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Sermon given by Rev’d Camilla Walton for 3rd Sunday
Epiphany
at St Michael & All angels Church,
Beaconsfield.
2011.
“Follow me, and I will make you
fish for people.” (Matthew 4:19)
Do you know that The Times
newspaper produces a list of the top fifty celebrities with the most
followers on Twitter. Twitter is one of the latest means of communication
through the internet where someone writes a short comment on where they are
and what they are doing. Others ‘follow’ and can make comments. On that list Stephen Fry ranks the highest,
with more than ninety-eight thousand followers. His nearest rival is Lance
Armstrong, with a mere fifty-three thousand followers.
Apparently, on Twitter people tend to follow the celebrities who have
something interesting to say and who are prolific writers, but this may not
be so in other areas of life. Some are followed because of their sporting
prowess, their music, their acting ability, or simply their looks. Others are
avidly followed because of the outrage they cause by their behaviour. In our
Diocese Bishop Alan not only has a great blog but is also on twitter. Perhaps
we should think about twittering about St Michaels, food for thought.
Anyway, back to the moment: What made people follow a wandering,
first-century Jewish preacher?
According to Matthew, Jesus began
his ministry after the arrest of John the Baptist. Perhaps because of the
close proximity of the Roman administrative centre of Sepphoris and the possibility of his own arrest, he left Nazareth to begin his ministry in the seaport of Capernaum, where, if
necessary, he could escape by boat.
I googled Sepphoris
and Jesus and found interesting write up’s on the sites itsgila.com and
heraldmag.org For example:
- Nazareth
is 5 miles from Sepphoris, an hours walk and during Jesus’ childhood, it was
the provincial capital of Galilee and where
the villagers took care of their official business.
- It was the centre of
a building boom and could have been a natural choice for artisans such as
Joseph to work at.
If you can remember do
take a look at this link it invites an insight to the reality of Jesus’
experience and environment. I will put a link on the website with this
sermon. And include some pictures taken in the Holy land
last year that help with today’s sermon.
Since Matthew was writing for a
Jewish audience who knew the Old Testament scriptures, he uses this
opportunity to link Jesus’ choice of starting point, Capernaum, with a prophecy from Isaiah. “Jesus will be
the one to bring light into the darkness of the Gentiles”.
As Jesus walked along the shore of
the lake, he called out to the fishermen to follow him. We know that Andrew
and Simon Peter, James and John all heeded the call, but were they the only
people Jesus called from the shore? They can hardly have been alone there on
a working day. Did Jesus walk proclaiming his message and asking anyone there
to follow him, or did he specifically target the four friends? We are not
told, but if it was a general invitation we do know that Zebedee, James’ and
John’s father, ignored the call, for James and John left him in the boat.
It all sounds so simple from Matthew’s description – Jesus called them
and they instantly followed – but perhaps the account has been concertinaed.
Before his narration of the call of the disciples, Matthew describes Jesus as
walking about the area proclaiming, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has
come near.”
Why did the four friends follow Jesus? He told
them that he would teach them to fish for people, but that is hardly a
promise to attract many followers. Perhaps the men had been followers of John
the Baptist prior to the arrival of Jesus. According to John’s Gospel, Andrew
was a disciple of John the Baptist and was the one who initially introduced
his brother Simon to Jesus, so it seems likely that all the men already knew
Jesus.
Perhaps what attracted them was not so much the call to fish for
people, but the proclamation that the kingdom of heaven was at hand. Jesus
called people to turn back to God in order that they might enter God’s
kingdom. As a popular vision of the promised Messiah was as a military leader
who would overthrow the Romans, restoring Israel to the Jews, some
listeners might have hoped that Jesus was calling them to arms in order to
usher in God’s kingdom.
Whatever the reason, the four men became central disciples of Jesus.
From further Gospel stories we know they continued with their fishing business,
but, through their contact with Jesus, their lives were utterly changed. They
experienced pain, hardship and terror, but despite that, perhaps because of
that, they grew close to God and became strong within themselves. They
discovered the kingdom of heaven, just as Jesus had promised.
Jesus continues to call people today. Later in his Gospel Matthew
tells us that many are called, but few are chosen. But what does Jesus call
us to?
Jesus calls us all to repent – turn
back to God – because the kingdom of heaven is near. It can be experienced
through closeness to God, both in this life and in life after death.
Jesus calls us to a life which will enable us to experience this
amazing joy, which is like dispelling darkness by flooding it with light.
Sometimes we find it hard to completely trust and believe. Sometimes
we find it hard to explain to others about our faith. This is nothing new,
for thousands of years there has been discussion, debate, disbelief and
acceptance.
We had a deep insight into such debate just last Thursday night at the
screening of David Rolfe’s latest film about the Shroud of Turin. It showed
new archaeological details and new discussion about the Carbon 14 test. It revealed the kind of strength
of feeling both for and against it as a part of revelation about the truth of
Jesus. And with his enormous experience of meeting with scientific experts,
theologians and clergy David suggested some reasons why we may never be able
to receive a definitive view on the truth of the shroud. My own experience of
the evening is that it is not beyond my understanding that if there were a
moment in time where God acted upon the lifeless body of Christ, a flash of
light shining in the darkness then that may have left an imprint upon the
surroundings. To some extent it makes no difference to me, I believe, but to
another extent it is fascinating that in this scientific age of reason,
truth, debate we should be offered a new way into the invitation “follow
me”.
Today we are called to fish for people.
Perhaps some are more clearly gifted in this than others but make no mistake,
simply by our behaviour, our manner, our way of living we are calling /
inviting those around us to consider what makes us different.
The specific message Jesus gave to the four disciples on the shore of
the Sea of Galilee, come and fish for people is not mentioned elsewhere in
Jesus’ teaching or preaching. But without those who specifically tell the
good news, no one will hear it.
You can be certain that Jesus is calling you but how might that be?
During lent I will be offering everyone to spend an hour with me to
talk, or pray, or even sit in silence. Being honest this is a suggestion from
Bishop John, but it’s no bad thing. We have realised the importance of
sustaining our sacred centre, and we now realise the importance of being and
calling disciples. I can’t think of anything more worthwhile in Lent than
spending time talking about God, prayer, the spiritual journey, the pleasure
and problems of faith. Sharing our stories.
This is for every one, this is for you. Please give some thought and
prayer to this – I will be letting you know how this will work before Lent
starts. In the mean time be comforted by the knowledge that we live in the
light of Jesus Christ, who brings light to all darkness, and keep fishing.
Amen.
SUMMARY
1. People
follow celebrities for a number of reasons, but why did the disciples follow
Jesus?
2. Jesus
moved to Capernaum to begin his ministry after
the arrest of John the Baptist, perhaps because the Roman administrative
centre was close to Nazareth.
3. Did he
just call the disciples, or were there others who ignored his call?
4. Jesus
calls us all to repent because the kingdom
of God is near, and
calls some to fish for people. How will we do that?
5.
We experience the kingdom of heaven both now and
after death, by growing close to God.
Click here to see some pictures
taken in the Holy Land last year
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