A sermon given by our Reader - Mr Peter Kane
Immediate Action
In our Gospel lesson today, Matthew tells us about a transition –– the ending of one era and the beginning of another –– the beginning of the end for John the Baptist –– and the beginning of the beginning for Jesus.
Transitions are always difficult. If you suddenly had to live on half your income, you would find that difficult. But did you know that becoming suddenly wealthy can be difficult too? Some people who win the lottery make the transition to wealth OK, but many do not. They become giddy with their new wealth, and begin to make bad decisions –– decisions they would never have made before becoming wealthy –– and sometimes they end up worse off than they started. Strange, but true! Transitions and Change are both difficult.
Our Gospel lesson talks about a wrenching transition. It takes place at the beginning of Jesus' ministry. Jesus came to John to be baptized even though John didn't want to baptize Jesus. But Jesus said, "Let it be so now; for it is proper for us in this way to fulfill all righteousness" (Matthew 3:15). So John baptized Jesus.
Then we come to the story of our Gospel lesson today. Herod has arrested John, which will be the beginning of the end for John the Baptist. It won't be long before Herod will behead John. Once he is arrested, John's days are numbered.
Then Matthew tells us that Jesus "withdrew to Galilee" and began to make his home in Capernaum (4:12-13). We know now that most of Jesus' ministry will take place in Galilee –– far from Jerusalem –– far from the bright lights of the city –– far from the Temple –– far from everything that meant anything to the Jews of Jesus' day. Galilee –– way up north.
So John goes to prison, where he will soon die –– and Jesus goes to Galilee to begin his ministry. This, then, is the beginning of the end for John and the beginning of the beginning for Jesus.
We must remember that Matthew is writing for Jewish people. He is therefore very concerned about the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecies –– and he quotes one of those prophecies in our Gospel lesson today.
To understand the prophecy that he quotes, here's a bit about Jewish history. In 732 B.C,700 years before Jesus , Assyria, the great power to the north of Israel, defeated the ten northern tribes of Israel and took them into captivity. There were two tribes way up north, Zebulun and Naphtali, who were among the first to suffer. But Isaiah, the prophet, promised that Zebulun and Naphtali, among the first to suffer, would be the first to receive the news of the Messiah.
I know this is more detail than you want to know, but there's one more piece –– and that little piece pulls things together. That little piece is this: NAZARETH, Jesus' home as a boy, was in Zebulun. CAPERNAUM, Jesus' home as a man, was in Naphtali. So these two little provinces, way up north –– far from Jerusalem –– far from the Temple –– far from anything the Jews held holy –– these two remote places became the first places to see the Messiah –– to see Jesus grow up –– to see him begin his ministry. That's what Matthew meant when he said that Jesus fulfilled the Isaiah prophecy.
John had been preparing the way for Jesus, and Jesus began his ministry by taking up where John left off. Jesus began his ministry by preaching John's sermon –– "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near."
Then Jesus saw two men, Simon Peter and Andrew his brother, as they were casting their nets into the Sea of Galilee. Simon and Andrew weren't just taking the day off to go fishing, they were fishermen. Jesus said to them, "Follow me, and I will make you fish for people" (4:19) . At least that's the way the NRSV translates it, but that's not what it says in the original Greek. What Jesus really said was, "I will make you fishers of men."
When you stop to think about it, Jesus promised these two fishermen something quite special. He said, in effect, "If you follow me, I'll promote you to the next level. You've been fishing for fish, I'll make you fishers of men."
I have to admit that one of the reasons I prefer this translation goes back to when I went to Sunday school and I won a prize. A book called the Boy from Capernaum, which was about a boy who wanted to be a fisherman but saw Simon Peter and Andrew being called. But the thing I remember is the graphic illustration of muscular fishermen hauling in their net with the text underneath:
I will make you fishers of men.
Thanks to my Sunday School Teacher I was told that Jesus was calling Peter and Andrew to follow him –– and I understood that he was promising to make them partners in his ministry –– fishermen whose work would shift from fish to people –– fishermen who would be focused, not on feeding the body, but on feeding the soul. I understood that Jesus was offering to take their lives to the next level –– a level where they could transform other people's lives. That sounded pretty wonderful to me then –– and, frankly, it still does. I believe that Jesus still calls us to partner with him in ministry. I believe that he still offers to help us change people's lives. And I still think that is pretty wonderful.
Now look at what happens next. Matthew says, "IMMEDIATELY they left their nets and followed (Jesus)." Then Jesus called James and John, two more fishermen, to follow him. Matthew says, "IMMEDIATELY left the boat and their father and followed (Jesus)." IMMEDIATELY they obeyed. IMMEDIATELY they did what Jesus called them to do.
That kind of immediate obedience is pretty rare, and pretty wonderful when it happens. As I look back at my life, I wish I could say that I had always done exactly what Jesus wanted me to do exactly when he wanted me to do it. My life would have been so much simpler. My ministry would have been much more vital.
But IMMEDIATELY isn't the way it usually works for us. We usually need some wooing, some coaxing. We need to think about it awhile. Sometimes we need to stumble a time or two before we finally take the path to which the Lord is directing us. For some people, even that is not enough. Some people have to fall hard to hit bottom, to get absolutely to the end of their rope, before they will start listening to Jesus.
There are many second career people in all forms of ministry today, people who were ordained or licensed in their 40s or 50s, people who are making ministry the focus of the last years of their working lives. For some people, the call to ministry comes late. For some, though, it comes earlier but the person kept saying "tomorrow."
But Peter and Andrew, James and John, Jesus' first disciples, didn't say "tomorrow." They IMMEDIATELY dropped what they were doing to follow Jesus.
Matthew concludes this story by saying:
"Jesus went throughout Galilee,
TEACHING in their synagogues
and PROCLAIMING the good news of the kingdom
and CURING every disease and every sickness among the people."
Good for Jesus! And good for Simon and Andrew and good for James and John. You can be sure that they were there with Jesus –– following faithfully –– doing what needed to be done, witnessing, blessing, helping. It would not have been the same without Simon and Andrew, without James and John. Jesus did not call them just to have groupies following in his wake. He called them because he needed them. Those first disciples were in training for ministry.
And so are we.
Jesus has called some of us to be priests or Readers . He has called some of us to be builders, teachers or workers in schools, carers, members of the armed forces, secretaries
But Jesus has called all of us to follow him and to serve others as he did, to sacrifice comforts as he did, to bless the lives of others as he did, to minister to the sick as he did, to proclaim the good news of the kingdom as he did.
What has Jesus called us to do? And the question we have to ask ourselves is - Are we doing it?
Amen.