Year A
Isaiah 9:1-4
Psalm 27:1, 5-13
1 Corinthians 1:10-18
Matthew 4:12-23<\/p>\n\n\n\n
May the words of my mouth\u2026 O God\u2026 speak your truth\u2026 <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Something happened\u2026 something on the outside\u2026 but also something on the inside\u2026 Jesus heard that his cousin John had been arrested\u2026 and in that moment… something in him shifted\u2026 he may have become more aware of the bullseye on his back\u2026 he may have heard his clock begin to tick\u2026 the sand in his hourglass begin to fall\u2026 and so he left Nazareth\u2026 and made his home in Capernaum\u2026 by the Sea of Galilee\u2026 in the territory of Zebulun and Naphtali\u2026 a city where he could blend in\u2026 hide out\u2026 not because he had done anything wrong\u2026 but because the good he wanted to do was so at odds with Empire\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This reading from Matthew\u2026 refers to a reading from Isaiah\u2026 and that reading refers to the time when Assyria had been weakened by the kingdom of Urartu\u2026 and after Assyria had been weakened\u2026 other states in the west formed an anti-Assyrian coalition\u2026 but because Israel and Judah were allies with Assyria\u2026 they refused to join in\u2026 and so the region of Zebulun and Naphtali\u2026 in the north\u2026 was attacked too\u2026 and its residents suffered prolonged darkness and fighting\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We heard part of this reading from Isaiah just recently\u2026 at Christmas\u2026 to describe the light of Christ that had come into the world\u2026 Matthew uses it now to describe the beginning of Jesus’ ministry\u2026 and when Jesus made his home in Capernaum\u2026 he brought the light of God into this outlying region\u2026 with a message of remembrance\u2026 a message of inclusion\u2026 a message of healing\u2026 he went throughout Galilee\u2026 teaching in its synagogues\u2026 curing every disease and sickness\u2026 and proclaiming the good news of the Kingdom\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And going to Capernaum now\u2026 also meant that Jesus was entering into the people’s history\u2026 to a time in the past when their oppressors held them in contempt\u2026 and when they believed their God held them in contempt too\u2026 that’s because it was a time in which they believed that when the cities’ peoples battled each other\u2026 that their gods did too\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Two weeks ago\u2026 we heard about Jesus’ baptism\u2026 and last week the reading told about how Jesus invited two of John’s disciples to Come and See his way of being\u2026 and today\u2026 Jesus calls fisherman Peter and Andrew\u2026 and James and John\u2026 to follow him\u2026 he tells them he will make them fishermen who will now fish for people\u2026 and since all three of the Synoptics tell this story\u2026 it must be important\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There are different ways to fish\u2026 in one of the resurrection stories\u2026 after the disciples had caught nothing\u2026 Jesus appeared and told them to cast the net off the right side of the boat\u2026 and they caught 153 fish\u2026 the nets were full but did not tear\u2026 but in a sense\u2026 with a net\u2026 you’ve almost taken away fish free will\u2026 you haven’t really given them a choice about being caught\u2026 you haven’t let them weigh their options\u2026 let them make their own conversion choice\u2026 but you can also get a fishing pole\u2026 and go after one fish at a time\u2026 put something on the hook that’s attractive to a fish\u2026 and let the fish choose whether to bite or not\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In John 10:16\u2026 Jesus says\u2026 I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold\u2026 I must bring them also\u2026 and they will listen to my voice\u2026 so there will be one flock\u2026 one shepherd<\/em>\u2026 so by telling the disciples that he’ll teach them to fish for people\u2026 he’s also telling us the same thing\u2026 that we and the way we live our lives\u2026 are the bait\u2026 that we are what God uses to catch fish for the Kingdom\u2026 and we can almost hear Jesus say\u2026 there are those who are not of this fish school\u2026 who I must also bring\u2026 and they shall hear my voice\u2026 and the voices of those who follow me\u2026 so there shall be one school of fish\u2026 and one fisherman\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n So we fish for people when we invite them in\u2026 with something that is so a-lure-ing that they choose to jump in the boat\u2026 we are fishers of women and men when we offer the bread and wine to whoever is present\u2026 members or not\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n And as Elisha picked up Elijah’s mantle\u2026 Jesus picks up the Baptist’s mantle\u2026 but even more so\u2026 and continues the proclamation that the Kingdom of Heaven is not only at hand\u2026 but is inside of us\u2026 the Kingdom of Heaven has not only come near\u2026 but