I’m not sure how many times I had seen the sign, I only remember when I first “got it.” My son, Zachary, and I were waiting for some friends at a restaurant that was next door to Joe’s Crab Shack. I looked over and saw the sign painted on the side of the building. It looked like the sign had been there for many days, maybe years. The sign read, “Free Crabs Tomorrow.” To my knowledge “Free Crab Day” has yet to arrive at that restaurant.

I like that sign because it reminds me to beware of investing too many ideas, notions and activities into tomorrow. The Gospel of Mark is a great teacher of the potency of today. He wrote with a favorite expression. In Greek it is the expression, “kai euthus” which translates most often into English as “and immediately”. In fact, Mark uses it so often that most English translations try different expressions (e.g. at once, then, next, after) to avoid monotony. But I don’t find the expression monotonous. I find it to be a refreshing call to the urgency of the Kingdom of God . It tells me, “Today is a great day to do something with Jesus.”

For this season of Lent we’re going to look at some of the “and immediately” stories of Jesus in the Gospel of Mark. Our first stop is the lakeshore. The Sea of Galilee is a wonderful lake 13 miles long, 6 miles wide and even today is full of fish. It was probably morning when Jesus went for a stroll, a stroll that would change the lives of four fishermen that he found fishing that day. Their story is found in Mark 1:16-20. Hear now the word of the Lord:

As Jesus passed along the Sea of Galilee , he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the sea – for they were fishermen. And Jesus said to them, “Follow me and I will make you fish for people.” And immediately they left their nets and followed him. As he went a little farther, he saw James son of Zebedee and his brother John, who were in their boat mending the nets. Immediately he called them; and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men, and followed him.

The word of God for the people of God. Thanks be to God. Amen.

In this passage Mark reported to his readers that Jesus wasted no time in selecting his first four fishing followers. Did you hear the urgency in this short story? The other gospel writers wrote about ways that these men knew Jesus. Two of them, Simon and Andrew, had actually been disciples of John the Baptist. James and John’s mother, Salome, seemed to have known Jesus’ mother, Mary for some time. None of that lessens the urgency of today. Today, Jesus called them to follow and they did. Today is a great day to do something with Jesus.

Today calls for an immediate response.

Mark minced no words when recounting the story. Jesus called to the fraternal fishermen, “ Follow me and I will make you fish for people.” There are two phrases worth noting in this brief invitation. “Follow Me,” means “to fit the mold”. It calls for the disciple to walk alongside Jesus and model one’s life after the life of the Messiah: Love as he loved, care as he cared, confront as he confronted, pray as he prayed, sacrifice as he sacrificed, “Follow me,” he said and they did. “Fish for people” or more familiarly, “Fishers of men,” was a phrase that in the Old Testament pointed to Judgment Day, a day when God would make things right. Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Amos, and Habakkuk all wrote with this fishing metaphor when God would bring His kingdom on earth. Jeremiah 16:16 reads, “I will bring them back…I am now sending many fishermen and they shall catch them.”

When Jesus called these men to learn to fish for people, they heard more than we typically do. They heard just what Mark 1:15 says when Jesus proclaimed the good news of God saying, “The time is fulfilled and the Kingdom of God has come near.”

“And immediately they left their nets and followed him.” They weren’t sure where they were going, but they knew whom they were following and there was no time to lose. Today calls for an immediate response.

Zachary had a ninth grade speech presentation to give a month or so ago on the topic of his choice. It was to be a “How to” speech. He chose the topic of procrastination. Step one: Set it aside. Step two: Do something else. Step three: Ignore that rumbling in your tummy feeling telling you to get busy on the project. Step four: Do something else. Step five: Throw something together at the last minute. He seems to know way too much about this topic. I was relieved only by the fact that he spent so much time on this presentation on procrastination.

The fishermen realized the urgency of this call. They recognized it as a call of today – a call for immediate response.

Sometimes we don’t get this until its too late. About 10 years ago I went to Spring Training Games in Florida with a boyhood friend of mine. We had so much fun we determined to do it every year. I told my dad about it and said, “You should come with us sometime.” The next year I was in Florida , but Dad wasn’t. That September, Dad suffered an abdominal aneurysm. It seemed like everyone I talked to about it knew someone who had one of those and they all died. They were all careful not to leave that part out of the story.

I flew to Ohio to see my dad one last time. As I stood by his bedside all the “sometimes” that never happened flooded my mind. I realized that they were as good as Joe’s Crab Shack’s promise of “Free crabs tomorrow.” I came to a resigned peace about it. After all, we did have other memories, things we did when I was a boy. Still, I wished we could have been at Spring Training together.

I don’t know how it happened except that God was gracious and my dad survived a life threatening experience. The next March, 1998, Dad was on a plane to Florida to meet me for Spring Training. Tomorrow will be our eighth trip to this four-day frenzy of ballparks; the last three seasons have included his grandson, my son. When “sometimes” becomes “this year” and “tomorrow” becomes “today”, great things happen.

Today is a great day to do something with Jesus. Don’t become proficient in procrastination when it comes to the call of God. Today calls for an immediate response.

There is not only an urgency in the response; there is an immediacy in the call.

Jesus went a little farther down the shoreline where John and James, brothers, were getting their nets ready for the day. Anyone who has ever gone fishing with a child knows how long it takes to get ready. The child is chomping at the bit to throw a line into the water and pull a fish out immediately. But fishing takes time, so the fishermen were taking the time to ready their nets, “And immediately Jesus called them and they left… and followed him.”

Sometimes that happens. Eternity breaks into today and immediately calls you. I was almost 14 when I sensed that call like nothing before or since. I’ve had wonderful experiences as a Christian, encounters with God that have blessed my life in so many ways, but none quite like what happened on May 28, 1970. I had gone to church with a friend of mine only because it was preceded by a banquet at the Imperial House Hotel in Findlay , Ohio . Being from a family of seven We seldom went out to eat and I had never been to the Imperial House so I accepted the invitation. After dinner I paid my dues by going to church with my host, a friend since 1st grade. The music was too loud, the pews were too hard, the preaching was too long and too negative. When the altar call was finally given I was ready to leave. But then something happened that I’ve never fully been able to explain. I went forward. It was as if one moment I was in a boat preparing to launch into another day of fishing and the next moment I was following him, following Jesus.

There was an urgency to his call, an irresistible element to his invitation. Much has been written about these four fishermen and why they so abruptly, immediately, responded to his call: talk about the Kingdom and fishing metaphors of judgment, discussions about prior knowledge of who Jesus was and perhaps moms knowing each other; but on May 28, 1970 , I think I discovered why they left their nets and boats and followed him. Nothing else made any sense.

That day, just another day, became today – a profound opportunity to follow Jesus. Today is a great day to do something with Jesus.

Can you hear his call?

Lord, you have come to the lakeshore
Looking neither for wealthy nor wise ones
You only asked me to follow humbly.
O Lord, with your eyes you have searched me
And while smiling have spoken my name;
Now my boats left on the shoreline behind me
By your side I will seek other seas.

If Christ is calling you today, today is a great day to respond. Follow him and life will never be the same again. If you sense God calling you, recognize the urgency. Come to these altars and pray or ask Sandra, Amy, or myself to pray withy you after the service. Don’t wait for someday or tomorrow. Today is a great day to do something with Jesus. Amen.

Amen.