3rd Sunday after the Epiphany
Matthew 4:12-23
"The call of the Fishermen"
12* Now when he heard that John had been arrested, he withdrew into Galilee;
13* and leaving Nazareth he went and dwelt in Capernaum by the sea, in the territory of Zebulun and Naphtali,
14* that what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled:
15 "The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, toward the sea, across the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles--
16* the people who sat in darkness have seen a great light, and for those who sat in the region and shadow of death light has dawned."
17* From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand."
18* As he walked by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon who is called Peter and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea; for they were fishermen.
19* And he said to them, "Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men."
20* Immediately they left their nets and followed him.
21 And going on from there he saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets, and he called them.
22* Immediately they left the boat and their father, and followed him.
23* And he went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and preaching the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every infirmity among the people.
Grace and peace to you from our Lord and Saviour, Jesus who is the Christ. Amen
Our gospel lesson this morning is the cll of the first four disciples. If you remember last Sunday we had John’s version of the call of the disciple and today we have Matthew’s version.
I would like to look at a few key words in our gospel lesson to understand this call of the fishermen.
Notice first that the men were going about they daily lives. They were doing what they had been trained to do catch fish. This was their livelihood. They weren’t casual fishermen, they were professional. They did this for a living.
Jesus called them from their comfortable life as fishermen. Jesus called them to leave everything behind to follow him.
I would like to have read the mind of say Peter when Jesus called him. maybe his thought process went something like this:
" Follow him, why not. I heard that he is a mighty preacher He is telling the people to repent of their sins. He said I am to follow him and he will make me fishers of men. How do you catch men? No mind, I will leave this fishing business and follow him"
The next key words I think is they immediately left their nets and followed him. There was not much thought process to this calling. Immediately, or at once, they left everything and followed him.
Immediately, they cast aside their profession and followed Jesus. Immediately they left their family and friends and followed Jesus. What inspired these fishermen to do this? What inspired them to leave family and friends to follow Jesus? What inspired them were the words of Jesus. Jesus simple but compelling words "Follow me and I will make you fishers of men.’
Jesus did not give them a sermon, but showed them his life. Follow me. Do as I do. Follow me and I will make you catch more men for this group of mine. Follow me. Simple words but all inspiring. Follow him. Do and I do.
These men did not have a lot of Jesus’ history to follow at that point as Jesus had just begun his public ministry. But it must have been enough. Jesus said the right words and they followed him.
I wonder if you or I would have been like these disciples, Peter, Andrew, James or John if we would have done something similar? Isn’t Jesus asking us to do that today? To surrender self, to be in the world but not of the world, to have childlike faith to follow Him and to be a light in the darkness of the world?
I often wonder what the disciples, maybe John, would of said to his father after he left and then came home for a brief visit. Maybe the conversation might have gone like this:
"Dad, I know I have an obligation to you and the family business. I know you don’t understand this sudden urge to follow Jesus around the countryside. To tell you the truth, I don’t fully understand it either Dad. All I know is, there is something special about Him, something that attracted me, something about him told me he was different from all those religious guys. You know, Dad, the priest at the temple doesn’t really go out of his way to be friendly to us because we are just fisherman. But, Jesus, Dad has been friendly, has been concerned about me. Why Dad, since I left you, Jesus has healed a man with an unclean spirit, while he was in the synagogue. He healed Peter’s mother-in-law, he healed a leper and he has been preaching to us and the crowds that God, God almighty loves us. Loves me, imagine that. So see Dad, why I can’t stay, why I have to go, I am so excited. I just have to be with Jesus’."
I wonder if you could make that same kind of speech to a loved one or a neighbor, or a friend on why you are a Christian, a church goer, a believer in Jesus Christ? I wonder if any of us are excited today about Jesus Christ in the same way? Or do we take all of this for granted? How is it with you and your faith life? Does following Jesus really mean something exciting, wonderful, powerful and mysterious to you? Do you sense that you have been given something very special to pass on to this and future generations, the light of Christ in this world of darkness?
Do you sense that you are part of a great tradition from the past which has an obligation to the present moment and also to the future? Do you sense that you are part of something great, something that is not individualistic, but something corporate, something which has been held together for generations by the power of Christ through his Holy Spirit, the church. The authority, the power of God Almighty present here in His body, in you as member of member of this church? Do you believe and sense that it is in our togetherness that we remain strong and alive for and in Christ?
Follow me and I will make you fisher of men. Those powerful words started the whole Christian movement. Follow me brought four men to Jesus and they reached out to a whole lot of other people to begin the church as we know it today.
Follow me is what Jesus is asking us to do in this day and age. It might mean to leave everything we have known and do something different for him. But it might also mean to follow him in our every day life. Follow him when we are at work. Follow him in our family life. Follow him when we are enjoying life.
As were have seen by the story of the calling of these fishermen men, it doesn’t take but one person to make a difference.
