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<\/h5>\n<\/h5>\nWhen God wants us to do something, God calls us. It might happen through a thought that comes into our minds, through the circumstances in which we find ourselves, or through an act of discernment by which we are trying to decide a direction. But when God wants us to do something, God calls, \u201cHey Gus, Carol, Michael, I want you to do this. Then it\u2019s up to us to decide how we can respond, whether we can do what God asks or not.<\/p>\n
In today\u2019s Scripture readings we have the call of two famous Biblical characters. In today\u2019s first reading we have the call of the prophet Isaiah, and in today\u2019s Gospel we have the call of the apostle Peter. These characters, like most in the Bible, are called according to a set pattern. The pattern is this. God says, \u201cHey, I want you to do something.\u201d The person being called says, \u201cYou\u2019ve got to be kidding!\u201d And then God says, \u201cNo, I\u2019m not.\u201d We see this pattern repeated over and over again: the call, \u201cYou\u2019ve got to be kidding,\u201d \u201cNo, I\u2019m not.\u201d<\/p>\n
God comes before Isaiah in the first reading, \u201cHoly, holy, holy is the Lord God of hosts!\u201d Isaiah says, \u201cYou\u2019ve got to be kidding! I am a man of unclean lips.\u201d But God says to Isaiah, \u201cI need someone to send and I want you.\u201d Jesus asks Peter to lower his nets and there is a miraculous catch. Peter says, \u201cYou\u2019ve got to be kidding! I\u2019m a sinful man.\u201d But Jesus says, \u201cFrom now on, you will be catching men.\u201d<\/p>\n
This Biblical pattern is used in order to tell us what is primary and what is not. God\u2019s call is primary. God\u2019s call is more important than our qualifications. We are all imperfect, we all have shortcomings. Like Isaiah and Peter we are sinful people. But if we focus on those limitations and shortcomings, we will never be able to say \u201cYes.\u201d We can always find someone else who is more gifted or better suited. So when the call comes to us, the Bible says it is perfectly okay for us to think these things, to tell God, \u201cYou know, I\u2019m not the best qualified person here.\u201d But we should also be prepared for God to say \u201cI want you anyway.\u201d<\/p>\n
There are people here this evening who God is calling to be parents of teenagers. When you watch your children growing and changing and becoming more and more adolescent, you say to God, \u201cYou\u2019ve got to be kidding! I signed up to have a baby but I\u2019m not ready for this. I don\u2019t have enough patience, enough wisdom, enough strength to be this kind of a parent.\u201d And God says, \u201cI know it. But I\u2019m calling you, and I\u2019ll be with you. Do your best.\u201d<\/p>\n
There might be some of us here God is calling to be reconcilers in our families. We see some in-laws or some other relations who are estranged from others. The thought comes to us, \u201cPerhaps I should speak to one of them in order to bring about reconciliation.\u201d Yet when that call comes, we say, \u201cGod you have to be kidding. I\u2019m not the most diplomatic person. I\u2019m not the one closest to this person. Why would you be asking me to do this?\u201d God says, \u201cI know, but you would have some authority if you reached out. Perhaps they will listen. I\u2019m asking you to try.\u201d<\/p>\n
God might be calling us to do an act of kindness for someone at work who annoys us or to a kid at school with whom no one will associate. You say to God, \u201cYou\u2019ve got to be kidding. I don\u2019t want a new friend. I don\u2019t want to hang around with this person. What will people think of me if I reach out?\u201d God says, \u201cI\u2019m not asking you to be their friend. I\u2019m asking you to do a simple act of kindness and to do it for me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Time and again God can call us to do what is difficult. And let\u2019s be clear. We need to be sure that it is God calling us. At times we form thoughts or suggestions that come out of guilt or out of a warped sense of relationship. God will never be asking us to do what is impossible or to be a part of something that is abusive or hurtful to us. But God is perfectly capable of calling us to do some surprising things.<\/p>\n
Of course, when God calls, we have every right to say, \u201cYou know, this is not my strength. I am not the best qualified. Perhaps you should think of someone else.\u201d But once we have objected, we should also be prepared for God to say \u201cI know all of those things. I am still calling you. And I\u2019m not kidding!\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Bible insists that God’s call is primary. God\u2019s call is more important than our qualifications. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5879,"featured_media":4752,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4750","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-homilies","infinite-scroll-item","generate-columns","tablet-grid-50","mobile-grid-100","grid-parent","grid-33"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/buildingontheword.org\/files\/2019\/02\/nets-and-fish.jpg","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buildingontheword.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4750","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buildingontheword.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buildingontheword.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buildingontheword.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5879"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buildingontheword.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4750"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buildingontheword.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4750\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buildingontheword.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4752"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buildingontheword.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4750"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buildingontheword.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4750"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buildingontheword.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4750"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}