Imagine being like those fishermen.
Sitting at work, in a place that is familiar to you
a place you are comfortable with, even if things were occasionally a bit difficult, then all of a sudden some character comes up to you and says
"Hey come, follow me, and I will make you fishers of people."
How would you react?
What would you do?
Some people may ask
Who are you?
What right have you to come into my life, and demand I follow you?
Others may ask
What’s it going to cost me?
What am I going to get out of it?
Then others may say
Am I good enough?
What does it mean to follow you?
What do I have to do?
Such responses are normal, natural responses for most of us.
We are concerned about our families, our future and ourselves.
But amazingly it appears these fishermen just got up and left what they knew…
They left their careers,
and in the case of James and John, not just a job but their family business.
And it appears they didn’t even question Jesus.
They simply got up and joined him…
But why???
Well part of the answer to this can be found in the Gospel reading for today. It reveals some things about Jesus, the nature of his ministry and what it means to be one of his followers.
After John’s arrest, verse 12 tells us that Jesus goes to Capernaum in Galilee. Now this is not Jesus going to a safe comfortable place. In fact, if anything Jesus was walking into more danger not less. Capernaum was just under 14 kilometres away from the Roman leaders home who had instigated the arrest of John.
It was also an area that had experienced wars,
oppression, many people were slaves and from a Jewish perspective, Capernaum was considered one of the most non religious,impure regions on earth.
The locals, the visiting traders and the tourists were mainly Gentiles, unacceptable people in the eyes of the Jews, who were waiting for a saviour.
This region was considered a place of darkness, a place not for religious people. Yet, this is where Jesus is placed by God to begin recruiting his followers and to begin his ministry hear on earth.
Jesus goes to this area of darkness to shine His light,
but not just a light for an elite few,
but in going to Capernaum we begin to see that Jesus came for all nations, for everyone.
Including those who do not deserve him.
In John 3:17 this is stated even more clearly, ‘For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him’.
And we have benefited from this. Jesus came and comes to each one of us regardless of our backgrounds, our status in society, our education, our wealth, our gender, to shine His light on us.
The first time we received the light of Jesus was at our baptism.
Where Jesus said to each one of us, ‘You are part of my family’…
‘You belong to the Lord…you are in the light’
And every time we hear and read scripture, every time we pray to God, every time we worship, every time we discuss scripture and our Christian lives with other people and every time we receive Holy communion the light of Jesus is being exposed to the us, to the world.
This light is the Good News that Jesus brings into the world.
It is Good News that helps us grow as people, as Christians.
It is Good News that means we have life forever.
So Jesus is a light that is always shining.
He is a light that is not just giving hope like a light in the distance,
but Jesus actually delivers hope.
And he delivers it to all kinds of people in all kinds of situations, even during the darkest times.
Like in the recent disasters of the tsumani or the bushfires.
The light of Jesus has actually be seen because of the many Christian organisations that went in to help people in need.
We don’t know why these things happen.
But we do know that Jesus’ light is always shining as Matthew 28:20 reminds us He Is always with us,even to the end of the age.
Throughout our lives.
The good times.
The ordinary times.
The Bad times.
The light of Jesus shines in our lives by what he says in scripture,
by what he gives us in worship including being absolved from our sins,
through Holy Communion where we take this light into our lives,
in prayer,
and the people he places in our lives who encourage, comfort and support us.
Think about it for a moment who are some of the people who God has used to bring the light of Jesus into your life?
But there is more to being a follower of Jesus than just receiving His light.
In being followers of Jesus, verse 19 indicates Jesus calls us to be fishers of people.
What this involves Matthew reveals in chapter 5, verse 16…where he says:
‘Let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.’
Now did you notice that being a called to be a follower of Jesus doesn’t require you to know everything, to be perfect.
In verse 19 Jesus doesn’t walk up to Andrew, Peter, James or John and say I am currently testing to see whether you will make good fishers for people.
He simply chooses them and says, come follow me and says
’I will make you fishers of people’
He is saying, ’I will show you, I will teach you how to fish for people’.
And that is exactly what He did with all the disciples and that is what he does with us.
He is constantly showing,
constantly teaching,
constantly transforming us,
constantly helping us shine His light into the world.
This is one of the characteristics of the Christian Faith.
We are always growing and developing as Christians.
Unfortunately some people miss this point, they believe they have to be the perfect Christians before they can be effective witnesses, effective reflectors of Jesus’ light.
Sharing Jesus’ love, reflecting his light amongst your family, your friends, your work colleagues, your community doesn’t rely on you being the expert Christian.
Rather it requires you to totally rely on Jesus in all situations of your life.
To listen to Him.
This is what you are doing when:
you read the bible,
attend worship,
talk about Jesus and the bible with other Christians,
serve others, you are in a relationship with other Christians.
We always need God’s light to reflect his light.
When you acknowledge that without God you are in total darkness, that you are unable to be of any use.
This is repenting.
Some people think that repenting is just saying sorry.
Its far more than that.
It is turning to God and saying I need to change but I can’t do it.
I need you to change me.
It is saying to God without you I am like a mirror in the dark.
All that I can reflect is darkness.
I have no hope of reflecting any of your true life.
I have no hope of giving light to anyone, unless I have God’s light.
Repenting is saying to reflect any light in my life I must totally rely on my relationship with Jesus.
I need to listen to Him.
I need to constantly turn to Him for guidance, to say to God I can’t be good enough for you.
I need you.
I need your love, your forgiveness and your generosity of grace.
And when you do, you not only receive His love, His forgiveness, His generosity of grace.
These things change you.
And as a consequence the people you know and meet get to experience Jesus.
They get to experience His light.
And they get to receive light that Jesus brings into the world which gives long lasting life.
However we have a problem,
we are not always totally loyal to God.
At times we completely forget that he created us and the world around us.
That he provides for us.
That he loves us.
At times we forget that everything we do.
Our whole purpose in life is to serve God and to serve others.
Instead we focus on serving ourselves.
Worrying about what it will cost in money and time, our reputation, our earthly relationships.
When this occurs we are acting as if God does not exist.
As a consequence people do not see Jesus’ light.
They miss the Good News that Christ offers.
So turning to God, repenting is not just a once off thing.
It is something that we constantly need.
This is necessary as regularly our focus drifts away from God onto other things.
So constantly, we need to be refocussed by God.
Redirected back to God.
And the only way this can happen is when we allow God to speak to us.
To every aspect of our lives, not just here on Sunday.
But to allow God to be the primary influence in our homes,
at our work,
in our social lives
and in our communities.
This may sound threatening, but remember God wants to free you from the earthly powers that burden you.
And in doing so the things we say and do in our lives, reflects Jesus love and message.
So others we hear and experience the light of Jesus.
So others may hear and experience His wonderful news, that He has done everything that needs to be done so that our sins are frequently forgiven.
And as a result we are welcome in heaven.
Amen
