Third Sunday after Epiphany 1/27/08 Text: Matthew 4:12-25 Title: The Power of Jesus
Sunday: Third Sunday after Epiphany
Date: 1/27/2008
Text: Matthew 4:12-25
Title: The power of Jesus
This morning I want to spend some time looking at our Gospel reading. This particular text is about Jesus going to Capernaum by the sea, Galilee Lake to be exact, the preaching of repentance and the calling of four of his disciples. For most of my life I have heard that this text is talking about our being called to be fishers of people. I believe that, if most of you if you are like me, when the pastor, missionary, or evangelist starts talking about this particular text, we have in the past flipped our mental switch off and went somewhere else during the sermon. We do that for a couple of reasons. One is that we just do not get the connection between Jesus calling his disciples and his calling us, just average people, to be a fisher of men. After all they became disciples and later Apostles. Or we might have felt Jesus’ call in the past and do not want to be reminded of it. In other words this text makes us feel bad, for we all know how we fail at responding to Jesus’ call to be fishers of people. So, if you have flipped your mental switch off, flip it back on, for this morning I want to share with you another way of looking at the text. Before I get started I want to tell you that what I am going to say does not mean that we as followers of Christ are off the hook concerning the telling of God’s Word to those who do not know of it. We are still to tell others about Christ, for after all that is what Christians, the followers of Christ do. It is to be part of our DNA, so to speak. I just do not think that it was Matthew’s intent to tell us that we are all to be like the disciples. What got me to thinking that this particular text has a different message for us is that Jesus elsewhere in the Bible tells us to be the light and salt of the earth. That is, in our daily lives, we are to, by our actions and words show that Christ lives in us. He does not tell everyone that they are to stop and literally follow him. In other places in God’s Word we are told that God has called some to be pastors, others teachers, and so on. In other words not all are called to preach or teach. So, as I studied, thought, and prayed about this text during the week I started to see it in a different light. It is not that we could not infer from the calling of the disciples that we too are called, but that this particular text focus is not about what we are to do, but it is about Jesus. Let’s take a look, for I believe that as I go through the reading with you this morning you will begin to see what I mean by saying that the focus is on Jesus being the Son of God, the long waited Messiah. Remember, Matthew’s purpose for his Gospel is to show to the Jewish people particularly, but to those that don’t believe in Jesus, or are not to sure of him that Jesus is the promised and long expected Messiah. Remember how each of the past Sunday’s readings focused on Jesus being the light, the promised one, that came for the world. This is a continuation of that theme. But now it takes a new direction. Matthew has set up who Jesus is. There is no doubt that he is the promised Messiah, so he is ready to move on with the story of Jesus ministry. He starts off this particular account by recording that Jesus purposely went to the land of Galilee, particularly Capernaum by the sea. Why did Jesus do that? Some would say that he did it to escape being captured and killed and that might true, but Matthew says that he went there on purpose to fulfill the prophecy of Isaiah. It was no accident that Jesus went to Capernaum by the sea. For in doing so he did more than fulfill the prophecy of Isaiah. In his going to Capernaum he makes an important transition. It is there that he starts to preach to the people the same message that the prophets of old preached, the message that John the Baptizer preached, the message of, “Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” Now it is important to know that in the Greek language the part that we translate as, “is at hand” when Jesus is speaking of the kingdom does not mean that it is an event that is going to happen in the future. In Greek grammar the word has a meaning of taking place now but not yet complete. In other words, it is as we pray in the Lord’s Prayer, “Thy kingdom come” meaning his kingdom exists now, but that we want to be part of God’s kingdom. As we go along in verse 18 we find Jesus walking by the Sea of Galilee where he finds two fishermen doing what fishermen do, that is fishing. Later on in verse 21 we see he finds two more fishermen and calls them to be disciples. What is overlooked quite often is verse 19 where Jesus says, “Follow me and I will make you fishers of men.” Jesus will make them fishers of people. It is in the future that they will become fishers of people. They have to go through, as it were a training course first. They need to live with Jesus. They need to be taught by Jesus. They need to see Jesus being beaten and murdered. They needed to come to