January 27, 2008 at Saint Mark in Norman, OK
Isaiah 8: 23-9:3 + Psalm 27 + 1 Corinthians 1:10-13, 17 + Matthew 4:12-17
It is not a good time. The voice crying in the wilderness now thunders in prison. Authority does what authority always does: tries to silence whatever threatens. The response of Jesus is not to run. He is the light shining in darkness, so he goes headlong into the darkness. He leaves the safety of his home, the protection of his family. The town and territory to which he goes is the land of that authority. The infant who once fled to Egypt for safety now walks straight into the danger. It’s a dangerous move, taking a message of light into darkness, a message of life into a land of death. He could easily suffer the same fate as John, yet he goes to Galilee.
But this story of Matthew is not just about Herod, John, or Jesus. Beneath their story a prophecy unfolds. Isaiah predicted this. Jesus is not a fool teasing the wicked; he moves by God’s plan with a message that cannot be imprisoned.
So now, the torch is passed from John to Jesus. A desert voice moves to the cities and towns, to the sea and temple. He leaves what is safe, secure, known, and predictable because the Kingdom of God is at hand. But the people do not know how to reach for it. If they would change the way they think and act the Spirit would come upon them. Yet they sit in darkness. The Kingdom of Heaven is now; but the people are not. He knows the task is bigger than he is that it will take longer than a lifetime, and so he looks for help. He looks first to a pair of brothers. Matthew wants us to get that point. He says twice in one sentence. He goes to them. He does not wait for them to come to him. The condition for coming with him into the mission, into the Kingdom, into life is that they leave nets and boats, family and father. Not that these are bad, but because what they mean and what they provide is not enough.
Often, I have tried to imagine that father standing there with those empty boats wondering what he was going to do next without them.
Nowhere is it ever suggested that he yelled after them, objected, or resented their desire and the prompting of their hearts which led them to leave all things and follow that man of enchantment. Told today, it is a story that might well frighten and discourage some parents: this thought that a child might just get up and leave without ever looking back. However, the people who first heard Matthew’s story knew it well. Many sitting there had been kicked out of their families for following Jesus, picking up his mission, and being willing to look for something or someone who would teach them how to live in their present with the hope of experiencing the future fullness of God’s Kingdom. That is, in the end, what this man Jesus came to teach us.
“Repent.” he says. Repentance is not an invitation to feel sorry. It is a demand to take a second look at our values and our lives. Religion and faithful followers of Christ challenge the practices and values that support and enable injustice. What this conversion shall require is what unfolds in the chapters to come in Matthew’s Gospel. We have preview of it today. Let go. Leave behind. Take a risk. Believe the Prophets. Do something with your life that is more than catching fish to eat. Life is more than a trip to the store or shopping the mall. Be something more than a repetition of your parents. In the end, they don’t want that anyway. Loving parents always want their children to do more than they did and surpass them in goodness and holiness, love and service.
This is a vocation story proclaimed in a month our church calls Vocations Month. Parents, look at the father of those men in this Gospel. Don’t you think he brought them up with hearts burning for the Kingdom of God? Young people who are you going to follow, shallow narcissistic celebrities and greedy doped up athletes? Maybe following the light into the darkness would be better.