January 22, 2023 Sermon
Sermon title: "Jesus Chooses Some Disciples"
Scripture: Matthew 4:12-23
(Other lectionary suggestions include Isaiah 9:1-4, Psalm 27:1 and 4-9, and I Corinthians 1:10-18.)
Matthew 4:12-23
Jesus Begins His Ministry in Galilee
12Now when Jesus heard that John had been arrested, he withdrew to Galilee. 13He left Nazareth and made his home in Capernaum by the sea, in the territory of Zebulun and Naphtali, 14so that what had been spoken through the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled: 15"Land of Zebulun, land of Naphtali, on the road by the sea, across the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles—16the 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." 17From that time Jesus began to proclaim, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near." 18As 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. 19And he said to them, "Follow me, and I will make you fish for people." 20Immediately they left their nets and followed him. 21As 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. 22Immediately they left the boat and their father, and followed him.
Jesus Ministers to Crowds of People
23Jesus 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.
Before we get to the title of this sermon, "Jesus Chooses Some Disciples", I want to address the verse, "the people who sat in darkness have seen a great light." Matthew quotes Isaiah by including that verse - what does it mean? One thing it could mean is that before Jesus, many of his countrymen wanted to overthrow Rome by military means. Think of it: you're a Jew, and you have grown up with hearing that you and your relatives are God's chosen people. But is it right for the Chosen to be ruled by pagans? Absolutely NOT, was the popular belief. So, there were people who wanted to lead an armed rebellion against the Romans. But think what that means: we are going to KILL people in the name of God, and Jesus was against that kind of thinking. That kind of thinking, says the writer of Matthew, is the thinking of people who walk in darkness. The great Light is Jesus, the light of the world. The Scripture tells us, in verse 17, "From that time Jesus began to proclaim, 'Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.'"
The word "repent" means more than being sorry for what you've done. It also means, "Stop what you're doing and change direction!" What Jesus is saying is, "Stop it with this idea of overthrowing Rome by force!" He may have realized that practically it was an impossible idea - but more probably, Jesus realized that we're ALL God's children, and killing a pagan Roman was no better than the killing of a fellow Jew. So, from the BEGINNING, Jesus was for peace. From the beginning, Jesus was not going to kill anyone for the sake of his fellow Jews. From the beginning, Jesus would not shed blood - and if anyone still wanted blood, Jesus was saying, "Here. Take mine." From the BEGINNING, from the BEGINNING.
That point - change direction, put KILLING out of your minds - may be more important than the title of this sermon, "Jesus Chooses Some Disciples". We are told that he chose Simon Peter and his brother Andrew, and they immediately followed him. Next he finds two other brothers, James and John, the sons of Zebedee, and they leave their father in the boat and follow Jesus. That doesn't seem like a very nice thing to do! Poor Zebedee! Left with an empty boat and a funny name, besides! (Don't you smile when you say, "Zebedee!"?) Seriously, the author of Matthew wants us to think that these original disciples of Jesus dropped everything and followed him. MAYBE it happened that way, but I like to think that perhaps Jesus had had previous conversations with these guys. And that idea is not original with me. I think I read about it in a commentary one time. But it makes sense, don't you think? Jesus is beginning a ministry to change people's lives, and to change the course of the world. Don't you think he might have "vetted" these men first before he told them to drop everything and follow him? I do. And if he did "vet" them, he still made a mistake with one of them, right? Judas Iscariot! Now your faith may tell you that Jesus NEEDED somebody to betray him, so he chose Judas. But that's just a little too "pat" for me. In my view, in my faith, Jesus was fully man as well as fully God. So, if he was fully man, he might have made a mistake or two, and maybe one of those mistakes was the choice of Judas. Or maybe Judas changed along the way, and Jesus didn't see that change coming. Uh-oh! Does that mean Jesus wasn't perfect? I hope none of these ideas upsets your faith - but think about these things. Was the perfect, sinless Son of God too naive to understand the sinful world he came to save? I personally don't think so, but what do you think?
In today's Scripture lesson, Jesus chooses four disciples, and they are all fishermen. While very few people were rich in the ancient world, and most were poor, fishermen did all right! That's not to say they were well off, but they caught a product that was constantly in demand: fresh food. Also, apparently the four had been in business for more than a generation, so we might say that fishing was a family business. So, these four who decided to follow Jesus that day took a risk. Presumably they had families, and fishing had supported those families. But they left their successful business to follow Jesus. If they had nothing to live for, why not follow this young Galilean preacher? What an adventure! But they DID have something to live for, and yet they followed Jesus, anyway! And maybe that's the point: people chose to follow Jesus and risk it all. Do you think that's one of the points Matthew is making? These guys did it -WHY NOT YOU?
When I was the minister at the La Canada Congregational Church, I quoted a guy named William H. Willimon quite often in my sermons. He was the Dean of the Chapel at Duke University Divinity School in Durham, North Carolina, and he had a regular magazine with insights into the lectionary texts. In one article, he mentioned how parents of Duke University students would sometimes come to see him and have him try to talk some sense into their children. Those children, apparently, had come to Duke wanting to be a doctor or a lawyer......and suddenly after a religion course, some of them wanted to go help out the Haitians, for example, after an earthquake or a hurricane. What's the matter with my kids? they seemed to be saying. Willimon's answer to those parents was that you never know what's going to happen when Jesus gets loose! Perhaps that is what happened to Peter and Andrew and James and John: they met Jesus, and could do nothing else but follow him. The same thing for the students at Duke: they came to college with one thing in mind, but the Lord was waiting for them there in some New Testament course. They came to college, perhaps, wanting to do what their parents wanted them to do - but they somehow met Jesus and knew that they must follow him.
There is something else in this story. We would all agree that FAMILY is pretty important. But there is one thing that is even more important than family, and that is doing what the Lord has in mind for you to do. It goes all the way back to Abraham ALMOST sacrificing his son Isaac because he thought the Lord was telling him to do so - and THAT was after the Lord gave Abraham and Sarah a son - finally - in their old age. You can read about this in Genesis. What that story says is that what GOD wants is even more important than family. We see it with Jesus in another context, in Mark's Gospel, I think. Jesus is teaching some people in a house, and Mary his mother shows up with some other siblings. Remember the story? "Your mother and brothers and sisters are here." And what does Jesus say? "Those who do the will of my Father in Heaven are my mother and brothers and sisters." Family is important, yes. But before you belong to your family, you belong to God.
I could give you other quotes. The early 20th-century Lebanese writer Khalil Gibran, a Christian, said that your children may have come from you, but they don't belong to you. They belong to the universe. Another Jesus story: one time when he preached, he irritated the crowd, and somebody said, "Isn't this the carpenter's son? Isn't this Joseph and Mary's son?" Maybe so....but he belonged to God. And so do you and I! Amen.
Pastor Skip
