A combination or collection of various things. We build onto a backing. Peter build the church on the rock of salvation. It took a savior to fill the church. Today we celebrate. remember the beginning of Jesus' public ministry in our scripture.
This is after the arrest of John the Baptist and when Jesus first begins to gather followers. For me this was always the most exciting and interesting part of the story. As a child there were not many parts of the bible I wanted to play. A Shepard in the holiday play was no problem, but most of the roles in the bible were not something to envy in my mind. The woman at the well attracted me, but I didn't want to be an outsider. To be last and paid the same maybe, but the sick, the dirty and the desperate where common roles played in the stories of the bible. People made choices that I could not understand as a child. But those who met Jesus and left everything behind this was something I could comprehend. This was something I was envious. The world was a confusing place as a child, but that was what made me feel this way.
As a child I certainly did not know what was going on, but I knew that not everything could make sense. There were too many things. The number my parents could explain were limited. Sure they showed me the end of the road. I had this specific question: where did the road end. To me this seemed like something that should be answerable. People built the road it must be going somewhere.
I don't remember any of their answers that I dismissed, but there were many. Finally they gave me a post card of a tunnel in Washington DC. They said it was the end of the road. It was something that I had never seen. I could see the road going inside and it was the capitol city. I was content with this answer about fifteen years. Later I would come to understand the road never ends we do; really just mattered where we got to. Was there a destination.
Everyone seemed to be going in a different direction to me as a kid. I watched as they went out different doors. Then this story how the savior came by some people and said follow me and they dropped everything and followed him. I didn't think how could they do that. I didn't understand how they could do what they were doing they seemed to be going to their own destination. To their own end.
Maybe this is the reason I do not feel comfortable leading. In my professional life I have always been a follower. My standards can be very tough being a follower of Jesus it is hard to find a good leader. Like many things you know it when you see it, but words fail to describe it. I've learned to give people a break, but I have never learned to follow a bad leader.
The idea that a perfect person would come by and ask me to leave everything behind and follow has always been attractive to me. Not that I don't want to figure out life on my own, but that life can not be figured out. That the road does not end, but we do. We find destination. I idolized sports figures at the time. That was a life I could understand. Playing a child's game for a living. They spoke of a me generation and that greed was good when I was a kid. There was mostly nonsense.
Even in the seventies people could see the road ahead. Carbon Dioxide was rising in the atmosphere and everybody acted as if it was not or that it wouldn't matter. This was something to be left behind. All we needed was a savior to come along and call us. As a child I wondered why there were only twelve. When Jesus calls us all we still look to the twelve.
Our apostles, literally translated the sent. The first disciples of Jesus. Well here we are trying to be the last. Someone said to me not to long ago that we are the last here, maybe but something Albert Einstein said comes to me:
"A hundred times every day I remind myself that my inner and outer life are based on the labors of other men, living and dead, and that I must exert myself in order to give in the same measure as I have received and am still receiving."
Those labor created blessings and curses. There were head winds for our savior as we see in Matthew 13:55 "Isn't this the carpenter's son? Early when Jesus preaches in his hometown we are told he didn't do many miracles because of their disbelief. The miracles were being done for the believers not to make believers. There is something of another sermon there but let's look at our scripture from Mathew.
Matthew 4:12-23 from the Amplified Bible I read:
12 Now when Jesus heard that John [the Baptist] had been arrested and put in prison, He left for Galilee.
This is the first trumpet blast of the ministry of the word made flesh. This was the starting line as it was the destination of the flesh of John. We first learn from Jesus that endings can really be beginnings. Also that God can put us on messy roads or even our head on a platter in the case of John.
13 And leaving Nazareth, He went and settled in Capernaum, which is by the sea, in the country of Zebulun and Naphtali. 14 This was to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah:
15 “The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, By the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee [in the district] of the Gentiles—
16 “The people who were sitting (living) in [spiritual] darkness have seen a great Light, And for those who were sitting (living) in the land and shadow of [spiritual and moral] death, upon them a Light has dawned.”
To me as a child Christianity seemed to be a religion of sign posts. The prophets spoke and worlds moved to make it happen. Or the prophets saw what was happening the more adult idea forms in me now. We are given a check list for our savior. Jesus checks all the boxes.
17 From that time Jesus began to preach and say, “Repent [change your inner self—your old way of thinking, regret past sins, live your life in a way that proves repentance; seek God’s purpose for your life], for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”
This was an urgent message. And yes it still is an urgent message. This was the paradox I saw as a child. But it had to start. And there had to be these twelve first. To do what they did to those people then and to us people now. We have the luxury to see them as the people they are and to know we don't have to figure everything out, They sure didn't.
