Loading...I am sorting through my tax information. I’ve really gotten caught up in its simplicity this year-- so much so that I started entertaining the silly question, “Can I prepare my own tax return or not?” I’ve been advised, not.
The problem is that I feel old enough to know what I gross and what I net — that is old. For those of you too young to know about nets it’s easy: Gross is the amount of income you make minus cost of goods sold. Net is the amount left over after you subtract the cost of making your income.
The financial experts don’t use the phrase “cost of making your income” but that’s what I call it. Some of the costs of making an income include:
1. Taxes 2. Office and operational costs 3. Travel expenses 4. Marketing and Advertising expenses 5. Employee benefits - that’s above the cost of labor. Cost of labor is included in your gross.
And you thought sermons explaining the Holy Trinity were dry!
Is Zebedee thinking all this financial detail is dry during the events described in the story from Matthew’s gospel today?
Was Zebedee thinking of the sacrificial love of God in Christ or was he concerned about the net value of his sons, who are also two of his employees as he watches them walk away from the family fishing business to follow a healing preacherman.
Was he wondering ‘exactly what is the net value of Jesus?’ Of what value is it to Zebedee that Jesus is fulfilling an old prophecy? And what are the liabilities of Jesus being closely associated with the prisoner named John the Baptist in Herod’s palace.
For Zebedee, math is more than dry information about potential financial gain or loss; math is personal. But there’s more. Mrs. Zebedee ends up going along with her sons too. And wait there’s even more!
When you read between the lines you begin to understand that Mrs. Zebedee, along with some other women, helped subsidize the travels of the original twelve disciples. And wait there is even more!!
Zebedee can’t even try to hire his friends/competitors, Andrew and Simon, because they leave their business to follow Jesus too! How is Zebedee supposed to gross or net anything. How did he raise two sons with such little regard for the family future.
Or did he? Maybe it was Zebedee all along who made it seem like there was a value in netting more than fish, and paying more than operating expenses. Scripture doesn’t say for sure what happens to Zebedee’s youngest son John, but James will die in Herod’s prison just like John the Baptist because of his fidelity to Jesus.
One can make an account of one’s livelihood on a ledger but how does one account for the price of a human life.
For a man who made his living from the water, James became a man whose life was given over to the Living Water: Jesus, from whom people can drink and never be thirsty again. He and his brother followed Jesus to fish for people, to add net value to God’s kingdom. And James’ specific skill is mending the net, keeping it fit for duty in the water.
St James’ is a place where people are equipped for fishing according to your specific skill set. Look at this painting our Preschool made for me. Each of their two year handprints is a fish. The title is We are Followers of Jesus. Who knows where faith will lead each child’s hands.
The hands of St James himself traveled from the lake to a mountain, down many roads, into the homes of the sick, and ultimately to a prison. Our Faith and your faith is the net for some hungry person who is wondering “What value am I to God?”
The only price tag we can offer is the life of the Son of God who sacrificed his life on the cross to fulfill the mission his heavenly Father assigned to him for the forgiveness of sins for every person.
