Epic Fail

While walking by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon (who is called Peter) and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. And he said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” Immediately they left their nets and followed him. And going on from there he saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets, and he called them. Immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him. (Matthew 4:18-22 ESV). I have a love-hate relationship with the internet. I love it because it gives me almost instant access anytime, anywhere to news, sports, and other information that would be impossible to get otherwise. I hate it because nothing can be hidden from anyone’s eyes should they desire to look long enough or hard enough. That is especially true with our failures. In fact, there are a number of sites that do nothing but publicize the most embarrassing moments of failure for all the world to see. We even have a new phrase that has developed for these moments of life: “the Epic Fail.” Building this bridge from both sides of the divide and then meeting in the middle was an “Epic Fail.” I can just imagine one of the engineers saying, “Well, if we just had zigged instead of zagged back about a mile…” No one likes failure. Whether it’s an “F” on a test, a failed business deal, or a broken relationship, failure is hard to accept. Failure mocks us and asks us to examine what went wrong, perhaps offering us only a slight hope of redemption the next time. Once we fail it is very hard to try again. Today’s Scripture shows us Jesus’ attitude toward failure. It’s to four of these supposed failures, James and John, Simon Peter and Andrew. They were young men who had removed from rabbinical training and forced to learn the family trade. Jesus never stopped to look at their failures. He didn’t care what their past looked like. Jesus never checked their credentials, he just said “Come.” Their response, “immediately they left and followed.” Jesus took the failure that had made them simple fishermen and transformed them into fishers for people and world-changers. In a similar fashion, Jesus calls to us today and says, “Come.” He doesn’t stop to consider our past failures. In fact, failures are qualification marks in Christ’s kingdom. Jesus desires to take you, redeem you, transform you, and use you. He took an ordinary group of young men, many of whom were failures in society’s eyes, and transformed the world. Imagine what he could do with your failures if you let him. That’s what Jesus does with our “Epic Fails.” Come to him today.