18 As Jesus was walking by the Sea of Galilee, He noticed two brothers, Simon who was called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea; for they were fishermen. 19 And He said to them, “Follow Me [as My disciples, accepting Me as your Master and Teacher and walking the same path of life that I walk], and I will make you fishers of men.” 20 Immediately they left their nets and followed Him [becoming His disciples, believing and trusting in Him and following His example]. 21 And going on [further] from there He noticed two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee, and his brother John, in the boat with their father [c]Zebedee, mending their nets; and He called them [to follow Him as His disciples]. 22 Immediately they left the boat and their father, and followed Him [becoming His disciples, believing and trusting in Him and following His example].
Immediately they left their nets. This I was envious of as a child. As an adult I see that it is a call upon my life as well. Immediately I need to leave my nets I know, I am not sure what that means.
23 And He went throughout all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and preaching the good news (gospel) of the kingdom, and healing every kind of disease and every kind of sickness among the people [demonstrating and revealing that He was indeed the promised Messiah].
The concept of “follow” can represent three separate possibilities: in the early stages of His ministry, walking with Him physically, that is, first merely being in His presence regardless of personal belief or commitment, second accepting and identifying with the salvation He offered; and third being identified with Him by being subject to the scorn and rejection of unbelievers because of personal belief and commitment to Him.
The first one is what I was envious. As an adult I have learned a truism: People always have the same number of problems. It is the problems that change not the number. Immediately they left their nets. We say oh well they were simple it was easy for them. I would just say we are simple and it is easy for us.
There are a few other stories of the first disciples and we find one in John 1,43 that helps illustrate this remarkable time of the gathering of the twelve. The first sent:
The next day Jesus decided to go into Galilee, and He found Philip and said to him, “Follow Me [as My disciple, accepting Me as your Master and Teacher, and walking the same path of life that I walk].” 44 Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter. 45 Philip found Nathanael and told him, “We have found the One Moses in the Law and also the Prophets wrote about—Jesus from Nazareth, the son of Joseph [according to public record].” 46 Nathanael answered him, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Philip replied, “Come and see."
This story demonstrates that they were on the look out for what their ancestors had promised. They looked for signs and were ready for something new even if they did not know what that new would be. “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Philip replied, “Come and see. " Here at the very beginning we have this new type of meritocracy. If you would come you would be shown. No longer a talk of what was to come. We are finally going home and we still are.
Now it is a long way cause their are so many to gather, Twelve at a time on our way to twelve billion. Make you almost wonder love like the road never ends. Doesn't really matter where we arrive it is our destination. The call upon your life is there I promise you if you will only listen.
In 1 Corinthians 1:10 again from the Amplified Bible we find our destination:
10 But I urge you, believers, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you be in full agreement in what you say, and that there be no divisions or factions among you, but that you be perfectly united in your way of thinking and in your judgment [about matters of the faith].
So we got some work to do thanks be to Jesus. As I have noted before endless work is a reward.
In Isaiah 9:1-4 from the Amplified bible again, this referenced in our scripture we read:
9 But there will be no more gloom for her who was in anguish [for with judgment comes the promise of salvation]. In earlier times He treated the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali with contempt, but later on He will make them honored [by the presence of the Messiah], by the way of the sea, on the other side of Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles.
2
The people who walk in [spiritual] darkness
Will see a great Light;
Those who live in the dark land,
The Light will shine on them.
3
You [O God] will increase the nation,
You will multiply their joy;
They will rejoice before You
Like the joy and jubilation of the harvest,
As men rejoice when they divide the spoil [of victory].
4
For You will break the yoke of Israel’s burden and the staff on their shoulders,
The rod of their oppressor, as at the battle of Midian.
You might remember the story from Judges 6-7; an exasperated Gideon asks,
“Please, Lord, how can I save Israel? Behold, my clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father’s house.” And the Lord said to him, “But I will be with you, and you shall strike the Midianites as one man.”
So many stories, interstates, highways, byways, side streets. We go back around the sun retelling the stories of beginning and end. With no end.
Let Us Pray
Ephesians 1:15-23
Amplified Bible
15 For this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all God’s people, 16 I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers; 17 [I always pray] that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may grant you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation [that gives you a deep and personal and intimate insight] into the true knowledge of Him [for we know the Father through the Son]. 18 And [I pray] that the eyes of your heart [the very center and core of your being] may be enlightened [flooded with light by the Holy Spirit], so that you will know and cherish the hope [the divine guarantee, the confident expectation] to which He has called you, the riches of His glorious inheritance in the saints (God’s people), 19 and [so that you will begin to know] what the immeasurable and unlimited and surpassing greatness of His [active, spiritual] power is in us who believe. These are in accordance with the working of His mighty strength 20 which He produced in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His own right hand in the heavenly places, 21 far above all rule and authority and power and dominion [whether angelic or human], and [far above] every name that is named [above every title that can be conferred], not only in this age and world but also in the one to come. 22 And He put all things [in every realm] in subjection under Christ’s feet, and appointed Him as [supreme and authoritative] head over all things in the church, 23 which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills and completes all things in all [believers].
Amen
Benediction
Immediately leave your nets
Be fishers of men and women
There will be no more gloom for her who was in anguish
Light has dawned
Go for you are sent
Nottingham UMC 1/22/2023
