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January 23, 2011

Matthew 4

So at exactly what moment did Jesus change the history of the world?  Can you think of one moment that just changed everything, that instant when even if nothing else happened, the world would be different from that moment on?

 

His birth?  His resurrection?  His crucifixion?  I want to suggest that maybe it was that moment in this morning’s reading.  Jesus said- Repent, the Kingdom of heaven is near.  Then he said- Come and follow me.

 

I know, it isn’t exciting as some of the other moments.  But think about it.  John has started a religious movement by baptizing for repentance at the Jordan.  Jesus goes to him and is baptized.  Jesus becomes a follower of John.  Now John is arrested and thrown in prison.  Jesus took over where John had left off.  Jesus picked up this movement.  Jesus set out and began his ministry, all in this one brief passage.  And the message Jesus preached shifted quickly from “come and repent” to “come and follow me.”

 

We remember from last week that Andrew and Simon had actually met jesus.  They spent part of a day with him, watching, listening, learning.  So when Jesus came to them at the lake and said- come and follow me, it was not a total surprise.  AT least they knew who he was.  It wasn’t completely impulsive, but a bit.  It is the kind of decision that most of us would find frightening and alluring- at the same time.  I tend to be an impulsive person by nature.  Uncertainty and indecision can make me anxious so sometimes I decide a little too quickly.  But I can look like the most indecisive person in the world next to Simon and Andrew.

 

Hey, stranger out there fishing in your boat.

You- doing your job to feed your family

Doing what you have been trained to do and expect to do the rest of your life

Hey you, come follow me.

Me, this person you don’t really know at all

This guy who has just appeared from nowhere

This stranger wandering around the lake

Talking about fishing for people which makes no sense at all because we all know people don’t live in the lake so how could you fish for them

Hey, come follow me

 

OK. they said and they did.

Just a fluke? No, because then it happens again

 

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.

Don’t you wonder about Zebedee?

They were in their boats with their father- Zebedee.

They were mending their nets.

Jesus says hey, follow me

And James and John go.

They leave their boats and their nets and oh yes, they left their father

Alone in the boat.

Alone with the holey nets.

 

So what is the deal?

Did Jesus not call Zebedee as well?

Was he too old?

Was he infirm?

Did Jesus only want the young, healthy and able bodied.

I doubt that.

I think Jesus calls everyone

I don’t think there is a person in the world that Jesus would leave out.

I think Zebedee chose to stay.

 

He had no choice.

With two of the boys suddenly up and leaving

Who would take care of the family fishing business?

Who would bring home the catch?

Who would earn a living to support the kids still at home?

What got in to these boys anyway?

I think Zebedee had to be ticked off that they just disappeared and left him with the nets that needed mending, the boat that needed cleaning, the business that needed tending, the family that needed feeding, the lawn that needed mowing, the cow that needed milking, the dishes, the laundry…

 

James and John took off on a lark.  They went to follow some dream.  And he was stuck with the practical, everyday realities of life.  Maybe Zebedee just didn’t understand why anyone would leave a good job, a comfortable life, a nice income, friends and family, to go off and follow Jesus.

 

Zebedee wasn’t going anywhere with this stranger.

He was staying home where he understood life, where he knew his way around, where he did what he had always done.

 

Now, I am not picking on Zebedee.

I don’t think he was a bad person.

I think we are more like Zebedee than we are like James and John.

 

Some days we just don’t need any adventure.

We just want to sit in the boat and mull things over.

 

The reality is that when Christ calls, he offers abundant life.

If we are to accept his offer, our life is going to change.

Our personal history is going to shift.

Things will never be the same again.

 

Discipleship implies change.

Spiritual growth implies change.

Congregational life and growth imply change.

 

And change implies risk. And that is what makes it so hard.  We cling to the familiar.   We clutch those behaviors and beliefs that make us feel safe.   Christian spirituality calls this "attachment."

We get attached- to our pew

            to our way of understanding that verse of scripture

            to our hymns

            even to the color of the carpet or the walls

 

Attachment comes from roots meaning "staked" or "nailed to." It implies that what makes us feel safe and comfortable may also be spiritually dangerous.  Our souls remain tethered to something other than the love of God. We hold ourselves back from what we were meant to become. We choose to stay in the boat, attached to all that is familiar and secure, even when the Son of God appears on the shore.

 

Of course, we don’t know what happened to Zebedee – how he may have responded the next time Jesus called.   We do know while Peter, James and John were eager to sign on, they did not have this disciple thing nailed.  They made some terrible mistakes. 

 

It was OK because Christ calls countless times during our lives. Sometimes we are up to the task; other times we’re not.

 

However we have responded in the past, the adventure is never complete.  When Christ calls, he beckons us beyond the point of familiarity, asking us to risk doing something we don’t know how to do, to become someone we’re not yet sure we know how to be.  It’s not just that we are taking a risk on Christ.  Each and every time he calls, he is taking a risk on us.

 

Jesus says- Come and follow me.

And history shifts and the world is changed each time we decide.

Amen.

 


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