grips with their fear. They need to see Jesus after he rose from the grave. They needed to see him ascend into heaven. And last by not least they needed Jesus to give them the full measure of the Holy Spirit which was done on Pentecost day. You see, as I mentioned earlier, the focus of this text is not on the disciples. The focus is on Jesus doing what he does best. That is calling people to his side. Just like the two Sundays before we see Jesus seeking out people, special people, people that he has a particular job waiting. It is Jesus that is doing the calling. Matthew wrote this account to show us that when Jesus speaks things happen. He calls people to follow him and they do. He teaches and people listen. The sick come to him and they are healed. He is the Messiah, Jesus Christ, God himself on this earth. Going back some into the text we see a wonderful prophecy being fulfilled. In verse 16 we see Jesus is the “great light”. He is the great and wonderful light that drove out the shadow of death. What does this mean? It means death is destroyed. What we see as death, as the end of life, is only a period of time. What we see as decay and corruption is really a time of sleep, for that is what Jesus calls the death of those who believe in him. It is not the end, but only a waiting period. When Jesus comes back those sinful bodies of his followers, wherever they are, will be raised up sinless. Those who have died in the faith will be joined forever with their souls, the souls that have been with God since they died. Wow, what an experience that will be. Bodies free of sin and disease. Bodies free of defects, bodies, where all the body parts work as they should, bodies in the company of Jesus, having eternal fellowship with him. And we received the guarantee of that happening when we were baptized in his name. So what does that mean for us, the people of Saint John? It means that we can trust in Jesus, for he in his coming to this earth fulfilled the prophecy and that in his healing of bodies, we too can have the assurance that when he comes our bodies will be perfectly healed, forever free of problems. That is what Matthew’s account means for us today. So what do we do with it? We live our lives as God wants us to do resting in the life saving grace of his love. It means that we forgive each other and work for the common good. It means that we are to be about his business showing the love of Jesus to the entire world. That is what it means to be a Christian. And so we need to be about his business, for he is the only true light of the world. Amen.
Date: 1/27/2008
Text: Matthew 4:12-25
Title: The power of Jesus
This morning I want to spend some time looking at our Gospel reading. This particular text is about Jesus going to Capernaum by the sea, Galilee Lake to be exact, the preaching of repentance and the calling of four of his disciples. For most of my life I have heard that this text is talking about our being called to be fishers of people. I believe that, if most of you if you are like me, when the pastor, missionary, or evangelist starts talking about this particular text, we have in the past flipped our mental switch off and went somewhere else during the sermon. We do that for a couple of reasons. One is that we just do not get the connection between Jesus calling his disciples and his calling us, just average people, to be a fisher of men. After all they became disciples and later Apostles. Or we might have felt Jesus’ call in the past and do not want to be reminded of it. In other words this text makes us feel bad, for we all know how we fail at responding to Jesus’ call to be fishers of people. So, if you have flipped your mental switch off, flip it back on, for this morning I want to share with you another way of looking at the text. Before I get started I want to tell you that what I am going to say does not mean that we as followers of Christ are off the hook concerning the telling of God’s Word to those who do not know of it. We are still to tell others about Christ, for after all that is what Christians, the followers of Christ do. It is to be part of our DNA, so to speak. I just do not think that it was Matthew’s intent to tell us that we are all to be like the disciples. What got me to thinking that this particular text has a different message for us is that Jesus elsewhere in the Bible tells us to be the light and salt of the earth. That is, in our daily lives, we are to, by our actions and words show that Christ lives in us. He does not tell everyone that they are to stop and literally follow him. In other places in God’s Word we are told that God has called some to be pastors, others teachers, and so on. In other words not all are called to preach or teach. So, as I studied, thought, and prayed about this text during the week I started to see it in a different light. It is not that we could not infer from the calling of the disciples that we too are called, but that this particular text focus is not about what we are to do, but it is about Jesus. Let’s take a look, for I believe that as I go through the reading with you this morning you will