The St. Andrew's Pulpit
Rev. Ross Smillie
January 23, 2011
The Beckoning Kingdom
Matthew 4:12-23
Matthew's gospel tells us that Jesus' ministry began in earnest after John the Baptist had been arrested. Jesus and John had the same basic message, that the kingdom of God had come near, and so it is only after John has been arrested and the kingdom movement needed a new leader, that Jesus begins the public phase of his ministry. But it doesn't happen out of the blue. It happens after Jesus' baptism, when a voice from heaven said, "This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased." And it happens after his temptations, when he heard the satanic voice of temptation calling him to false ways of being the Messiah. It seems that Jesus heard and responded to several calls from God, before he begins to preach. In the same way, I suspect that for most of us, the call of God happens a little at a time, in small bits and chunks, and when we open ourselves just a little to God's call, then we can start to hear other ways in which God is calling. As the old saying goes, "the journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step."
So Jesus returns from the area of the Jordan river to his roots in Galilee, to the village of Capernaum on the Sea of Galilee and begins to teach, heal and gather a following. The gospel according to Matthew is constantly reminding us that Jesus' ministry was the fulfillment of Hebrew Scripture, and so he describes the area around Capernaum as the land of Zebulun and Naphtali, connecting it to a passage from Isaiah we often read on Christmas Eve. This region, Isaiah and Matthew suggest, is a land of darkness, a region in the shadow of death. Galilee is in the historic land of Israel, which is supposed to be under God's rule, but now Rome rules the land with an iron fist. It is Galilee under the Gentiles, under the violence and pervasive control of occupation. Under Roman rule, it is a place of darkness and death. And to this place comes one who is light for those in darkness, and life for those under the shadow of death.
We don't read the Bible primarily to learn historical information about an ancient time, however. We read it because the one who was light in the darkness and life for those under the shadow of death is also light and life for us as well. For we too live in our own forms of darkness and we too live under the shadow of our own kinds of death. Our culture is not ruled by Rome, but by commerce. While Rome proclaimed Caesar as saviour and Lord, as the bringer of peace and prosperity, our culture proclaims material prosperity as the source of salvation. That proclamation is constantly and pervasively reinforced: advertising offers salvation through the purchase of one thing or another; politicians and news reports assume that economic growth is the most important measurement of government policy and our well-being as a society. But it is a false hope, and a bogus salvation:
Jesus comes preaching not the gospel of prosperity or the gospel of empire, but the good news of God's rule, God's kingdom. "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." God's kingdom isn't far off, according to Jesus; it isn't remote or inaccessible; it isn't in Rome, or Jerusalem, or in Ottawa or in Washington or New York or Paris. It isn't available only to the wealthy and powerful and famous. Even in poverty or prison, even in stress and struggle, even in illness and injustice, it is near to us, at hand, right in our midst. You can embrace it; you can live it. So often we think that living in God's way is difficult or impossible, but Jesus said it has come near. It is possible; you just have to embrace it.
The word "kingdom" (basileia in Greek) is the same word that the Roman empire used to describe itself, so Jesus was calling his disciples to repent or turn from the kingdom of Rome to the Kingdom of God, from an oppressive way of life to a compassionate way of life, from a model of success defined by climbing the ladder of social status to a model of success defined by loving service.
Among the first things that Jesus did was to issue this invitation to two sets of brothers, Peter and Andrew, and then James and John, all fishermen. Fishermen were despised in that culture, but just as the angels appeared to despised shepherds on Christmas Eve, so the good news of God's kingdom is delivered first of all to the last and the least of Galilean society. Fishermen, those who are at the bottom of the social ladder in Galilee become the leaders in Jesus' new community. "Follow me," Jesus says, "and I will make you fishers of people." In doing so, he disrupts the social and economic obligations of fishing families. Under Roman occupation, the empire sold quotas for fisheries. That meant that fishermen were almost perpetually in debt, and debt is a very effective means of keeping people under control. Last Sunday night, those of us who watched the Food Inc. film, learned about how chicken farmers who live under the thumb of Tyson Foods, with huge debts constantly worried that their contracts would be cancelled. This story about Jesus calling the fishermen to leave their nets and follow him, would be like Jesus visiting those chicken farmers and saying, "leave your barns behind, walk away from it all and follow me. Abandon the economy of empire and I will show you how to live in an economy of grace."
