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Have this mind among yourselves which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though
he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to
be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being born
in the likeness of men. And being found in human form he humbled himself
and became obedient unto death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has
highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name which is above every name,
that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth
and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.
Philippians 2:5-11
Imagine the multitudes of this world as fish swimming in a sea where all
the food is dropped in from above. Hence the big fish, the powerful influential
fish, swim up near the top and grab the food as soon as its dropped in
forcing the little fish, thee weak and old fish, to stay down near the
bottom and grab whatever crumbs drop through.
We're going fishing for the Kingdom of God and we take with us a net which
is very strong and easy to handle and made in such a way that it drops
to a depth no greater than five feet our net specializes in catching the
big fish. We find from experience that big fish attract big fish. If you
get a few really big fish into your net all kinds of moderately big fish
will join them.
But when Jesus went fishing he took a net which extended to the bottom
of the sea. Jesus didn't just scoop the big fish off the top, he went
all the way down to where the little fish, the sick fish, the weak fish,
and the deformed fish are. He took special pains to reach them. Of course,
any big fish that wanted to join these rejects in the net were welcome.
Five foot surface fishing is better known as opportunism. It's been practiced
in Christendom since it's earliest days. It's more sanitary, more comfortable,
far more efficient, and far less dangerous than depth fishing. Done with
skill, it results in rapid growth and a certain measure of earthly stability.
But the only fishing which can be honestly called fishing in the Kingdom
of God, is depth fishing. The results depth fishing brings, of course,
are not quite so pleasant or impressive...at least for those, who find,
little fish, weak fish, ugly fish, crazy fish, repulsive.
The fishing chapter of Luke 5 proceeds:
After this he went out, and saw a tax collector, named Levi, sitting at
the tax office; and he said to him, "Follow me." And he left
everything, and rose and followed him. And Levi made, him a great feast
in his house; and there was a large company of tax collectors and others
sitting at table with them. And the Pharisees and their scribes murmured
against his disciples, saying, "Why do you eat and drink with tax
collectors and sinners?" And Jesus answered them, "Those who
are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick; I have not
come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance."
Luke 5:27-32
To understand what's going on we need to realize who these tax collectors
were. They were not just Mafia types --- Mafia types have been glorified
in our society --- these tax collectors were stooges of the Roman government
getting rich off other men's sweat. It would be as if the Soviet Union
conquered America and appointed Americans in every neighborhood to collect
thirty percent of our income or send us off to jail. These tax collectors
would hang around with each other because no one else would have anything
to do with them. They were hated .... and they didn't exactly like themselves.
Tax collectors were on the bottom of the sea right along with the drunks,
the prostitutes, the lepers and the demon possessed. In fact, to any Jew
who had any self-respect at all, these tax collectors were below the dregs
of society.
If you wanted to get something going in Israel these were the last people
you would associate with. You wouldn't want to be seen with them, much
less eat with them.
So where does Jesus go to dinner? To the house of Levi the tax collector.
The most stupid thing you could do if you hope to win over Israel with
your message. But what if your message is about a God who forgives sinners?
You don't just holler down at these sinners from the top of the pit and
tell them to repent. You get down in the pit with them and call them to
repentance. You eat with them. You do what modern doctors, social workers,
lawyers, preachers and church people rarely do, you eliminate the line
between the client and the professional.
...who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with
God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant,
being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form he humbled
himself and became obedient unto death, even death on a cross. Therefore
God has highly exalted him...
Philippians 2:6-9
...and when God exalted his Son he pulled up this net with all sinners
Jesus had found and raised them into a new life. The physician had come
down to them and now they are being healed. But they couldn't have been
healed if the physician hadn't come all the way down to the bottom where
they were. Where would we be if he hadn't come down to us?
Perhaps we’re convinced that we have one of the deepest nets in
town. We look at ourselves and take considerable comfort from the fact
that we aren't exactly the cream of society. But if we will take the trouble
to measure our net today we might be shocked to discover that it drops
barely five feet. We are in fact rather squeamish. There are more people
than we would like to admit whom we are passing by without even seeing
because they are simply too repulsive, too unsettling, too ungrateful,
too much pain to waste our time with when there are so many bigger, fatter,
more interesting fish to catch.