begin to see what I mean by saying that the focus is on Jesus being the Son of God, the long waited Messiah. Remember, Matthew’s purpose for his Gospel is to show to the Jewish people particularly, but to those that don’t believe in Jesus, or are not to sure of him that Jesus is the promised and long expected Messiah. Remember how each of the past Sunday’s readings focused on Jesus being the light, the promised one, that came for the world. This is a continuation of that theme. But now it takes a new direction. Matthew has set up who Jesus is. There is no doubt that he is the promised Messiah, so he is ready to move on with the story of Jesus ministry. He starts off this particular account by recording that Jesus purposely went to the land of Galilee, particularly Capernaum by the sea. Why did Jesus do that? Some would say that he did it to escape being captured and killed and that might true, but Matthew says that he went there on purpose to fulfill the prophecy of Isaiah. It was no accident that Jesus went to Capernaum by the sea. For in doing so he did more than fulfill the prophecy of Isaiah. In his going to Capernaum he makes an important transition. It is there that he starts to preach to the people the same message that the prophets of old preached, the message that John the Baptizer preached, the message of, “Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” Now it is important to know that in the Greek language the part that we translate as, “is at hand” when Jesus is speaking of the kingdom does not mean that it is an event that is going to happen in the future. In Greek grammar the word has a meaning of taking place now but not yet complete. In other words, it is as we pray in the Lord’s Prayer, “Thy kingdom come” meaning his kingdom exists now, but that we want to be part of God’s kingdom. As we go along in verse 18 we find Jesus walking by the Sea of Galilee where he finds two fishermen doing what fishermen do, that is fishing. Later on in verse 21 we see he finds two more fishermen and calls them to be disciples. What is overlooked quite often is verse 19 where Jesus says, “Follow me and I will make you fishers of men.” Jesus will make them fishers of people. It is in the future that they will become fishers of people. They have to go through, as it were a training course first. They need to live with Jesus. They need to be taught by Jesus. They need to see Jesus being beaten and murdered. They needed to come to grips with their fear. They need to see Jesus after he rose from the grave. They needed to see him ascend into heaven. And last by not least they needed Jesus to give them the full measure of the Holy Spirit which was done on Pentecost day. You see, as I mentioned earlier, the focus of this text is not on the disciples. The focus is on Jesus doing what he does best. That is calling people to his side. Just like the two Sundays before we see Jesus seeking out people, special people, people that he has a particular job waiting. It is Jesus that is doing the calling. Matthew wrote this account to show us that when Jesus speaks things happen. He calls people to follow him and they do. He teaches and people listen. The sick come to him and they are healed. He is the Messiah, Jesus Christ, God himself on this earth. Going back some into the text we see a wonderful prophecy being fulfilled. In verse 16 we see Jesus is the “great light”. He is the great and wonderful light that drove out the shadow of death. What does this mean? It means death is destroyed. What we see as death, as the end of life, is only a period of time. What we see as decay and corruption is really a time of sleep, for that is what Jesus calls the death of those who believe in him. It is not the end, but only a waiting period. When Jesus comes back those sinful bodies of his followers, wherever they are, will be raised up sinless. Those who have died in the faith will be joined forever with their souls, the souls that have been with God since they died. Wow, what an experience that will be. Bodies free of sin and disease. Bodies free of defects, bodies, where all the body parts work as they should, bodies in the company of Jesus, having eternal fellowship with him. And we received the guarantee of that happening when we were baptized in his name. So what does that mean for us, the people of Saint John? It means that we can trust in Jesus, for he in his coming to this earth fulfilled the prophecy and that in his healing of bodies, we too can have the assurance that when he comes our bodies will be perfectly healed, forever free of problems. That is what Matthew’s account means for us today. So what do we do with it? We live our lives as God wants us to do resting in the life saving grace of his love. It means that we forgive each other and work for the common good. It means that we are to be about his business showing the love of Jesus to the entire world. That is what it means to be a Christian. And so we need to be about his business, for he is the only true light of the world. Amen.
posted by Pastor Rhoads | 5:06 PM
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