And the story says that they did what he asked them to do. They immediately left their nets, their families and their boats and followed him. I sometimes wonder if it was quite that simple. Did Jesus really just walk up to these strangers and say "follow me" and they left everything and went with him? The story doesn't really address that question. It isn't interested in the psychological processes by which the disciples made their decision. Rather, by emphasizing the immediacy of their response, the story invites us to take decisive action in response to Jesus' call to us. In telling this story, the gospel issues the invitation to us as well. We are like those fishermen, and Jesus comes to us as well, inviting us, whatever our stage in life, whatever our status in the community, to follow him.
Leave behind the ways of thinking and living defined by empire, Jesus proclaimed, and embrace instead a way of thinking and living defined by God's generous grace. Leave behind the way of thinking and living that says that only the wealthy and powerful and famous are important, and embrace a way of thinking and living that acknowledges each of us, each of you, as a gift of God. Leave behind a way of thinking and living that assumes that if we aren't wealthy and powerful and famous, then we have failed and are worthless, and embrace a way of thinking and living that claims our identity as children of God.
Jesus call is, first and foremost, the call to follow him, to become disciples or students. In the ancient world, all education was done in the apprenticeship model. If you wanted to learn something, you attached yourself to a teacher and you followed him around. You lived with the teacher, ate with him, and spent practically every waking minute with him, because your teacher didn't just teach you chemistry or cabinetmaking or some narrow branch of knowledge. Your teacher taught you a way of life.
Sometimes we think of Christian faith as primarily a matter of believing certain things - the existence of God, the divinity of Jesus, the reliability of the Bible - and if you have questions or doubts about any of those things, then you don't have faith. But Christian faith is about much more than a few beliefs. It is about a way of life. In Jesus' case, the way of life he taught was the way of God's kingdom. A kingdom is not a private matter between a king and an individual. A kingdom is a particular kind of community. And Jesus called people into community, a community that was structured in conscious resistance to the ways in which empires are structured, in an egalitarian manner rather than a hierarchical one.
Jesus calls people into relationship, not just with him, but with each other. Jesus expected his disciples to get support from other disciples and to offer support to them. Our world emphasizes individualism so strongly that we often miss the importance of being rooted in a community. And in neglecting the importance of community, we often miss out on the most important things in life. As our culture becomes more focused on material things it also becomes more individualistic. People are becoming more private, less inclined to participate in churches and service clubs and bowling leagues and community groups. And as a result our lives become increasingly isolated and less fulfilling. This may the main reason people today are not as happy as those who lived forty years ago, even though we are far better off materially. There is abundant research that demonstrates that people who are strongly rooted in community, especially a faith community, are happier, healthier, have better marriages, and they bounce back more quickly from setbacks. And so, when Jesus calls us into a community of disciples, he is encouraging us to connect our spiritual and our social lives. Our spiritual life is intensely personal, but it should never be private. That is the problem with the idea that we can be spiritual without being religious. Religion is the community form of spirituality, and abandoning the religious community leads to a privatized kind of spirituality that is a pale imitation of what it should be. Being a Christian without being a part of a faith community is like trying to play hockey without joining a team. Jesus' call is a call into community, into a community of faith.
And that is worth thinking about as we gather after the service for our annual meeting. The annual meeting is partly a formality, the officers of the church report to the membership, set a budget and elect new officers to the board. Those are usually the quick and easy bits. But a congregation is not just an institution. It is first and foremost a community, and so the more important work of an annual meeting is for us to care for the community, to consider imaginatively what we need to do to be stronger and healthier and more faithful in our community life. There are times when there are stresses, differences of opinion, and tensions in our community life. How do we deal with those stresses and tensions in a healthy way? There are times when there is apathy and complacency in our community life. How do we reinvigorate and reenergize our community? There are times when we have taken a wrong turn and need to be set straight. How do we get back on the right path? There are times when our community has become dull and stiff and formal. How do we open ourselves to the infectious enthusiasm of God's Spirit?
But always, the key question is this: "What does it mean for us to embody, however imperfectly, God's kingdom?" That is the question a Christian community needs to constantly ask itself and to discuss together. That is the question we personally need to consider with all our heart and soul and strength. When we seriously and imaginatively ask and discuss and engage that question, God's kingdom does come near to us, God's reign is in the midst of us. Let us pray:
Jesus, today you have come to the edge of our hearts, the shore of where we live and work and love, and you call us to follow you and your way. You invite us into your kingdom, to leave behind the way of life we know and to take the first terrifying step onto the unknown way, the way of grace and peace and loving service. We do not know where your way might lead, O God, but we trust you to lead us. Take us by the hand, we pray, and guide us on your way. Amen.