26 January 14 “Follow me” Matthew 4:12-23

26 January 14                       “Follow me”                  Matthew 4:12-23

 As Jesus wanders into the Galilee region we notice the people who lived their seemed like pretty good folk. They were going about their business of going about their business. Galilee was not the hot bed of civil disobedience in the Ancient Near Eastern world. The Galileans were not heading out to the lyceum to hear Jesus teach, they were not heading out to the temple to hear him preach, they were not struggling with a call in their lives to be faithful disciples of anyone. They were simply going about their lives. Sure, there were lots of rumors of prophet’s around.  But that was not unusual.

 What they mainly wanted to do was fish and grow their crops, tend their orchards, raise their sheep and goats, and enjoy the wife and kids looking forward to the weekend, just like us. Well, perhaps I try and read more into their lives than I should. But you get the picture. They were everyday folk. How could they have known Jesus, the Son of God, the one whose life was about unusual things, was about to change all that.

 Jesus is called by God to their villages to fulfill what Isaiah had prophesied, “By the sea, across the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles – the people who sat in darkness have seen a great light, and for those who sat in the region and in the shadow of death, light has dawned.”

 What is striking about this location for the light which will dawn upon the world of darkness and death is that God sent his son Jesus not to the Jerusalem aristocracy, but to the simple folk, the masses of everyday people of Galilee, a mixed Gentile-Jewish population.

 This was the region where Jesus lived and these were the folk he intended to save. Here in Galilee, Jesus showed mercy, he comforted, he healed, and he sought to save the lost. It was here he began gathering his disciples as he proclaimed, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” It is here Jesus finds his disciples and says to them, “follow me.”

 One of the particularly appealing things about the way Jesus chooses his disciples is he does not hold tryouts. He takes them from everyday life. If they are fishermen, when Jesus calls, they will fish for men. If they are in business, when Jesus calls, they will be in business to show folk the way to Christ. If they are teachers, and Jesus calls, they will teach the good news of Jesus Christ. If they are home makers, and Jesus calls, they will make a home for those who would follow Jesus.

 Because of this, we cannot make excuses that we do not have the skill set to attract other people to Jesus. Jesus calls us to use exactly the life we are living this very moment as our way to show people what it is like to be a disciple of Christ. That is why God made us the way we are. We are good and when we live the right way, we honor God with our life.

  Jesus said, “Land of Zebulun, land of Naphtali, on the road by the sea,    the light has come and now it is time to share that light with the world.” Jesus’ light has come and the truth we must face this morning is we might have been devising cleaver ways to extinguish it ever since.

  Last Sunday we heard Jesus ask us, “What are you looking for?” If we dare say we are looking for Jesus we know what a dangerous proposition we put ourselves in. If Jesus shows up in our lives and we follow him we lose ourselves as the center of our universe. We lose our intentions for career and fame and fortune and risk living like no other. We find we are expected to bring peace, and justice, and love to the world and we resist.

 While we all want those things, we do not want to be the one who gives up our life for them. Bearing the light of Jesus Christ to the world, bringing the kingdom of heaven near, well, for our Sunday afternoon we have something easier in mind.

 Could it be that the gospel is right this morning, we know we are called to a life of discipleship, and, as we look around at our world, we know we are the ones who keep ourselves from fulfilling our true calling? Are we truly the ones who devise all sorts of ways to extinguish the light of God in our lives?

 Are we like the Corinthians Paul spoke to? Have we aligned ourselves with whomever has come to baptize us rather than with Christ? Do we feel our worth has been given to us by our parents, our schools, our work, our community of friends, our accomplishments? Where then is the true and real self God created us to be?

 We find our answer here. We have come to the right place to be set on the right road, the road by the sea, across the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles.  Actually, this is the only place we could be.

 Here we come to know the truth. Oh, sure, our families and society  will be truthful and forthright and quick to set us on a better road. But it is here, where Jesus has come, that we will hear the truth about how we can shine in the darkened world we inhabit.

 The gospel challenges us asking, “What are you looking for?” Jesus boldly challenged us to come and see. Come and see where Jesus is and who Jesus is and who we are to become and how the world is to know the kingdom of heaven. It is only when we make this move to Jesus that God’s kingdom has a chance.

  For Jesus expects us to follow him as did Simon Peter and Andrew, James and his brother John. Like us, they could only guess where they were going. They were radically changed, and we know their story.

 Stories of lives forever changed also abound in this sanctuary. Knowing who you were and who you have become could you have ever scripted your life to turn out this way? Only Jesus of course could. He alone knew about us and our potential.

 With those fishermen Jesus intruded upon their lives no less than the Holy Spirit intruded upon his at his baptism. Once so targeted, so intruded upon, Jesus returned the favor with those disciples. We can only guess where we are going now.

 Being a follower, a believer, a faithful disciple has indeed brought us to a new life, a new openness, a new understanding. Our life is certainly more than our own. So, we come each day to the one whom we love, the one who has given us hope and richness and blessings. Even as life struggles remain. We come with assurance for the good news of our eternal light. We come knowing God has something to say to us.

 We are not called to be something we think we should be. We are not called to be wealthy, successful, good looking, smart, to lead an exciting life. We are called to believe and be faithful, to love God, and love people, and follow Jesus, even being a Jesus Christ Christian.

  It is Jesus who is going places and we have been called to go with him.

 But, we continue to resist, we close God out from our lives. We want to be left alone, to our own devices. So we revert to our base self. We begin to compromise values, abandon life long good habits, showing no concern for others in what we do and say.

 We return to vices long forgotten. Gluttony, selfishness, mean spirited relationships, unchecked sin. Oh, if we were living in Old Testament times we might well predict the wrath of God.

 But we are not living in those times, we are living in ours, and we have been called by God to follow Jesus. So we try again. We give up our selfish lives to be faithful to our calling as friend, as neighbor, as spouse, as parent, as child in a family, as home maker, as bread winner. We do not worry about the ‘what might have been’ in our lives.

 In a story by Tom Wright in “Matthew for Everyone” he asks, “Why do Christians in millions of other walks of life regularly give up lifestyles and practices that look attractive and lucrative in order to maintain honesty, integrity, faith, hope and love?

 The answer, he says, can only be in Jesus himself, and in the astonishing magnetism of his presence and personality. Sometimes his call comes slowly, starting like a faint murmur and growing until we can no longer ignore it. Sometime he calls people as suddenly and dramatically as he called Peter and Andrew.

 When that happen to us, by whatever means and at whatever pace, we will know; Jesus has a way of getting through, and whatever we are engaged with, somehow we will be sufficiently aware of his presence and call to know what it is we’re being asked to do.

 At least we will know we are being asked to follow him. We will not necessarily know where it is all going to lead, and we would not perhaps be quite so eager if we did.”

 Christ always starts with us where we are in our lives. Our job is to let Jesus be Jesus, and be faithful immediate followers. If we will hang out with Jesus, he will do the rest.

 Hanging out with Jesus will make all the difference in our lives. Light will dawn and that light from us will help God bring peace, make justice, and show love to the world.

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen

012614.gpc