Both the Old Testament Lesson and the Gospel Lesson appointed for today are vocation narratives.  Now, what is a vocation narrative?  Well, a vocation narrative is a fairly detailed account of God’s call to someone . . . to become who they truly are; . . . it is an account of God’s sacred call to someone to become not what they fancy themselves to be . . . but to become who God created them to be.  Holy Scripture is full of vocation narratives.  Holy Scripture is full of vocation narratives and has taken great pains to record them . . . in order to help us understand how God calls all of us to become who we truly are.  . . . Holy Scripture takes great pains to tell us about sacred vocations . . . in order that we each might stand some chance of making a faithful response to God . . . and come to eternal felicity.

    And so, today we come upon Gideon inside an empty wine press “beating out wheat”, the text says.  . . . In other words, Gideon is separating the kernels of wheat from the chaff while keeping out of sight of the occupational army of the Midianites, who would take the wheat from him to feed their own troops, if they knew he had any.  . . . So, we come upon Gideon inside this stone pit, hitting stalks of wheat with a shovel and then throwing the grains into the air so that the wind can carry away the chaff but (from a distance at least) the Midianites can’t see what he’s doing.  . . . And an angel of the Lord shows up and peers over the edge of the pit and tells Gideon that the Lord is with him.  And Gideon pauses in his work, sweat streaming down his face; . . . Gideon pauses in his work to look up at the angel (but not knowing he’s talking to an angel) and Gideon says, “So, if the Lord is with me, why am I in this pit hiding from the Midianites?”  And the angel says, “Well, do something about it.”  And Gideon says, “I’m the least influential son of an insignificant clan.  It’s highly unlikely I can put together an army big enough to do more than raise dust.”  . . . And the angel says, “Didn’t I say that the Lord is with you?”   And Gideon says, “Oh yeah, prove it.”  And the angel says, “Where are your manners?  First be hospitable to me.”  . . . So Gideon prepares some food for the angel . . . and he brings it to the angel and sets it on a rock . . . and the angel touches it with his staff . . . and the rock bursts into flame!”  . . . And Gideon realizes that it’s an angel of the Lord to whom he’s been so rude and treated so gruffly, and Gideon says, “I’m a dead man!”  . . . But the Lord God speaks to Gideon’s heart and says, “Peace.”  And from that moment on; from the moment he should have died but didn’t . . . from the moment God gave him life … out of sheer joy and absolute loyalty Gideon serves no one else but the One True God, . . . and he becomes a judge over all the tribes of Israel and establishes freedom and justice and peace during his lifetime in that Holy Land.

    The second vocation narrative we’ve heard today is that of the fellow we call Saint Peter (and also his brother Andrew and his business partners James and John).  Simon (which is Peter’s real name) . . . Simon is washing his fishing nets when he hears his name called.  He looks up and sees Jesus sitting in his boat.  And Jesus asks Simon to take him out into the water so everyone in the crowd on the shore can hear him.  . . . Well, Simon knows Jesus (Jesus had stayed at Simon’s house some weeks ago); . . . Simon knows Jesus and he likes Him, so Simon calls his brother Andrew and the two of them row Jesus out a little ways and settle themselves in the boat . . . with the warm sun on them, . . . and while Jesus teaches . . . Simon and Andrew fall asleep.  The next thing Simon is aware of is that Jesus is asking him to row out farther and catch some fish for the crowd on shore.  Simon says, “Well, the fish don’t seem to be running.  We were out all night and didn’t take a thing; . . . besides, the sun’s up.  The fish are too deep.  But,” Simon adds, “we’ll give it a try.”  . . . And Simon winks at Andrew, wordlessly sharing a private joke about the ignorance of landsmen, and they let down their nets . . . and they can’t bring them in again(!) . . . there’s this huge haul of fish in the nets.  So, with a lot of whistling and hollering, Simon catches the attention of James and John on shore,  who row out to give Simon and Andrew a hand.  . . . And standing knee deep in fish, . . . Simon looks up at Jesus . . . and realizes that this is a profoundly holy man he has been treating so arrogantly . . . and Simon is ashamed; Simon is ashamed and afraid, because he has become a profane man; . . . a profane man who treats even a good man with profanity.  . . . And Jesus says, “Do not be afraid; your life shall be different now.  I will make you a fisher of men.”  . . . And when Simon and Andrew and James and John got to shore, Holy Scripture tells us, . . . they left absolutely everything and became, first disciples, and then holy men themselves; . . . they became apostles:  . . . Fathers of the Church.

