Wednesday, January 29, 2020

Our Vocaction


Sermon
Third Sunday after Epiphany
Matthew 4:12-23

Today, we enter into Matthew’s version of Jesus’ very early ministry. If you recall, just preceding today’s reading, Jesus had arrived in Nazareth fresh from his baptism in the River Jordan and his 40 days in the wilderness, where he had been approached by a tempter multiple times. Over and over the tempter offered Jesus power and glory, and over and over Jesus rebuffed his tempter and proclaimed God as his Lord - his only Lord.

Finally, the tempter disappeared, and angels came and waited on Jesus. It was time for his journey into the wilderness to come to an end. It was time for him to proclaim the good news of God's Kingdom to the world.

In today's gospel reading, we join Jesus as he emerged from that wilderness experience and journeyed from Nazareth to Capernaum in Galilee, where walking along the shores of the Sea of Galilee, proclaiming, "Repent, for the Kingdom of heaven has come near," he began to recruit disciples. Simon, who would be called Peter, and his brother Andrew were his first choices. As soon as he saw them, Jesus said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fish for people.”

Intrigued, they dropped their fishing nets and followed Jesus. Soon Jesus came upon, James, son of Zebedee, and his brother John. He called them as well and immediately they left the boat they were working on with their father and followed Jesus.

Jesus was fishing for people and catching them, and he had begun the process of asking others to do so as well. "Follow me and I will make you fish for people," Jesus says to Andrew and Simon Peter.

“Follow me and I will make you fish for people”

Does this command have a familiar ring for you? It should. It is just another way of expressing the Great Commission, Jesus’ final command to his disciples found in this very same gospel. I know you are familiar the Great Commission - perhaps you even know it by heart.

 “All authority has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” (Matt 28:18-20)

“Follow me and I will make you fish for people.”

Increasingly, as I study Scripture I see that every parable spoken and every healing and sign performed by Jesus - in any of the four gospels - all of Jesus’ words and actions - all of them - are intended to alert us to the fact that as his disciples we are called to be evangelists. Our vocation is to go forth – to proclaim the good news - to fish for people – to make disciples of all nations.

To be sure, this vocation to go forth is a challenging one, but it is vocation that is mandatory if we are to claim that our lives are centered in Christ. It is a vocation that is both thrilling and terrifying. It is a vocation filled with ups and downs; failures that leave us frustrated, angry, anxious about the state of our world and its relationship with God; and, successes that cause our hearts to sing with joy.

But, whatever the circumstances, whatever the perceived challenges, it is a vocation in which we must engage without hesitation. It is a vocation to be engaged in not only on Sunday mornings as we sit in the pews, but also on Monday, on Tuesday, on Wednesday, on Thursday, on Friday, on Saturday – on every day – at every hour.

And when we waiver from our path, when we are filled with doubt, with anxiety, with fear, we must remember that Christ is with us – always – always - to the end of the age – and always beckoning to us and saying, "Follow me and I will make you fish for people." Without ceasing he is commanding us to, "Make disciples of all nations," and at every moment of our lives he is assuring us that, "I will be with you until the end of the age."

The prophet Isaiah prophesied that the people of Galilee - a people who had walked in darkness would see a great light. Light would shine on them and they would experience increased joy and relief from their burdens.

The psalmist sings out, “The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom then shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life; of whom then shall I be afraid?”

In the Gospel of John Jesus says, "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life.” (John 8:12)

“Follow me and I will make you fish for people.” – "[you] will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life- the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ."

Our vocation – our call from Christ - to go forth - to fish for people - to convey the light of Christ that illuminates the glory of God and the way of reconciliation, healing, and peace is as real today as it was 2000 years ago. Perhaps more than ever before we are called to pay attention to our vocation – to remain vigilant to distracting political and social situations that lead us down a path decidedly dismissive of our call to proclaim by word and deed the good news, all the while loving our neighbor as ourselves.

It’s a big job - a very big, quite daunting job. Perhaps it was easier back in the year 30, or 60, or 100. But, probably not.

