“The Faith To Walk Away”

“The Faith To Walk Away”

Text: Luke 5:1-11

© February 4, 2007 by C. Edward Bowen

When someone says “professional sports,” what do you think of? Well, with today being the Super Bowl, quite possibly you’d think of professional football. But there’s also professional baseball, professional hockey, professional basketball, professional tennis, professional bowling, professional wrestling. And there’s even professional fishing.

Maybe you recall that a year or so ago they had a professional fishing tournament right here in Pittsburgh. Fishermen went out in their boats, and at the end of the day they brought in their fish and weighed them, and whoever caught the most won a prize. And it turns out that the prize money is rather impressive. For instance, did you know that last year the top professional fisherman won more than $530,000.[1] I never realized what a big business professional fishing is.

Well, fishing was also a big business back in Jesus’ day. But fishermen like Peter and Andrew and James and John weren’t taking in any half million dollars a year for their work. No, fishing was a big business back in that day because that was the main thing that the people ate. Since most of the land in that region wasn’t terribly suited to growing many kinds of vegetables or fruits, the people’s diets consisted mainly of fish and bread.

And since fishing was such a big business, the government of Caesar and all his officials regulated just about everything having to do with the fishing industry.[2] Caesar and all his officials created a whole bureaucratic system. For instance, in order to be allowed to fish in the Sea of Galilee you had to get a license. But in order to get a license from the government officials, quite often either you had to know someone powerful or else you had to pay a bribe. And then, if you got a license, you were assigned a quota you had to meet. If you got a license, you were required to catch a certain amount of fish every day, and if you didn’t you could run the risk of losing your fishing license.

And the reason for that was because one of the main ways the Romans made money in that region was from taxes. And the more fish you caught, the more money they could get out of you in taxes. Because they would tax you when you sold your fish, they would tax you when you cleaned and processed your fish, they would tax you when you shipped your fish to other towns. If you were a fisherman, it seemed that every time you turned around, there was some Roman tax collector standing there waiting for you to fork over more and more of your money. Even though the fishermen spent their days trying to use their nets to trap fish, the reality was that the fishermen were the ones who were being trapped – trapped by a huge powerful system that was making their lives miserable.

And so when Jesus met up with those fishermen along the Sea of Galilee – when he met up with those fishermen named Peter and Andrew and James and John – Jesus was basically saying to them, “Is this the kind of life that you want? Do you really want to spend the rest of your days trapped in this stinking, rotting system, doing what the Roman emperor and his thugs tell you to do? Or are you ready to toss down your nets and walk away from them and look somewhere else for the life that God wants you to have?”

It’s like a police officer who was walking down a street one night, and he saw a fellow standing under a streetlight, who was stooped over and looking down at the sidewalk. The policeman asked the man what he was doing. And the man said, “I lost my keys, and I can’t find them.” So the policeman offered to help him search. But after several minutes of looking around and not finding them, the policeman said, “Are you sure you lost them here?” The man said, “Well, I think my keys are actually over there,” pointing into the darkness, “but I thought I’d keep looking in this spot because the light is so good here.”[3]

Is that what we sometimes do? Even though our gut tells us that where we are, that the system that we’re a part of, isn’t the place we ought to be, we still have a hard time walking away. We have a hard time speaking up and saying that things aren’t right and that things need to change.

And I think the main reason we hesitate to walk away is that those who are on top, those who hold the power, in one way or another keep telling us, “Hey, maybe things aren’t perfect right now, but just play ball – don’t rock the boat. Just do what we say and everything will be just fine. After all, we’re on your side. We’re looking out for you.” That’s what the Caesars of the world, that’s what the powerful people at the top of the systems, keep telling us.

For example, I think that many of us feel in our gut that there are things that are wrong with our government. Many of us feel in our gut that a lot of our elected officials aren’t out there looking out for our best interests – no, they’re out there looking out for their own interests – trying to see how many free cars they can get or how many free vacations they can get or how big of a pay raise they can get.

But the myth that our political system keeps telling us is, “Hey, if you want to, you can be a winner in this system as well. If you want to, you can have what we have. After all, any little kid in this country can grow up to be president.”

We say that, but is that true? Can any little kid in this country really grow up to be president? While that may technically still be true, the reality is that if you don’t have money, forget about it. For instance, with the presidential campaign just starting to heat up, a report that came out a couple weeks ago said that if you’re serious about running for president, then for this up-coming election, you’re going to need to have at least $500 million to even have a chance.[4] Sure, the people still get to vote. But more and more, what the people are told about the candidates, and what they are led to think, is controlled by the people at the top – by those who have the money and by those who have the power.

