REFLECTION:                                                                                                        

We are very familiar with the Call stories from  the gospels, stories which also signal  the beginning of Jesus’ Ministry.  Here we are again, this time from Matthew,

In reading the early chapters of Matthew we learn that by chapter 4 Jesus has a new hometown for a  third time – each  in fulfilment of  various prophecies. Have you realised just how transient Jesus’ whole life was, even from the beginning?

Born in Bethlehem,  the family’s first move tells of Joseph and Mary and Jesus  fleeing Bethlehem and Herod’s fury, before  arriving in Egypt – another prophecy fulfilled. We can start to see Jesus’ life following a similar pattern to Moses’ journeys.

After Herod’s death a second move by the family brought them back to Israel.  However, the reign of Herod’s son, Archelaus, led the family to re-settle in the town of Nazareth, in Galilee, again in fulfilment of what was foretold.

In a third move, recorded at the beginning  of today’s story, Jesus  comes to make his home in the ethnic hotbed that was Capernaum. Yet another prophecy fulfilled, with words echoing those of Isaiah 9.

The context for Isaiah 9  is the long-standing domination of the tribes of Zebulun and Naphtali by foreign states. Because of their locations, both tribes were especially vulnerable to attack.

Have you ever looked at a map and noted the political implications of the proximity of Russia, Ukraine and their surrounding states?

In the ancient world, as the northern and southern kingdoms of Israel played out their power struggles, both Zebulun and Naphtali became more or less vassal states to a series of Assyrian kings. As pawns of powerful states, their histories were ones of vulnerability, subjection, and oppression. No wonder the themes of darkness and despair had such a dominant place.  But, in the midst of this world of foreign powers, brutality, poverty and hunger  would  come a shining light; a light not from those foreign powers, nor from the people’s efforts, but from God. God alone would be the deliverer, the ultimate agent at work in the world.

It would be fair to say that Jesus’ various moves weren’t rooted in human decisions. Matthew would argue that God carefully orchestrated the geographical changes – even dislocations – giving  them great significance.  So what can we take from this? What is the significance?  Well, we certainly get more than a glimpse of Jesus’ transient existence.  From his infancy and childhood, through to his adult life and ministry, Matthew’s Jesus has become a constant wanderer and now an itinerant preacher.  Jesus doesn’t choose the comforts of the familiar and comfortable, but follows God’s call to find those who are in need of God’s love and life, wherever they might live.

And of course, that is the message of Isaiah’s prophecy.  God promised to reach all the nations.  Light will reach those who formerly dwelt in shadows and despair.  Jesus has come to them and, in a sense, become one of them by becoming their neighbour.  If we listen carefully to the Gospel reading, we hear that Jesus’ first ministry location is in  Galilee of the Gentiles. From the very first, in line with God’s promise, Jesus ministers in an ethnically diverse land.

With our mobile and diverse culture, Jesus’ moves are somewhat familiar to us.  The major change of moving to a new place, with new surroundings and new neighbours, can be both exciting and daunting.  It can provide us with a new start and new opportunities,  that may allow us to both change how others perceive us and how we see ourselves.  New surroundings may also challenge us to question our very selves, asking Who am I?  The richness of diverse communities can help us understand ourselves and others better. Jesus’ experiences of a transient lifestyle would  have shaped his perspective, enabling him understanding of  a community, both as insider and outsider.

. In Capernaum Jesus picks up from John the Baptist. The basic message is identical: Repent for the kingdom of heaven is near.        Note Matthew’s use of Kingdom of Heaven rather than Kingdom of God. However, Heaven doesn’t imply somewhere outside this world.

Later, Jesus will send his disciples to preach the same message. John, of course, promised that Jesus would be a more powerful and important figure in this story.  The shape of the reign of God, and  how this Jesus intended to bring it about, must surely have occupied  the thoughts of significant others.

The next two scenes illustrate how dramatically lives can change when Jesus appears. In the first scene Matthew depicts Jesus going out for a stroll by the lake where he encounters two brothers, Simon Peter and Andrew. They were hard at work fishing. Jesus says, Follow me, and I will make you fish for people, highlighting Jesus’ call of people to a new life’s work. Without comments or questions, Peter and Andrew abandon the tools of their trade and follow him.  No mandatory three month’s notice here!