Clearly, Jesus’ evangelism brought him a brutal death.

Certainly, many followers of Peter and Paul, indeed these two beloved disciples themselves, were put to death because they refused to cease proclaiming the gospel to all who would listen.

And, if you remember your history thousands of early Christians were fed to the lions, burned at the stake, or tortured and killed in other ways for refusing to recant their Christianity. Indeed, even today Christians in many parts of the world continue to be murdered, executed because of their refusal to recant their Christianity – their refusal to abandon God.

Time has shown us that fishing for people can be a perilous activity. And yet, many of us, indeed 2.4 billion of us throughout the world, continue to fish for people. Continue to follow the commanding sending messages proclaimed by Jesus over 2000 years ago. Think of it - 2.4 billion Christians fish for people - proclaim the gospel - each and every day.

At the moment, the church, world-wide, and most certainly the Episcopal Church here in America, is intentionally and aggressively focusing on our vocation of fishing for people. Continually we seek new ways to proclaim God's grace and healing love in a fractured post-Christian world. A world that in some instances is trying to obliterate Christianity by excluding God from public venues and critical conversations that relate to justice and peace.

Those whose way of life is based on the commandment given to us by Jesus when he said to his disciples, "I give you a new commandment, that you love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should also love one another" (John 13:34) have a tough row to hoe.

How do we fish for people? How do we bring Christ's Light into their lives?

Our Presiding Bishop, Michael Curry believes - I might say with every fiber of his being - that love is the way. He says, Think and imagine a world where love is the way. … Because when love is the way, we treat each other like we are actually family. When love is the way, we know that God is the source of us all. And we are brothers and sisters, children of God. My brothers and sisters, thats a new Heaven, a new Earth, a new world, a new human family.”

Michael Curry believes the we fish for people by loving them. By loving our neighbors as ourselves. And, I am sure - just like me; just like Fr. David; just like clergy and laity throughout America - I am sure that you agree with Bishop Curry. Love is the way – loving your neighbor as yourself – is the way to bring God into the world and to keep Him here.

However, it is critical that we understand the love that Bishop Curry and so many others are speaking of is not a simplistic kind of love - like the kind of love you would have for a friend or loved one, such as a spouse or partner. No, it is love of a very different sort - it is the love that Jesus spoke of. It is agape love - a love that mirrors God’s love for the world. God's love for his beloved children. A love that transcends all differences.

And where does this love come from - How do we identify it - how do we cultivate it?

Thomas Merton, a theologian and mystic, wrote extensively about finding God in both ourselves and the world. In an article written after one of his mystical experiences he wrote,

“At the center of our being is a point of nothingness which is untouched by sin and by illusion, a point of pure truth, a point or spark which belongs entirely to God, which is never at our disposal, from which God disposes of our lives… This little point of nothingness…is the pure glory of God in us. It is so to speak His name written in us… It is like a pure diamond, blazing with the invisible light of heaven. It is in everybody, and if we could see it, we would see these billions of points of light coming together in the…blaze of a sun that would make all the darkness and cruelty of life vanish completely ... I have no program for this seeing. It is only given. But the gate of heaven is everywhere.”


Imagine this little point of the pure glory of God within you. A point within your soul that cannot be touched by any human sin or error. A point within you that is like a pure diamond, blazing with the invisible light of God's love – blazing with the glory of God's heaven.

Imagine feeling the power of this God within you as you go into the world fishing for people. Imagine the power of this unsullied light generated by the love of God for each and every one of us. Imagine being among those who live in darkness and shining God's light, God's love – your light; your love into their lives – into their hearts and into their souls.

Do you see what happens - do you see the other’s light begin to twinkle and then with joy shine brightly to greet you and others in the community.

Shining the light of God, that little piece within us all, automatically brings forth the light of God in the other – the light of love and joy.

Light, love, joy - that is the way to fish for people. That is the way to renew the power of God's glory into a world spiraling in darkness.