3 Epiphany, Yr A (2023) The Rev. Karen C. Barfield
3 Epiphany, Yr A (2023) The Rev. Karen C. Barfield
Matthew 4:12-23 St. Andrew’s on-the-Hill
In the name of the one, holy, and living God:
in whom we live, and move, and have our being. Amen.
I want to begin this morning by offering an image from a poem by Daniel Ladinsky. It comes from his book of poems entitled Love Poems from God.
I am
a hole in a flute
that the Christ’s breath moves through—
listen to this
music.
[From Daniel Ladinsky, inspired by Hafiz, “The Christ’s Breath,” Love Poems from God: Twelve Sacred Voices from the East and West (Penguin Compass: 2002), 153.]
Upon hearing today’s gospel reading proclaimed,
we might well have had the thought flit through our minds:
“ah… it's just another calling story in the gospel.”
We’ve heard it before:
Jesus walks along,
sees folks tending to their daily lives,
calls out to them to follow him,
and they drop whatever they are doing and fall in step.
But, let’s take a fresh look at this story.
Context is important.
This story takes place near the beginning of Matthew’s gospel.
Matthew begins his gospel by detailing Jesus’ lineage -
a lineage that includes all kinds of people,
not just the rich and famous.
Then Jesus was born, having been conceived out of wedlock.
Foreigners travel across the miles to pay him homage.
Herod tries to kill him off, without success.
Jesus is baptized by the prophet, John the Baptist,
and then the spirit leads Jesus into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.
The devil tempts Jesus to garner power and glory for himself.
Jesus then leaves the wilderness famished and probably not unscathed…
yet strong enough in his resistance to temptation.
Meanwhile, John has been preaching repentance
and calling folks to task on the ways that they are not living out God’s love and justice.
John speaks out against the actions of the powers that be
and lands himself in jail.
It is when Jesus returns from the wilderness that he hears that John has been arrested.
Note what comes next… “[Jesus] withdrew to Galilee.”
He withdrew to Galilee.
First, he withdrew.
He didn’t flee.
But he withdrew.
He moved away from the centers of power to Gentile territory.
Could it be that Jesus was exercising great wisdom in his withdrawal?
He had just been tempted with power:
tempted with the offer to exercise his own power rather than rely on God’s power.
He had heard that the people in power had imprisoned his cousin, John, for speaking the truth…for trying to disrupt injustice in the land.
So, could it be that Jesus intentionally stepped away from the seat of power in the land
in order to listen and respond to his own call
to bear witness to God’s presence in the world?
Matthew then tells us,
“From that time Jesus began to proclaim,
‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.’”
He is taking up John the Baptist’s cry for repentance…
and repentance for the sake of the kingdom…
repentance so that God’s love and justice may reign.
It is then that Jesus finds himself walking along the Sea of Galillee
and sees Simon Peter, Andrew, James, and John fishing and mending their nets,
and he calls out to them, “Follow me.”
Now, up until this point in my life I have heard this story and all the other stories of Jesus’ calling the disciples as just what Jesus was supposed to do.
He called the disciples so that the disciples could carry on his mantle of teaching and preaching and healing people.
God’s power was manifest in Jesus,
and Jesus’ power was manifest in the disciples.
And as disciples, we, too, carry on the ministry that Jesus began.
But then I began to wonder if there might be a little more going on here.
I began to wonder:
Did Jesus call the disciples because he needed help?
Did Jesus call the disciples because he needed community?
Did Jesus call the disciples because he preferred to not do this alone?
Perhaps, having been tempted in the wilderness, where he was alone,
and then returning to find John in jail,
he decided he needed some companions along the journey.
Having some fellow companions alongside him,
Jesus then went about Galilee,
teaching in the synagogues and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom
and curing every disease and every sickness among the people.
What a gift!
Jesus, along with his companions,
went about teaching and healing and welcoming all they met,
offering them the gift of eternal life.
Truth be told, the answer is probably both/and:
Jesus called the disciples so that he had a community
and so that the disciples could carry on after him.
Now, we all know that the disciples bailed when Jesus was crucified,
but then, having already experienced discipleship in community,
they came back together to be of comfort and courage for each other.
The early Church grew by leaps and bounds,
but as happens with every group of people,
argument and dissension arose.
In our second reading today, Paul is at wits end about the divisions within the Church at Corinth.
Paul urges this community to “be united in the same mind and the same purpose.”
The “same mind” is the mind of Christ,
and the “same purpose” is sharing the Good News of God’s reign
of love, grace, mercy, forgiveness, and reconciliation.
Paul, and Jesus, seem to be saying that we need to band together…
to work through hardship and temptation as a community.
In order to disrupt injustice and live our lives in radical love,
we must come together for the journey
so that we can support and challenge one another
as we attempt to live into and out of God’s radical grace and healing power.
First, we must fix our eyes on Jesus…
living the way that Jesus lived.
Living out, in essence, our baptismal vows:
· Breaking bread and praying for ourselves and the world.
· Reminding one another that God has claimed our lives.
· Gathering together when we fall short: repenting and returning to God.
· Joining together for strength
so that we may go out and interrupt injustice
as we stand up for the respect and dignity of every human being.
· Advocating for peace and equity in a broken world.
When Jesus called those disciples
- Peter and Andrew and James and John –
they had no idea where they were going.
They had no idea what their future held.
But, they kept their eyes on Jesus and followed in his ways;
and when they fell short, which they did, they tried again.
It was in community that they made their way…together.
My friends, our community here at St. Andrew’s is small.
But mighty.
We share our struggles with one another,
and we reach out the best we can to love each other and the world around us.
I am grateful to be on this journey with you.
I don’t know exactly what the future holds for us any more than you do.
As we move into this new year, let us take time to listen…
to listen to where God is calling us.
And let us continue to respond to God’s call with faithfulness.
As we gather and pray and are fed with Christ’s Body and Blood,
we are strengthened for the journey.
I invite you to invite your neighbors and your friends to come join us on this journey.
God is at work in this place.
As we pray and listen,
we reach out our hands in love and grace.
That is our calling.
In what ways is the breath of God breathing through you?
In what ways is the breath of God breathing through our community?
Let us listen and follow and trust that God will lead us wherever we need to go. Amen.
