Getting Started

Title: Getting Started

Text: Matthew 4:12-25

Thesis: Getting started begins with following Jesus.

Introduction

These days I am a vicarious adventurer… I will never toss a sleeping bag and a camping stove and a copy of Whitman’s Leaves of Grass in the back of a pickup truck and chronical my meandering around the United States for 13,000 miles using only the out-of-the- way blue roads in the Rand McNally Atlas but I can read William Least Heat-Moon’s Blue Highways and vicariously go there.

I will never be a Last Alaskan or a Yukon Man but I can watch the Discovery Channel and go there vicariously. I will never live in the countryside of Ireland but I can read Patrick Taylor’s An Irish Country Doctor novel series and go there vicariously.

I am currently on a bit of an adventure visiting the Greek Island of Corfu. I am watching the PBS Series: The Durrells in Corfu which is a British comedy-drama based on Gerald Durrell’s three autobiographical books about his family’s four years (1935-1939) on the Island of Corfu. It began airing in 2016 and ran through 2019.

The series begins in 1935, when Louisa Durrell suddenly announces that she and her four children will move from England to the Greek island of Corfu. Her husband has died some years earlier and the family is experiencing financial problems. A battle ensues as the family adapts to life on the island which, despite a lack of electricity, is cheap and an earthly paradise. The island is dense with vegetation and unmatched in natural beauty with dozens of beautiful beaches and I enjoy being vicariously immersed in Greek culture.

So when I hear the voices of Louisa Durrell and her four children calling, “Come, follow us to Corfu” I log onto my Amazon Prime account and go on a Mediterranean adventure.

There are all kinds of voices calling out for our attention: There are the voices of our social lives calling out, “Come, follow me.” There are the voices of family lives calling out, “Come, follow me.” There are the voices of our work or career lives calling out, “Come, follow me.” There are the voices of our church lives calling out, “Come, follow me.” There are the voices of our recreational lives calling out, “Come, follow me.” There are the voices of our civil service lives calling out, “Come, follow me.” Everyone wants a piece of us… everyone wants all of us.

I think Jesus knew what it was like to hear voices vying for his attention.

I. Jesus’ First Teaching

He went first to Nazareth, then left there and moved to Capernaum, beside the Sea of Galilee… from then on Jesus began to preach, “Repent of your sins and turn to God, for the Kingdom of Heaven is near.” (has come) Matthew 4:12-17

We know that following his baptism Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness where he spent 40 days and 40 nights without food being tempted by Satan. When tempted to prove he was the Son of God by turning a stone into bread, he resisted. When tempted to prove he was the Son of God by jumping off the pinnacle of the Temple, he resisted. When tempted with the authority to reign over all the kingdoms of the world if he would only bend the knee to Satan, he resisted.

Luke’s Gospel tells us that when the devil had finished tempting Jesus he left him until the next opportune time. Matthew’s Gospel account tells us that when the devil left angels came and took care of Jesus. Matthew 4:11

Our text today doesn’t tell us much. It simply says Jesus went to Nazareth and from there he moved on the Capernaum where he began to preach.

However when we look at the parallel account in the Gospel of Luke, following his temptation he returned to Galilee, filled with Holy Spirit’s power. Reports about him spread quickly throughout the region. He taught regularly in their synagogues and was praised by everyone. When he came to the village of Nazareth, his boyhood home, he went as usual to the synagogue on the Sabbath and stood up to read the Scriptures… Luke 4:14-30

This little snippet from Luke telling us that reports about him spread quickly throughout the region and that he taught regularly and was praised by everyone is important to know… Jesus did not just get off the bus and begin going door to door selling vacuum cleaners. He had been around. God had identified him as “This is my Son, who gives me great joy.” John the Baptist had on two occasions pointed him out as “The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” Two of John’s disciples had left John and asked if they could come with Jesus to where he was staying and learn from him. He was known and respected and praised as a teacher in area synagogues.