Instead, his purpose is to change the world in such a way that it will cease to be the hostile place it is, so that God’s reign can be established on earth. I would like to suggest then that the purpose of Jesus’ call to discipleship is not to take people out of a hostile world, promising them a better life in God’s heavenly kingdom. The Argentinian New Testament scholar Osvaldo Vena puts it this way: To them, go and “fish for people” would suggest these new disciples (and us too) have the job of helping facilitate the radical chance encounter with Jesus and the effect the Gospel will be on others’ lives. The four disciples mentioned each have their own moment when Jesus invites them into a life of discipleship.įishermen did the hard work of pulling fish from their comfortable environments into a whole new world of existence – not always for the best end (at least form the fish’s perspective). This brings us back to our story in the Gospel today of Jesus calling the first disciples. The pandemic has changed our lives, and it is an opportunity to pause and consider the implications on our lives as well as our faithful response. The current pandemic is an extended Kairos. You know you are in a Kairos moment because life ultimately will not be the same after the moment is over. In the life of a family, Kairos moments include weddings, the arrival of a new baby, and the death of loved ones. We are very familiar with Kairos moments, even though we may not have a word to articulate them. It marks the time to start public ministry and make the Gospel known to the world. If Jesus’ contemporaries missed the Kairos of harvest, it could have been catastrophic for the family or village.įor Jesus, John’s arrest is one of those special moments. In the moment we are called to act or we miss the opportunity or special occasion. The very point in time when something is happening or has to happen. In Jesus’ agrarian culture, a regular use of the word Kairos would refer to the moment of harvest.

The other word used for time is “ Kairos.” The word Kairos is reserved for very special moments in time. Think of the days and weeks on a calendar, moving in one direction. This is the word used for linear time, like today, tomorrow, next month, or next year. The first word for time is “Chronos” as in chronological time. In the original Greek of the New Testament, there are two different words. In English we use the word for time to mean several aspects of time. Just a couple verses, but a great depth of content in today’s reading. Author: Pastor Mike Gutzler (for sermon on 1/24/21)