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, that’s 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.
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