A Sermon for the Third Sunday after the Epiphany
January 27, 2008
Pastor Laura Gentry
Matthew 4:12-23 Now when Jesus heard that John had been arrested, he withdrew to Galilee. He left Nazareth and made his home in Capernaum by the sea, in the territory of Zebulun and Naphtali, so that what had been spoken through the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled: “Land of Zebulun, land of Naphtali, on the road 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 shadow of death light has dawned.” From that time Jesus began to proclaim, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.”
As he walked by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea—for they were fishermen. And he said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fish for people.” Immediately they left their nets and followed him. As he went from there, he saw two other brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John, in the boat with their father Zebedee, mending their nets, and he called them. Immediately they left the boat and their father, and followed him.
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. (NRSV) Grace and Peace to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
During the time I was attending Luther College, I did an exchange with Saint Olaf College for a January term class, so I spent a month in Northfield, Minnesota taking a drawing class. I was amazed at how the intelligent students at this prestigious school behaved at meal time. Right next to the cafeteria, there were two large, walk-in closets with sturdy hangers for the big winter coats Saint Olaf students need for braving the cold Minnesotan winter winds. And above those hangers were shelves for storing the students’ heavy book bags. Surely the architects of the student union had thought of everything. But what they had not factored in was the vim and vigor with which Saint Olaf students come to dinner. I remember the first time I entered the cafeteria area—there were NO coats hung in the easily-accessible closets, NO backpacks stashed neatly on the shelves—NOT ONE! No, the entire floor outside the cafeteria was covered in coats and hats and gloves and book bags. They were strewn every which-a-way from the lounge furniture to the floor, right up to the very entry of the cafeteria—like they couldn’t get out of their coats fast enough to eat. As we approached the mess one day, a classmate looked at me and said, “It’s hard to believe the students here are so smart the way we throw our clothes on the floor like a bunch of little kids.”
Every time I read today’s Gospel lesson from Matthew, I imagine Peter and Andrew dropping their fishing nets with the same sort of recklessness as those Saint Olaf students. Matthew tells us that Jesus approaches them with the simple call: “Follow me, and I will make you fish for people.” Peter and Andrew were fishing with the kind of nets that are thrown from the shore. And Matthew doesn’t tell us if they neatly pack up their nets or not when they hear Jesus’ call. He just says that, “Immediately they left their nets and followed him.”
“Immediately” isn’t even Matthew’s favorite word like it is Mark’s. In the Gospel of Mark, just about everything happens immediately, but not with Matthew. So we have to sit up and take note that he uses this word twice in the course of a short passage. Immediately Peter and Andrew leave their nets and follow Jesus and immediately James and John leave their boat, their nets, and even their father, and follow him. To me, this sounds like a wild abandonment paralleled only by savagely-hungry college students.
When I heard this story as a child, I remember wondering why those fishermen just left their nets and followed. I mean, they were leaving their careers, their families, their whole lives to follow Jesus—and at this point, they don’t even really know Jesus. What in the world would posses them to do so—and to do it immediately, without even deliberating about it for a while? They don’t fuss around with lots of excuses like: “Well, perhaps I’ll follow you at a more convenient juncture in my life—perhaps on a day when the fishing isn’t to good...” No, they throw down their nets in messy heap and follow immediately. But why? As a kid, I could never figure it out.
Well, perhaps the key to unlocking this mystery lies in the fact that Jesus was out preaching a message of repentance. “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near,” cries Jesus along the shores of the Galilee. In our modern world, I think many people are confused about what it means to repent. In confirmation, I learned that it means: to feel so sorry about your sins that you never want to commit them again. While this is an accurate definition, it left me feeling deeply sorry for my sins, but with no where to go from there. Many people share that view of repentance, believing it is nothing more than a Christian concept thrown around to make them feel guilty.
But when I got to college, a theologically astute dance professor of mine explained that to repent means, “to turn around.” In fact, to help us to embody this teaching, he would have us dance around any way we wanted and then he’d yell, “REPENT!” and we’d all swing around 180 degrees and dance in the opposite direction. For me, this changed my whole perception of repentance. It is not just about turning away from our sinful path, but it is about turning towards and running into God’s arms of love. So what if we have to give up our old lives? We are given altogether new ones! God turns us around and gives us a new direction in which to dance.
