“My calling used to be football,” says JJ Watt in a TV ad. “Knocking people down was my job. But now that I’m older and wiser, my call is to lift people up.” We then see him providing sports equipment to eager kids.
I’m surprised that the language of call has moved into primetime sports. The biblical roots of call thread through the Hebrew testament long before Jesus called his first disciples. From Adam and Eve in the garden, God calls Moses, Esther, Gideon, Jeremiah and Ruth, to name just a few. And each had a call that shifted over time.
In our day, call got squeezed down into “full-time Christian service” and that generally meant a call to church ministry. Not the wide-open wonder that Jesus had in mind for Simon Peter and his fishing partners.* I think it’s also what Jesus has In mind for us.
“Push out into deeper water,” Jesus said, “and let you nets down again.”
“ Master,” Simon replied, “We worked all night and caught nothing.” But they dared to let their nets down again and this time the nets were filled. We might think that would be a sign to continue doing what they’d always done with the help of this miracle worker. But no, the over-filled nets were a sign of God’s call to an unknown future, and so they left their nets and followed Jesus.
Can we do that? Hear an unlikely prompt in the midst of hard work and disappointment, to cast off into deeper water and try again? What would it mean to trust that God is still speaking, especially when we are exhausted and discouraged? The daily news suggests that we are living in just such a time.
May we all find ways to listen for God’s call to lift people up, individually and collectively.