it touches our deepest longing to be God’s beloved\u2026 and if we really do care about those who live on the social fringes of any Zebulun or Naphtali\u2026 those who have known the darkness of any despair\u2026 if we really do care about them\u2026 then by implication\u2026 there’s no one who doesn’t matter\u2026 and this is God’s vision\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n Our churches remain on the cusp of change\u2026 and last week in John\u2026 and this week in Matthew\u2026 we’re being invited by Jesus to Come and See what God has in store for us\u2026 but we don’t sit passively by and wait\u2026 we may not be good at testimony\u2026 we may cringe at the thought of evangelism\u2026 but the truth is\u2026 all we have to do is tell our stories\u2026 and some of them are of radical welcome and inclusion\u2026 of diversity\u2026 of living and working together across denominational boundaries\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n But we may feel concerned\u2026 that when we tell our stories\u2026 about the trust we have in Jesus\u2026 and about how much God has done for us\u2026 we may be concerned\u2026 that the people we’re talking to\u2026 will immediately associate us with the Christians who they reject\u2026 and reject us too\u2026 and I’ve said to some people\u2026 tell so-and-so that the god they don’t believe in is the same god I don’t believe in\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n But we’re assured in today’s Epistle\u2026 that Christ sends us out not to baptize\u2026 but just to proclaim the Gospel\u2026 and not with eloquent wisdom\u2026 we’re not expected to be scholars\u2026 but just real people\u2026 who are beloved of God\u2026 who and where we are\u2026 people who have stories of reconciliation with God\u2026 and because of that\u2026 stories of transformation\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n In the Harry Potter movie\u2026 The Prisoner Of Az-ka-ban\u2026 Harry\u2026 Hermione\u2026 and Sirius Black are saved from the Dementor\u2019s Kiss\u2026 a kiss that sucks out of one’s soul\u2026 are saved by a Patronus\u2026 a magical guardian\u2026 which is conjured by an ancient and mysterious charm\u2026 many wizards are unable to produce a completely embodied Patronus\u2026 which generally takes the shape of the animal with whom they share the deepest affinity\u2026 an animal whose form they will never truly know until they succeed in conjuring it\u2026 because to cast the spell most successfully\u2026 one must muster the happiest\u2026 most joyous memory possible\u2026 and the happier the memory\u2026 the more powerful and tangible the Patronus will be\u2026 and Harry recalls the love he feels for his family and friends\u2026 to produce a guardian which saves them\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n Recently\u2026 at Grace Episcopal Church\u2026 while Bp. Singh was meeting with a Sunday School class\u2026 he asked the children what gives them hope\u2026 what thought or memory gives them hope\u2026 and a ten-year old piped up\u2026 and said that while Harry remembered his family and friends\u2026 the happiest thing he remembers\u2026 is that he is God’s beloved child\u2026 his hope\u2026 his faith\u2026 comes from his belief that God already loves him fully\u2026 may we only have this kind of faith\u2026 and then something on the inside will happen to us too\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Year A Isaiah 9:1-4 Psalm 27:1, 5-13 1 Corinthians 1:10-18 Matthew 4:12-23 May the words of my mouth\u2026 O God\u2026 speak your truth\u2026 Something happened\u2026 something on the outside\u2026 but also something on the inside\u2026 Jesus heard that his cousin John had been arrested\u2026 and in that moment… something in him shifted\u2026 he may have become more aware of the bullseye on his back\u2026 he may have heard his clock begin to tick\u2026 the sand in his hourglass begin to fall\u2026 and so he left Nazareth\u2026 and made his home in Capernaum\u2026 by the Sea of Galilee\u2026 in the territory of Zebulun and Naphtali\u2026 a city where he could blend in\u2026 hide out\u2026 not because he had done anything wrong\u2026 but because the good he wanted to do was so at odds with Empire\u2026 This reading from Matthew\u2026 refers to a reading from Isaiah\u2026 and that reading refers to the time when Assyria had been weakened by the kingdom of Urartu\u2026 and after Assyria had been weakened\u2026 other states in the west formed an anti-Assyrian coalition\u2026 but because Israel and Judah were allies with Assyria\u2026 they refused to join in\u2026 and so the region of Zebulun and Naphtali\u2026 in the north\u2026 was attacked too\u2026 and its residents suffered prolonged darkness and fighting\u2026 We heard part of this reading from Isaiah just recently\u2026 at Christmas\u2026 to describe the light of Christ that had come into the world\u2026 Matthew uses it now to describe the beginning of Jesus’ ministry\u2026 and when Jesus made his home in Capernaum\u2026 he brought the light of God into this outlying region\u2026 with a