What Pastor Jon Preached on Sunday, January 16th, 2011

Third Sunday after the Epiphany
Isaiah 9:1-4 • Psalm 27:1, 4-9 • 1 Corinthians 1:10-18 • 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.


At first glance it may not seem all that miraculous. When Jesus calls these fishermen to follow him, in a way it’s very easy for us to minimize how radical a call this truly was. I am guilty of it myself. When I first hear this what I and many of us probably picture is a movie-style version of this story, with a Swedish-looking Jesus who has flowing blonde hair, a white bathrobe and gorgeous blue eyes, walking along a beach. He calls out to these two men to follow him, and almost like robots they climb out of their boats and swim to shore to walk to Jesus.But the amazing-ness of this very simple scene comes in who it is Jesus is calling to follow him and join him on his mission to love and heal and proclaim God’s righteousness. Jesus asks people to follow him who have absolutely no ability or skill or knowledge that would make them worthy of being a disciple, as the Jewish faith at that time understood them.

A few months ago our youth group watched a video about this Gospel story explaining the system of preparing Jewish kids to be disciples (called “Dust” by Rob Bell). It talked about how typically, when a little Jewish child was growing up, they went to school to learn the Torah, the first five books of the Bible. And when they got to a certain age they would take ask all the students to begin memorizing each and every book of the Torah: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. And naturally most students could not do this, and so they were told to go and learn their family trade, and have that be their profession. But for those students they thought were really, really smart and that they thought could cut it—the best—they continued doing what the Rabbis did…learning every word of the Torah. And then at a later age, when they were a little bit older, in their teens, they would look at the kids and decide which of these students was the “best of the best”, which of these “disciples in training” could go on to the next level, which was memorizing every single book of the Hebrew scriptures—all the way through the Hebrew prophets—which is basically all of the Old Testament! And the rest of them they would dismiss them go let them learn their family trade. By the end of that phase, there was one more test, and it was to sit and be grilled by the Rabbi that that particular disciple-in-training wanted to follow. And they sat there and were grilled, question after question after question about the Torah. And the Rabbis would say, “you know, this kid loves God, knows the Torah, loves to show mercy and kindness…but I’m not sure if this kid has what it takes”…they would dismiss them to go and learn the family trade. But if they said, “Hey, we think this kid has got it! They can do what I do…they know the Torah as good as I do…maybe even better! This kid is the best of the best of the best.” If the rabbi said that, then that person became one of the rabbi’s disciples.

Now Jesus, when he calls out to Peter and Andrew, and James and John—these people who will become his closest partners, his inner circle of disciples—does it say that Jesus tested them about how much of the Torah they knew while they were standing off in the boat?! Does it say that Jesus asked them anything about their qualifications, or their knowledge, or their status before he called out to them? Nada, zip, zero! Jesus doesn’t call the best of the best of the best to be a part of his movement. He doesn’t require secret insider church knowledge in order to be caught by the fishing net of the embrace of his community. Jesus forms community by calling those who have no prior indication that they will be any success at all in being partners in expanding the kingdom of God. He simply says to these blue-collar fishermen, just as he says to each and everyone who has ears to hear him, “Follow me and I will make you fish for people.”

The amazing thing about being a disciple of Jesus there is absolutely nothing that we can do or say that make us his disciples. It doesn’t matter how strong or weak our faith is in Jesus…there is not some test we have to pass to be one of his disciples. Everyone can be a disciple because it is Jesus’ own faith in us that makes us disciples. Jesus believes that we can be people that do what disciples do—we can do what our Rabbi—Jesus—did! Jesus believes anyone be what God created us to be: Anyone can love. Anyone can serve. Anyone can be a healing presence. Anyone can proclaim God’s love. Anyone can build the kingdom of God! Now the fishermen all already had jobs when they left them to go and follow Jesus. But when Jesus says, “follow me”, that call also comes for any of us who don’t even have a job right now, and are searching desperately for one. There is no searching on Monster.com or Craigslist, no degrees, or qualifications or skills required, no pre-existing conditions that will keep you from getting a call from Jesus offering you the job of disciple. Jesus is willing to offer that call to us because even when no one else sees any possibility of us amounting to anything, and especially when we lose belief in ourselves…Jesus has faith in us, faith that is strong enough to love the unloveable; faith that is humble enough to listen to those who have no voice; faith that is courageous enough to give back integrity to the lives of sinners. And dare I say that Jesus’ belief in us is even deeper and more tenacious than the faith and conviction we have for a historic Bears’ victory over the Packers this afternoon!

So if there is nothing at all that we can do to make us Jesus’ disciples, if it is totally his faith in us alone that sweeps us into the fishing net of God’s kingdom, how is it then that we can live our lives as his disciples today? As one commentator says, following Jesus isn’t necessarily about what we do, but how we do it. And how can disciples of Jesus live? Disciples of Jesus can follow Jesus by believing in others with the same kind of faith that he has in us. Jesus believes we can bring healing and respect to the disgraced young women at OPRF high school who were put on a list created by a male student ranking them by their physical appearance. Jesus believes we can bring civility and refrain from bearing false witness in our public discourse in the wake of the recent tragedy in Arizona. Jesus has faith that we can bring his hope to the wave of the many recent youth who because of abuse for their sexual orientation believe the only way out is suicide. Jesus believes in us enough that we can show his concern for those we serve in our jobs. He believes that we have all the knowledge and words we need to speak openly with others about how our Jesus inspires our lives. He believes in us enough for his faith to sustain our faithful responsibilities to our families and communities. Jesus believes his faith in us can carry beyond just coming to church…or any time we may try and “set aside” as our time for “being religious” or “being a disciple.”

Jesus’ call to follow him comes to every arena of our lives and beyond. All it takes to be his disciple, is to listen for his voice, and follow his faith in us…faith that believes we can do as he did—that we can believe in others whom no one else will believe in. That is not just one of many things to make time for on our schedule. It is our way of life.

Jesus says, “Come. I believe in you. Follow me and I will make you fish for people.” Amen.