. The next year she chairs the committee, and puts in place a wonderful process to welcome, receive, and assimilate new members in the church. She thinks back to how she hesitated when she was called, but now realizes that she has found her calling.

I

God calls ordinary people. Look at our scriptures today. Peter is cleaning his nets after fishing unsuccessfully all night. Jesus comes and asks to borrow his boat so he can speak to a throng of people who are following him to hear his good news. Peter has never seen the man before, but he says okay.

When Jesus is finished and the crowds begin to break up, Jesus tells Peter to go fishing out deep, and this time throw his nets on the other side of the boat.

Peter says, "We've been fishing all night with no success," but nevertheless he goes out and throws his net on the other side of the boat. Now they catch so many fish that Peter has to call for the other boat to come and carry some of the fish. Finally both boats are so full that they almost sink.

These disciples whom Jesus calls - Peter, Andrew, James, and John - are all fishermen. Jesus calls other disciples too - Matthew, the tax collector (tax collectors were despised and ostracized, because they were clearly sinners and everybody knew it).

One of the most famous women who followed Jesus was Mary Magdalene - who was, at least, a woman with a very bad reputation.

II

Jesus' disciples weren't from the elite of his society; they weren't the most educated or best trained, or from the top of society. Most of them were not wealthy - although Matthew may have made himself wealthy at other people's expense! To say that Jesus' disciples were ordinary people might well have been flattery - because so many of them were disliked, looked down on, and known to be bad people. Yet Jesus called them.

Sheila and I went to see the film 21 Grams recently. There was talk that it may be nominated for an Academy Award. It is a rough film, definitely not light escapist entertainment and definitely not for children. In it one of the characters, an ex-con played by Benicio Del Toro - who rightly got an academy award nomination for his performance - is a born-again Christian. Somewhere he has heard the good news of Jesus and given his life to him.

This ex-con spends much of his time counseling young people who are heading in the same direction he went with his life. He is firm and direct in talking with them about life and about Jesus. He is not a character you warm up to right away. If you saw him in a dark alley you would be afraid. This character struck me as a good representative of the people Jesus called. They weren't the best and the brightest. They were ordinary people and some of them had real rough edges!

III

Jesus calling his disciples reminds me of the beginnings of the United States. The people who came here were not the elite, not the smartest, not the highest levels of society. Actually many were people who had been let out of jail, and people who came to a new country so they could find freedom of religion.

They were immigrants wanting to make a new start in life, and people looking a new home. Above all, I suppose, they were people willing to risk - people who would take a chance on a better life.

After France gave the Statue of Liberty to us, Emma Lazarus placed an inscription on it from a poem. That inscription reflects the character of the people coming to America. The inscription says:

"Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me.
I lift my lamp beside the golden door."

These same words could have been written about the people Jesus gathered as his disciples.

IV

The people Jesus called weren't qualified, and they knew it. Look at Peter in the passage we read today. When he sees who Jesus is, he falls to his knees and shouts "Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!" Peter saw from what Jesus did that he was in the presence of God, and he was afraid.

Not only did he feel unworthy to serve Jesus, he was afraid to have Jesus near him. The disciples knew they were ordinary people and that Jesus needed more than the likes of them.

They weren't trained leaders or skilled speakers; they had no experience inspiring or leading people. But Jesus called them anyway. I think of the statement of faith we used last week, which said, "We are not called to be perfect, we are called to be faithful."

I know a man - probably the best person to be an elder I know of - who every time he was contacted about serving in that way said, "No, I am not worthy to be an elder." No matter how many times people called or how long they tried to convince him otherwise, he always said no. He never became an elder. Perhaps he didn't understand that none of us is worthy. None of us deserves to be called to serve, but Jesus makes disciples out of us. It's not so much what Jesus starts with that counts, as what he ends with.

Conclusion

God calls you and me. We don't have to be perfect, we don't have to be outstanding, we only need to trust enough to follow where Jesus leads us. Like Peter, like Isaiah, like Mary Magdalene, we don't have to be the best, we have to be willing to let go, and go with God. God knows what we have in us better than we do. God knows what we can be and do if we only trust. God calls us in great and small ways to serve him in this world. What is God's call to you?

Amen.

©Richard J. Henderson 2004