And just think about the other systems that we’re a part of, that are broken and failing. There’s the Social Security system. Sure, the checks are flowing freely now, but in another 20 years or so, what’s going to happen? A news report this week said that Americans are saving less than they have at any time in the last 74 years. In other words, the savings rate hasn’t been this low since the Great Depression. What’s going to happen in another 20 years or so when people will want to retire, but the Social Security checks are going to have to keep getting smaller and smaller, and people won’t be able to make up the difference, because there’s nothing in their savings accounts?

Or there’s the health care system in our country that’s broken and failing. Medical costs keep going up and up, and more and more people are finding themselves without any kind of insurance coverage. Or locally there’s the public transportation system that’s broken and failing. The Port Authority is talking about eliminating many of the bus routes. What are people going to do when all of a sudden they find that they aren’t able to get to work anymore? So many of the systems in our society have serious problems with them, but the Caesars, those in power, keep saying, “Ssh! Ssh! Don’t worry! Don’t fret! The system will take care of you.”

Back in Roman times, to take the people’s minds of how corrupt and oppressive the systems were, the emperor would sponsor chariot races and gladiator fights. “Go, be entertained,” the emperor would say. “Have a good time, enjoy yourself. Do anything you want – just don’t question the system.”

And what happened in Roman times is still happening today. As I sat down Tuesday morning to eat my bowl of cereal, I turned on the news program Good Morning, America just as it was coming on at 7:00. And right at the start of the show, they give the top news of the day. But that day they spent the first 9 minutes of the show – and on a national news show like that, 9 minutes is an incredibly huge chunk of time – they spent the first 9 minutes telling about how the race horse Barbero had passed away. Now I don’t want you to think I’m cruel or heartless. I think it was sad that that horse broke its leg and had to be put to sleep like that. But out of all the problems in the world, out of all the problems that we have right here in our own country, was that the most important thing to be making the country aware of?

But unfortunately that’s what many of the so-called news programs do – instead of dealing with subjects that really matter, they talk about what celebrity is dating what other celebrity, or about helpful hints about how to get grape juice stains out of your socks. In other words, they’re saying to us, “Be entertained! Have a good time. Enjoy yourself. Do anything you want – just don’t question the system.”

But as we read the Gospels, what we find is that Jesus questioned the system of his day. He questioned the system and invited other people, like those fishermen, to do the same. And proof of that is found in that fact that the Romans eventually crucified Jesus, they put him to death on a cross. You see, about the only people the Romans crucified were runaway slaves and rebels. In other words, about the only people the Romans crucified were people who refused to stay in their place and who tried to question the system.

Back then, the Romans couldn’t have cared less what Jesus had to say about believing in God and loving people and forgiving people. The Romans didn’t care what kind of god you believed in. They didn’t care what kind of theology you had. But what they did care about is that you toed the line and did exactly as you were told. But Jesus refused to buy in to the Roman way of doing things. He refused to buy into the Roman system of violence and intimidation and corruption. And Jesus had the faith to turn his back on the Roman ways and to walk away from it, so that he could walk toward the life that God wanted him to live. And Jesus invited others – like Peter and Andrew and James and John – to join with him in doing that.

And the reality is that Jesus invites us to do the same as well – to turn our backs on the systems that try to control and shape our lives, and walk away from them, and begin walking in the ways that God wants us to go. For instance, are we willing to walk away from the system of greed that dominates our culture? We live in a society where getting more and more money is the top priority in many people’s lives. We live in a society where many people will do whatever it takes to get ahead at work and to get those promotions and raises, even if they have to lie or engage in shady dealings. Do we have the faith to walk away from that?

Are we willing to walk away from the system of sex that consumes our culture? We live in a society where especially young women and teenagers and even little girls are taught to dress like tramps and act like tramps, because that’s the only way to get ahead. Do we have the faith to walk away from that? It’s like a couple of years ago when a young teenager got fed up with the fact that she couldn’t go to her favorite store and buy a pair of jeans that didn’t leave half of her bottom hanging out. That girl took a stand, wrote some letters, led a protest, and eventually the store decided to make some changes. But that wouldn’t have happened if that girl didn’t have the courage to walk away from that system of sex and say, “This isn’t right. I’m not going to wear this stuff and live like this anymore.”

And the list could go on and on. Do we have the faith to walk away from the system of violence that permeates our world? Do we have the faith to walk away from system of bigotry and discrimination that seems to becoming more and more widespread? Do we have the faith to walk away from all the systems that are out there that are doing what they can to warp us and twist us and trap us into living lives that are not the way that God wants us to be?

It wasn’t easy, but those fishermen tossed down their nets and found that they had the faith to walk away, to walk away from a system, to walk away from a way of life that was not the way of life that God wanted for them. What about us? Because Jesus extends to us that same invitation. Are we ready to toss down our nets and walk away? Are we ready to walk away and follow Jesus toward the life that God wants us to have?