Sermon by jenny scott, january 26, 2014

Sermon On The Calling of Peter, Andrew, James and John Jenny Scott, January 26, 2014 High Mass Matt 4:12-23 Imagine living in a busy coastal city. It is filled with people from all different religious affiliations and ethnic backgrounds. A place with so many different traditions and practices, ideas and beliefs, that it must be hard to know top from bottom after a while. It is also a place that your prophets referred to as a dark place and maybe you see that darkness all around you. But there was a promise those prophets made, a promise that rests deep inside you as you quietly wait in hope for a light to come and remove the harshness. It may be a small hope and that often gets overshadowed, but it is a hope that resides within you nonetheless. It is a hope waiting to be fulfilled.

Imagine you are out working. It is not an easy job you have, it requires long days and hard labor, often with little payout, but you don't complain for it is a job. While you may not be wealthy, you are able to help pay for the family's needs. You work hard while you wait for that prophesied day of hope to come.

Now imagine one day this guy comes by, an up-and-coming leader of some sort, and he calls out to you specifically and request you to follow him. What do you make of this? What will it require of you? What will be the end results? And most importantly, will you follow?

In our gospel reading for today we hear of the initial call Jesus places on Peter, Andrew, James and John’s lives. Asking them to come, let him be their teacher.

Throughout Mathew's gospel, Jesus is at times referred to as Rabbi. It is hard to know if Jesus was an official Rabbi. Most likely he was not but this title is a reflection of how Matthew sees Jesus as the great teacher and therefore refers to him as Rabbi after the fact. No matter, what Jesus does in this morning's gospel reading and what he does throughout the gospel has a resemblance to that of a Jewish rabbi and his disciples.

While there are many similarities between the traditional rabbi-disciple relationship and that of Jesus and his followers, there are also noticeable differences. For instance, normally when a would-be-disciple desired to be under a Rabbi, he would have to approach the Rabbi and request the opportunity to learn under him and be weighed and measured by the Rabbi. A rabbi would not accept every request placed upon him. There was always the possibility of a hopeful student being rejected.

Jesus didn't follow this norm though. As we heard in the reading, he was the one to approach these four men. He requested them to be his followers. This is just one example of many times throughout scripture where God is the one who makes the initiative and first reaches out to humans, none more significant than that of the Incarnation of Christ itself.

How good it feels to be pursued, whether it be a friend, a romantic interest or a job promotion. Here we see just how God (not a mere human, but GOD!) calls first, taking the initiative, pursing us.

So Jesus took the initiative to call these four men, but how did they respond?

There’s a short clip from Ted Talks that discusses leadership and movements. The summery of this twominute clip is this: “The first follower is an underestimated leader himself. It takes courage to be the first follower. The first follower is the one who transforms a ‘nut’ into a leader.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V74AxCqOTvg#t=187 Now, I’m not comparing Jesus to a ‘nut’ but I am sure there were many in society who saw him that way.

And so while Jesus took the initiative and called these for men, we cannot underestimate the significance of these four men accepting the call when it was against the status quo.

There was a specific first-step each on of these men took in their response: They dropped everything and left to follow the one who called them. Fish, boats, nets and fathers all left in the dust. This abrupt departure may seem shocking, yet in relation to other points in the gospels when would-be-disciples seek out Jesus, we see this theme of breaking with our past or abandoning our securities, come up again and again. There is the rich man in Mark 10 who Jesus implores to “sell everything and follow me” but who went away grieving because he had many possessions. Then at the end of Luke 9, we see a series of men who desire to follow Jesus but Jesus asks them all to consider what they must give up: home, family obligations, security. It does not appear that a single one of these men end up following Jesus at that time.

In a sense it is like a test to see if one is truly ready to be Jesus’ disciple. In the Matthew passage, Jesus does not ask the men to give up anything but the men do it freely. It is hard to know if this came intuitively or if there were earlier discussions. Either way things were left behind. Both the men’s employment and families were walked away from. Both of these things offer security. This is where the security of what humans create is put to the side and trust in the true provider can be given.

This leaving behind is also referred to a “break from the past”. The things that once identified these men as fishermen and family members are put to the side. The old life is done so a new life can begin. Identity is now found in being a disciple of Jesus.

When these four men started following Jesus, when they became disciples, what did they see? The end of our gospel reading today tells of Jesus “teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and curing every disease and every sickness among the people.” Teaching. Proclaiming. Curing.

Jesus expounded on what scripture said. He proclaimed the Kingdom of God. These two acts teaching and proclaiming, may seem quiet similar to what John the Baptist had been doing, a man who had his own followers. But the proclamation of the coming of the Kingdom was no longer a future-oriented decree but instead was now an in-the-present declaration. God’s kingdom was becoming a reality and this was seen and experienced through the healing of the sick. Restoring health was not only about doing something kind for another but it was, and still is, a means for the presence of God and his reign to be experienced in the present. It is a proclamation of the true King, not only with words but through action.

When Jesus called these four men it was not just so they could follow and learn from a great teacher. Jesus said “Follow me, and I will make you fish for people.” From the beginning, the purpose was so that, through following Jesus, these men would do something extraordinary. This idea is echoed in the commissioning at the end of Matthew. When the resurrected Jesus returns to his disciples and he says “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, 20 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 28:19-20). Jesus clearly does not intend for his disciples to only ever be learners but he trust them to also make disciples. They, too, are to Teach, Preach and Cure.

To be a disciple of Christ’s is a life long journey. Christ promised that he would forever be with his disciples. Unlike the normal rabbi-disciple relationship of the day, where the disciple learns from a Rabbi in hopes of becoming a rabbi himself some day, Jesus’ disciples will always have Jesus as their Rabbi. It is a relationship that never ends. And yet in the midst of being disciples we are called to make disciples.

Henri Nouwen has a helpful analogy for describing how we are to be disciples and make disciples in this on going journey of ours. He compares the way of discipleship to that of a wheel made up of a hub, spokes

and a rim. The hub is an inward movement, towards solitude and intimacy with God. The Spokes symbolize a sideways movement within the church. It is a movement towards fellowship, mutual support, mutual encouragement and accountability with a community of fellow disciples. And thirdly, the rim.

This is where the rubber meets the road (pun intended). This is an outward movement, where we are ministry to the world. Now, we are not to compartmentalize these three sections, for while they are all distinctly different, all three are required for a wheel to be functional.

When Peter, Andrew, James and John became Jesus’ first followers they found some similarities to their old vocation – they still worked hard, and there were still days with what felt like little results. They still waited in hope but they were beginning to see the first glimmers of dawn. The sun was rising and their hopes were beginning to be actualized. Yet they were no long just waiting. But were participating in the coming of the kingdom.

How true this still is for us, his disciples, today. May we continue to be aware of how God is the one taking the initiative in our lives – first calling us. And may we have the courage to be followers, casting off false securities and be disciples making disciples, and through this may the dark places in our lives continue to be overtaken by Jesus’ radiance.