Perhaps if we look at the story of the calling of the disciples in this light, we can understand why they followed. We can get a sense of why Peter and Andrew are so hasty to throw down their nets and follow and why James and John actually bail ship in order to become fishers of people. In that simple call; “Follow me,” Jesus offers these men a brand new future—and it is so full of life that they can’t stand to delay their response. It is an offer they can’t refuse. They want to follow him right now. They immediately throw off their past and turn around into God’s arms.
And where does Jesus lead them from there? To a life of evangelism. Their whole mission is to be fishers of people: to turn the world around, the way they were turned around. They spend the rest of their days letting people know that they are walking in darkness—but that that’s not the whole story. They proclaim that the light has dawned, and the world must turn around and embrace it.
Have you ever been working around the house at dusk? You can be working away and not even notice the sun setting and the light becoming dimmer and dimmer until someone else walks in the room and says, “Why are you sitting in darkness?” and flips on the light switch with a reprimand like, “Don’t ruin your eyes!” You see, when you are in the darkness, it is hard to notice it because you forget the brilliance of the light. The call to be fishers of people, is a call to bear witness to the light, so that those walking in darkness will understand what they’re missing and will turn around to find the light for themselves.
Isaiah’s ancient words ring just as true now as they did in his day: “The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who lived in a land of deep darkness—on them light has shined. You have multiplied the nation, you have increased its joy; they rejoice before you as with joy at the harvest, as people exult when dividing plunder. For the yoke of their burden, and the bar across their shoulders, the rod of their oppressor, you have broken as on the day of Midian.” (Isaiah 9:2-4)
We, too, have been called to follow Jesus and be fishers of people. We are also called to immediately drop whatever is holding us back and to go out and bear witness to the light. Certainly, we have seen our neighbors walking in darkness, carrying their heavy burdens in pain. Perhaps we have been doing some of our own darkness-walking and burden-carrying. And to all of us, Jesus urgently calls: Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near—turn around and dance in a new direction! Dance my way!
At our congregational meeting following the service today, we’ll be looking at a number of things, including ways in which we can continue growing numerically. Most Christian churches are declining in membership, especially small ones. And we search for business strategies to attract new members so that we’ll continue to survive as an organization. I’ve read a great number of resources that address this problem with fancy strategies for growth. But I think at the heart of all church growth is our ability to convey this call that Jesus issues to follow him. Can we make Christ so real for others that he grabs a hold of them and urges them to follow also?
American philosopher, John Caputo, wrote an interesting book called On Religion. In it, he writes:
“Religion kicks in, not necessarily when we sign on the dotted line of some confessional faith or other, but when we confess our love for something besides ourselves, when we bind ourselves over to something other, which means something other than ourselves, when we gather ourselves together and center ourselves on a transforming focus of our love. Something grander and larger than us comes along and bowls us over and dispossesses us. Something overpowers our powers, potencies, and possibilities, and exposes us to something impossible. Something makes a demand upon us and shakes us loose from the circle of self-love, drawing us out of ourselves and into the service of others and of something to come. The religious sense of life kicks in when I’m rigorously loyal, ‘religiously’ faithful to the service of something other than myself, more important than myself, to which I swear an oath which has me more than I have it.”
I think this explanation is powerful. The question for us today is: Does Jesus have us more than we have him? Do we notice him grabbing hold of us and calling us to live a life beyond self-centeredness? Can we can step out in faith like Peter, Andrew, James and John and say YES to this call?
Scripture promises that if you can immediately, recklessly drop your old life and give God your heart, you will be swimming in the light—even in the midst of deep darkness. Jesus desperately wants to touch each one of us and remove our burdens, so that they will be strewn all over the floor like the coats and bags of the hungry Saint Olaf students, and like the abandoned nets of the disciples. God wants to lead us in a new dance so that we will be filled rejoicing—as with joy at the harvest—and our joy can bear witness to the amazing light that God has breathed into our midst in Christ. May we say YES today and dance in a new direction! May God use our YESES to turn the world around.
Now, may the peace of God which passes all understanding, keep our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, our Lord. Amen.
© 2008 Laura E. Gentry