In the following story one person made a whole lot of difference in the mission fields.
There is the classic story about the faithful pastor who was told by his superior that something was wrong with his work. The supervisor told him, "Only one person has been added to your church this year, and he is only a boy."
Later that day, heavy of heart, the pastor was praying when someone walked up behind him. Turning around, he saw the same boy-his only convert that year. The boy said, "Pastor, do you think I could become a preacher or missionary some day?" The pastor encouraged him to pray and seek God about it. The lad was Robert Moffit who was destined to open Africa to the Gospel of Christ.
Years later when Moffit spoke in London, a young doctor heard him say, "I have seen in the morning sun the smoke of a thousand villages where no missionary has ever been." The young doctor, deeply moved by Moffit’s message, was none other than David Livingstone. In 1840, he sailed for Africa where he labored for Jesus for more than three decades-all of this happened because a faithful pastor encouraged his "one convert."(1)
Follow me those simple words started a movement that has gone on now for 2000 years. Follow me has inspired other to follow Jesus in this day and age. It might me simple words from a friend to follow Jesus. It might be a written word that spells out the gospel story, but all of them man the same thing follow me.
A closing story tells how those words reached into a heart of a man who had been hurting.
"While in a large East Coast city on business, Dan had spent the evening drinking in the hotel bar. Having sworn that this trip would be different, he was feeling pretty disgusted with himself the next morning. He decided a long walk might clear his head and his mood, so he struck out and soon found himself on a narrow residential street.
The houses were small but clean and well kept, and Dan sensed that he’d chosen a good direction. About halfway down the block an elderly gentleman looked up from his chore of raking leaves and greeting Dan warmly. "Good morning to you," he smiled. "Looks like the Lord has put together another beautiful day, doesn’t it?"
"I guess," Dan shrugged, staring down at his shoes.
The old man looked at Dan’s bleary eyes and rumpled clothes. "You know, son, Jesus Christ could make this the best day of your life if you’ll let Him." He reached into his pocket and handed Dan a small tract. "Why don’t you look this over and stop by and see me again?"
Dan halfheartedly thanked his benefactor, stuck the tract into his jacket pocket and went on his way. He didn’t read the tract, but somehow he never quite managed to throw it away. A year later, on another business trip, Dan found himself frantically pacing his hotel room. He was at the end of his rope spiritually, financially, emotionally, and physically.
By habit he threw on his jacket and started for the door. But as he shoved one hand into the pocket, that persistent little tract touched his fingers. He pulled it out, went to his bed and read through its entirety. He opened his night stand and found his room’s Gideon Bible and carefully researched the verses the tract had referenced. He fell to his knees and, at that very moment, ended his old life and began a brand new one in Christ.
The following years of Dan’s life were a whirlwind of joy and struggle. He became a minister of the Gospel and was invited to city after city, country after country to share his love for the Lord and the miraculous way in which the Lord had changed him. Time after time as Dan shared his message people would come to him and say, "That’s amazing! You know, I was in that same city, took a wrong turn, and stopped in front of a house to ask directions. An old man was working in a flower bed and he gave me a Gospel tract."
Each story was different, and yet each story told how people from all over the globe, people who had for many different reasons come to that city, had found themselves drawn to a narrow residential street where an old man worked in his yard.
Some time later Dan returned to the city where his new life had begun. But this time he was there to preach a revival in a local church. Remembering the old man who had given him the tract he made his way to the tiny white house. Seeing no one outside, he knocked on the door. A slow shuffle of feet could be heard, and finally the door cracked open.
"Sir, you probably don’t remember me," Dan began, "but you gave me a Gospel tract several years ago and I wanted you to know that it’s because of your faithful witness that I now stand here as a minister of the Gospel of Jesus Christ."
The old man swung the door open wide, revealing a metal walker before his bent and feeble body. "Come in, come in," he told Dan as the tears streamed down both their faces. Dan followed him into a tiny living room.
"Praise God! Praise God!" the elderly gentleman’s voice shook with age and emotion. "All these years I wondered if I was making a difference. You see, my wife - she’s gone now, God rest her soul - was an invalid and I couldn’t get out except to work in the yard. For her last eighteen years I had to be here all the time, so I prayed every day for the Lord to send me people who needed to hear the Word. What a blessing to know about you, son."
"Oh, sir," Dan told him, moving to his side and taking his hand, "I’ve heard about you all over the world." And as Dan told of the many people who’d come to know the Lord through the witness of this silver-haired believer, the man wept uncontrollably.
"Thank you, Jesus," the faithful old witness kept repeating. "I never knew. I just wanted to be faithful to my Lord." (2)
Follow me Jesus said and they immediately left their fishing and followed him.
Amen
Written by Pastor Tim Zingale January 21 , 20008
(1)Contributed by: Bruce Howell on SermonCentral
(2) from The Daily Encourager