    Now, those two vocation narratives, even though they’re separated from one another by about two thousand years, . . . those two vocation narratives (the call of Gideon to be a judge and the call of Simon to be an apostle) . . . those two call narratives have at least three things in common.  First, God is greeted with resistance.  Gideon and Simon are both consumed with their carnal concerns.  Gideon has to get the wheat processed before a Midianite patrol comes along and sees him, . . . and Simon is dog tired from working all night with no income to show for it, and he’s got to get his gear ready to go out again tonight wondering why the fish are eluding him and where to try the next time.  . . . Gideon and Simon are consumed with their carnal concerns . . . so that Gideon is gruff with God’s angel . . . and Simon pays no attention at all to the wonderful things Jesus has to say about the Fatherhood of God and how the ineffable Presence of His kingdom gives balance to our lives and makes them sacred; . . . Simon, instead, falls asleep at his oars.  Gideon and Simon are resistant to God’s call.

    The second thing that most calls seem to have in common is that God doesn’t appear to become anxious and upset at our resistance.  He doesn’t threaten us or rant and rave; . . . God simply gets our attention another way.  Gideon’s angel causes a rock to burst into flame; . . . Simon’s angel simply gives him a profound quantity of fish.  Gideon and Simon are both, in some way, called out of themselves by God.  . . . And that’s the point.  The miracle isn’t important.  It’s simply the thing God uses to get our attention; . . . to call us out of ourselves . . . and into Him.

    When God calls us out of ourselves . . . the third of the things which commonly happen . . . is fear.  . . . When your mind and heart and soul are no longer numb with all the things you must worry about and all the things you think you must do to make them better; . . . when you realize your true situation of personal powerlessness . . . that you are creature and not Creator, . . . there is fear.  . . . And it is a most dangerous and precarious moment, . . . because, in the face of fear, you can choose to run away.  You can go back into yourself and withdraw from God.  In the face of godly fear it is possible for someone to become even more preoccupied with their carnal concerns and the need for practical solutions to keep themselves safe.  . . . In the face of godly fear it is possible for someone to withdraw from God; . . . it is possible for someone to become even more profane than when God first called them.  . . . But if you are a person of courage; . . . if you will refuse to flee from godly fear, . . . now God has your attention.  . . . Now you can hear your vocation.  . . . “Peace,” says the Lord God Who loves you.  . . . “Do not be afraid,” says the One Who created you in His sacred Image.  . . . And if you can accept peace from your God -- the Peace which passes all understanding; . . . if you can allow your God to keep you from fleeing into the security of yourself; . . . into the security of carnal concerns; . . . once you put your entire trust in God’s grace and love, . . . then the real miracle will happen.  . . . You will begin to become truly yourself!

    Holy Scripture takes great pains to tell us about sacred vocations.  Today you have heard two of them.  But the thing to appreciate is that Gideon’s vocation and Simon’s (along with that of Andrew and James and John); . . . Gideon’s vocation and Simon’s are your story writ large.  Holy Scripture preserves them for us so that you can make sense of those moments when God is calling you, . . . those moments when God peeks over the edge of your life and calls you valiant; … when God wakes you from a sound sleep and asks you to do something you might think silly; . . . Holy Scripture preserves the calls of Gideon and of Simon . . . so that you can make sense of the moments when God is calling you to a more faithful and sacred life.