message of remembrance\u2026 a message of inclusion\u2026 a message of healing\u2026 he went throughout Galilee\u2026 teaching in its synagogues\u2026 curing every disease and sickness\u2026 and proclaiming the good news of the Kingdom\u2026 And going to Capernaum now\u2026 also meant that Jesus was entering into the people’s history\u2026 to a time in the past when their oppressors held them in contempt\u2026 and when they believed their God held them in contempt too\u2026 that’s because it was a time in which they believed that when the cities’ peoples battled each other\u2026 that their gods did too\u2026 Two weeks ago\u2026 we heard about Jesus’ baptism\u2026 and last week the reading told about how Jesus invited two of John’s disciples to Come and See his way of being\u2026 and today\u2026 Jesus calls fisherman Peter and Andrew\u2026 and James and John\u2026 to follow him\u2026 he tells them he will make them fishermen who will now fish for people\u2026 and since all three of the Synoptics tell this story\u2026 it must be important\u2026 There are different ways to fish\u2026 in one of the resurrection stories\u2026 after the disciples had caught nothing\u2026 Jesus appeared and told them to cast the net off the right side of the boat\u2026 and they caught 153 fish\u2026 the nets were full but did not tear\u2026 but in a sense\u2026 with a net\u2026 you’ve almost taken away fish free will\u2026 you haven’t really given them a choice about being caught\u2026 you haven’t let them weigh their options\u2026 let them make their own conversion choice\u2026 but you can also get a fishing pole\u2026 and go after one fish at a time\u2026 put something on the hook that’s attractive to a fish\u2026 and let the fish choose whether to bite or not\u2026 In John 10:16\u2026 Jesus says\u2026 I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold\u2026 I must bring them also\u2026 and they will listen to my voice\u2026 so there will be one flock\u2026 one shepherd\u2026 so by telling the disciples that he’ll teach them to fish for people\u2026 he’s also telling us the same thing\u2026 that we and the way we live our lives\u2026 are the bait\u2026 that we are what God uses to catch fish for the Kingdom\u2026 and we can almost hear Jesus say\u2026 there are those who are not of this fish school\u2026 who I must also bring\u2026 and they shall hear my voice\u2026 and the voices of those who follow me\u2026 so there shall be one school of fish\u2026 and one fisherman\u2026 So we fish for people when we invite them in\u2026 with something that is so a-lure-ing that they choose to jump in the boat\u2026 we are fishers of women and men when we offer the bread and wine to whoever is present\u2026 members or not\u2026 And as Elisha picked up Elijah’s mantle\u2026 Jesus picks up the Baptist’s mantle\u2026 but even more so\u2026 and continues the proclamation that the Kingdom of Heaven is not only at hand\u2026 but is inside of us\u2026 the Kingdom of Heaven has not only come near\u2026 but it touches our deepest longing to be God’s beloved\u2026 and if we really do care about those who live on the social fringes of any Zebulun or Naphtali\u2026 those who have known the darkness of any despair\u2026 if we really do care about them\u2026 then by implication\u2026 there’s no one who doesn’t matter\u2026 and this is God’s vision\u2026 Our churches remain on the cusp of change\u2026 and last week in John\u2026 and this week in Matthew\u2026 we’re being invited by Jesus to Come and See what God has in store for us\u2026 but we don’t sit passively by and wait\u2026 we may not be good at testimony\u2026 we may cringe at the thought of evangelism\u2026 but the truth is\u2026 all we have to do is tell our stories\u2026 and some of them are of radical welcome and inclusion\u2026 of diversity\u2026 of living and working together across denominational boundaries\u2026 But we may feel concerned\u2026 that when we tell our stories\u2026 about the trust we have in Jesus\u2026 and about how much God has done for us\u2026 we may be concerned\u2026 that the people we’re talking to\u2026 will immediately associate us with the Christians who they reject\u2026 and reject us too\u2026 and I’ve said to some people\u2026 tell so-and-so that the god they don’t believe in is the same god I don’t believe in\u2026 But we’re assured in today’s Epistle\u2026 that Christ sends […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[147,223],"class_list":["post-1935","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sermons","tag-disciples","tag-kingdom-of-heaven"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1935","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1935"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1935\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1936,"href":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1935\/revisions\/1936"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1935"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1935"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1935"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}