And the Pharisees and their, scribes, murmured Against his disciple, saying,
"Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?"
And Jesus answered them, "Those who are well have no need of a physician,
but those who are sick.
I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance."
John 5:30-32
Nobody can call sinners to repentance until he or she learns to eat with
sinners. How do we learn to eat with sinners?
1. When we catch ourselves regarding one person as more important than
another, to repent of this by deliberately drawing near and paying honor
in our heart to the one we've been valuing least.
"Wait a minute!" you say. "Didn't Jesus choose twelve disciples
out of many? And didn't he choose three out of the twelve to witness his
transfiguration? Weren't they favored?"
Jesus never chose on the basis of opportunism (who can do the most for
my image?). " Jesus prayed all night before he chose the twelve,
and one of those chosen by divine guidance was a devil. There was no opportunism
in it. Nor was anybody ever made to feel rejected by Jesus ... not even
Judas. If you want to talk about Jesus favoring anybody, Jesus favored
the sinners --- the ones at the mud-bottom of the sea.
2. Another, discipline which will help us to learn to eat with sinners
is this: When we catch ourselves craving attention from certain people
we can always be sure that there are certain other people near by who
need our attention, who are being neglected in the process. We need to
repent of our vanity by getting on with the ones who need us.
When a ruler of the Jews came to Jesus by night this was a tremendous
opportunity for Jesus to Make a dent in the power structure of Jerusalem.
Yet not for an instant does Jesus let himself be, carried away by this
man's importance in Israel. Jesus dismissed Nicodemus with some hard words
because Nicodemus had not yet come to the point of being needy. But when
a Samaritan women comes to the well who has nothing to offer Jesus but
a drink of water and her own thirsting heart, Jesus stops the universe
to give her his full attention. He treats her with far greater honor than
he showed to the man who could have given him Jerusalem on a platter.
When Nicodemus comes to us we're inclined to fall all over him trying
to please and impress. And when the woman at the well shows up, especially
if she's lost her bloom, we don't even see her. God help us to learn from
Jesus how to be little fish so we can eat and drink with the little fish.
3. A final discipline that helps us to get down to the bottom with our
net: When we catch ourselves thinking of anybody as hopeless, to repent
and start praying for them until our vision changes. We are to be wise
as serpents ... discerning...nor are we to cast our pearls before swine.
But we are never to assume to ourselves the prerogative which belongs
only to God. We are not to judge, to condemn, to give up on someone in
our hearts.
"But I say to you that every one who is angry with his brother shall
be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother shall be liable to
the council, and whoever says, 'You fool!' shall be liable to the hell
of fire. So if you are offering your gift at the altar, and there remember
that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before
the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother, and then come and
offer your gift. Make friends quickly with your accuser, while you are
going with him to court, lest your accuser hand you over to the judge,
and the judge to the guard, and you be put in prison; truly, I say to
you, you will never get out till you have paid the last penny."
Matthew 5:22-26
If we're going to be part of the fishing of the Kingdom of God, the net
has to go to the bottom and we along with it.
"...those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who
are sick."
To get down to the sick, the sinners, the repulsive ones has its price.
So much dirt may rub off on us from these fish down in the mud that the
world we come from may never want us back. These tax collectors and sinners
might turn out to be ungrateful and mean. Only one out of ten or one out
of one hundred might repent. But what choice do we have? Has our Master
not told us to,
"Go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.... to the poor and
the maimed
and the blind and the lame ... to the sick, the demon tormented, the despised
"
and call them to repentance.
And has his Spirit not promised us that as we do we shall see healings
such as we have never seen? We shall see the river of salvation flowing
through their lives with unspeakable power. We shall see women and men
raised out of the depths and made sons and daughters of the living God....
if only we are willing to follow Jesus all the way down.