Then Jesus calls another set of brothers, James and John the sons of Zebedee, first seen in a boat with their father. This scene emphasizes the invitation to Jesus’ new community. James and John immediately leave both the boat and their father, mentioned three times in the story. Jesus’ call takes priority over family commitments, a startling idea in an era when family connections were a primary source both of identity and of honour rooted in cultural custom and in biblical law. But this is not a day to engage with the reasons, rights or wrongs of Jesus’ actions.

Suffice to say, the power of Jesus’ call is very evident, for he doesn’t need to employ  a sales pitch to these individuals.

We don’t actually know why they followed.  There seems little reason for these fishermen to leave their current way of life.

Each seemingly has a steady job and, more importantly, family ties. However, Peter, Andrew, James and John were unlikely to be people with any great social standing,  or individual wealth. Fishermen  were not among the elite of ancient culture.  While Jesus’ disciples will play a vital role  in the earliest days of  the Church, here they are utterly ordinary, albeit called to an extraordinary task. They followed Jesus with little idea what it would mean to fish for people.                                                                                       In the gospel stories many people had come to John the Baptist seeking his baptism, but  Jesus goes out and calls a small nucleus of people to follow his itinerant path of preaching and healing.  Of course,  one of the difficulties of today’s gospel is making it sound as if  Jesus simply showed up one day, and people immediately walked away from their old life, leaving everything behind.

Having begun to assemble his disciples, Jesus then turns to his task.  He teaches in the synagogues, speaking the good news.

He makes the sick and infirm whole.  For these are the defining characteristics of Jesus’ daily work in Matthew.

So, how does Jesus’ promise of God’s kingdom  function for us today?  First spoken nearly two millennia ago, is the kingdom of heaven still drawing near even today? Can we even use the words,  repent for the kingdom of heaven has come near?  For many such an utterance would be seen as characteristic of a wild-eyed preacher who has lost contact with reality.  Misused over time, Repent is a difficult word. However, the actual Greek and Hebrew words both mean turn around. They may hold the connotation of apology, but actually strongly mean change: change of direction, change of attitudes, change of  lifestyle.                                                                                                                 The close connection of preaching, teaching, and healing in Jesus’ ministry is key. Any change is not only encapsulated in words, but is a call to action, that there might be wholeness for individuals and communities. The reign of God dawned, not because Jesus spoke it into existence, but  because he lived it.  He believed deeply, powerfully living God’s vison of reshaping of the world.

But, what about this word Call, for the word Repent is not the only fishhook.?  It is all too easy to bandy the word Call about, but what does it mean?  Personally, I often find it helpful to look to more contemporary writings to explore the meaning of biblical concepts.   One such example is the work of JRR Tolkien. His Lord of the Rings saga addresses many issues of life,  including, faith, hope, and CALL. Evil is also confronted along with other themes. Tolkien’s books are rich with possibilities that follow a story written around a mythical and religious basis.  For example, in regard to CALL, Frodo, the hobbit, receives a call to destroy the evil one ring before its power is able to corrupt and destroy all of Middle Earth. This call will involve a long and extremely dangerous journey, with the likelihood that Frodo will not return alive. In one scene, Frodo expresses his fear, and his wish that the ring had never come to him. Gandalf, the wizard, tells Frodo, We cannot choose the time we live in. We can only choose what we do with the time we are given.

Such is the journey; whether it be the call of Jesus’ disciples, of followers through the ages, the call of ourselves, or even Frodo.

Following Jesus is grounded and experienced in the people and events of our lives and world, as it was for Peter, Andrew, James, and John. Throughout the remainder of the gospel, the writer of Matthew not only describes the life and ministry of Jesus, but the ongoing shaping and forming of Peter’s, Andrew’s, James’ and John’s lives. That shaping and forming happened in Jesus’ teaching of the beatitudes, in his healing of the sick, in his telling parables, in his feeding the 5000; in Peter complaining that they had left everything behind, in James and John arguing with the others and hoping to sit at Jesus’ right and left; in Jesus’ crucifixion, in his resurrection and ascension, and in the coming of the Holy Spirit. Everyone of those moments echo with Jesus’ words, Follow me. These moments, or turning points, mark the intersection of our lives with his life.

Rev Chris Elliot