Sermon at St. Mary’s Church,
Alderbury and St. Mary’s Church, East
Grimstead – 3rd Sunday in Epiphany - Sunday 26 January 2020
Isaiah 9:1-4; 1
Corinthians 1:10-18; Matthew 4:12-23
May the words of my
mouth and the meditation of all our hearts be always acceptable to you, O
Lord. Amen
I have always liked this morning’s gospel passage because it
constantly reminds me that, in choosing those he wished to closely follow him,
Jesus chose everyday folk – fishermen.
Having been brought up in the then largest fishing port in the world,
Grimsby, I saw at first hand the ordinariness and gruffness of those men who
risked their lives in the cold waters of Barents Sea and the northerly reaches of
the Atlantic Ocean, above Iceland, where one simple error could cost them their
lives and the lives of their companions.
They were a hard folk who lived hard and played hard too. Their livelihood, and that of thousands of
other people on the land in and around the town depended on these men going out
again and again in the cruellest of weathers to harvest the seas. It was very
fitting, then, that the church closest to the fish docks was dedicated to St.
Andrew. Alas, like the fishermen
themselves, the church has gone and the town a shadow of its former self.
It is interesting that, after 30 years on the Earth, Jesus
should choose this moment to start his ministry. John the Baptist, the great evangelist and
baptiser of Jesus himself, his cousin, has been arrested on the orders of Herod
Antipas and Jesus had withdrawn to his home area on the side of Lake Galilee –
but not his home town of Nazareth but to the territory of Zebulun and Naphtali
– mentioned in Isaiah’s prophesy which we heard earlier and which is then
repeated in the gospel account. This is so very important as it is placed there
to remind us that our Faith is not just founded on scripture contained within
the New Testament but also we need to be aware of everything that went on
before as recorded in the Old and that Christ’s life is indeed a fulfilment of
those scriptures – “I have come not to
abolish the law but to fulfil it” he tells his followers in the Sermon on
the Mount. (Matthew 5:17).
Jesus clearly saw that following John’s arrest the land had
been plunged into that darkness which Isaiah described and prophesised and that
he had been brought into the world by his Father to be that Great Light to
shine in that darkness.
So, Jesus begins his ministry, we read in verse 17 by
proclaiming “Repent, for the Kingdom of
Heaven has come near”; echoing those same words of repentance as shouted
out by John himself.
The Greek word for repentance, I dare say you will remember,
is metanoia meaning a transformative
change of heart – something deep and meaningful – a real turning round from a
past life to a new one – wholehearted and transforming. That is what Jesus was requiring of those
whom he wished to be followers – a real, deep change of heart for the better
putting God before everything else.
In the context of these biblical times Jesus is looking for
people to turn away from their selfish, self-centred ways and look further
towards what is selfless and sustaining.
To bring the Kingdom of Heaven down here to Earth.
Our account of Jesus’s encounter with the first two
fishermen, Peter and Andrew, on the shores of Galilee is very understated in
Matthew’s Gospel. We are told that he
simply saw them engaged in their profession – casting a net into the lake to catch
the fish. There appears to be no massive proselytising or a big outdoor sermon
being preached; just a quiet word – “Follow me and I will make you fish for
people”.
I have often wondered how the hardened fisherman of Grimsby
would have reacted if Christ had appeared to them in Riby Square with the same
invitation. I can imagine a few choice
words being exchanged. Here on the
shores of Galiliee his presence, his charisma must have been something so
remarkable that these fisherman, and Peter does indeed epitomise the rough and
ready fisher folk I encountered in my younger days, we are told, simply that
they immediately left their nets and
followed him. Likewise, a little further on two other brothers, James and John
left their father and their boat and joined Andrew and Peter without further
discussion. Matthew ends the passage
with these few extra lines “[They] went
through Galilee teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the good news of
the kingdom and curing every disease and every sickness among the people”.
Wow, if there ever was an example of metanoia this is surely
it – forsaking everything of familiarity and comfort to follow an itinerant
preacher and healer. Jesus himself tells
us, time and time again, that following him will never be easy but what we have
here is the beginning of a community; A
community of Christians, of a family who will share the ups and downs of
Jesus’s ministry. It starts with the
five – Jesus, Peter, Andrew, James and John - and as of 2015 numbered some 2.4
billion worldwide. Now that is some
family.
As with those original five, we are, each and every one of
us, called upon to be “Kingdom People” – to proclaim the good news of the
kingdom and to heal the sick. This
morning we have (had) at Alderbury a healing service. All our ministry must
always begin and end in prayer but we have a great precedent in those first
followers of Christ who took a great leap of faith in immediately leaving their
boats and nets and following Jesus. Let
us never lose sight of the fact that we are indeed all one big community, a
family.
Paul in his First Letter to the Corinthians has this very
much in mind as he writes his epistle. He is concerned about the fragmentation
of his church into factions claiming to follow different leaders. He reminds
his readers or listeners that there should be no divisions amongst the
Christian family. We have seen this so much in the number of different
denominations within the Church.
I am reminded of a joke told one evening by Jeff Lucas at
Spring Harvest:
A church minister was
walking across a bridge one day, and saw a man standing on the edge, about to
jump. He ran over and said: "Stop. Don't do it."
"Why shouldn't
I?" he asked.
"Well, there's so
much to live for!"
"Like what?"
"Are you
religious?"
He said: "Yes."
The minister said:
"Me too. Are you Christian or Buddhist?"
"Christian."
"Me too. Are you
Catholic or Protestant?"
"Protestant."
"Me too. Are you
Episcopalian or Baptist?"
"Baptist."
"Wow. Me too. Are
you Baptist Church of God or Baptist Church of the Lord?"
"Baptist Church of God."
"Me too. Are you
original Baptist Church of God, or are you Reformed Baptist Church of
God?"
"Reformed Baptist
Church of God."
"Me too. Are you
Reformed Baptist Church of God, Reformation of 1879, or Reformed Baptist Church
of God, Reformation of 1915?"
He said: "Reformed
Baptist Church of God, Reformation of 1915."
With that the minister
said: "Die, heretic," and pushed him off.
This simply goes to show that what concerned Paul then is still with
us today – divisions based on church dogma rather than a universal
understanding of the simplest of things which Christ wants us to remember – a
knowledge that we are all the children of God and are chosen by him
irrespective of which doctrine and rituals we follow.
Paul insists in his letter that his role is simply one of herald - announcing
Jesus, the crucified king to the world.
A great family is created from nothing but a huge family of which you
and I today are members and whose role, like that of Paul, whether or not we
had a great Damascus road experience or not, is to preserve unity and to shine
God’s great light into the dark culture which we find all around us.
As Tom Wright asks, in his devotional for today “As we prepare to
celebrate Paul’s own conversion, and to keep the Week of Prayer for Christian
Unity, 1 Corinthians provides a salutary lesson. So what are we waiting for? Is
the world not dark enough yet? Let’s get to work.
Let us pray:-
Lord God,
the source of our
unity,
faith and love:
bless your
churches here on Earth,
in all their
denominations,
that sharing our
gifts as Christ’s chosen disciples
we may proclaim
the gospel
and reveal your
glory,
in Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen MFB/23012020/143
