Jan 26, 2020            Discipleship                                                

Our gospel reading last week was from the gospel of John. In it, we heard about the beginning of Jesus ministry as John proclaimed him the “Lamb of God” and John’s disciples left John to follow Jesus. When John’s disciples asked Jesus, where he was staying, Jesus replied, “Come and you will see.”

As I thought about this passage from last week, I thought about what it was the disciples would come and see by staying with Jesus. They would come and see someone who ate and drank with sinners, tax collectors and prostitutes. They would come and see a Jewish rabbi who spoke with, and associated with gentiles - strangers, and foreigners. They would come and see someone who dared to touch lepers, who healed the sick, the lame, the blind. They would come and see someone who fed the hungry and gave water to the thirsty. They would come and see someone who cast out demons – healing those who suffered from mental and emotional diseases. They would come and see Jesus create a community of disciples whose lives were not built upon the flesh, but upon the spirit. In short, by following Jesus, they would come and see how God intended the world to be, how our lives should be, rather than the world as it was.

Our gospel reading from Matthew takes a different tack. While it is still about Jesus calling disciples, Matthew drags up the image of the lives of those living in Zebulun and Naphtali. As I noted in my introduction to the gospel lesson, Zebulun and Naphtali, were two regions of Israel bordered by Assyria. These regions were repeatedly over run by conquerors who took their crops, and lives. They were treated as foreigners, strangers, and worthless by their oppressors. Being a citizen of Zebulun or Naphtali was as bad a human existence as you could get in the Old Testament. Matthew uses that image to suggest that under the rule of Rome, things had gotten that bad for the people of Israel. So bad, that when Jesus starts to call disciples, to fish for people, they are ready to drop their nets and follow him.

Now many of us may say, “What does this have to do with us? We live a wonderful life in the greatest nation on earth, we don’t have things near as bad as those people from Zebulun and Naphtali.” And perhaps you are right, but we still have our oppressors in the world today. We are oppressed by banks, mortgages, and credit card companies. We are oppressed by health insurance, hospitals and pharmaceutical companies.  We are oppressed by financial markets, oil speculators, and housing crises. We are oppressed by political leaders, who care very little for justice, and very much about power. We are oppressed by our fears of foreigners, immigrants, and strangers. We are oppressed by agism, sexism, racism, and all the other isms. We are oppressed by our fears, our angers, and our sense of human righteousness. Just like any other time in human history, we are oppressed by the powers of sin and death, whatever form they may take. And in the midst of that oppression, our attitudes, beliefs and behaviors can become twisted, and we become less than what we could be, who God made us to be.

And so, Jesus call to those disciples in the gospel to follow him, is a call to us as well. And Jesus call for us to come and see, is a call to us as well. We are called to come and see what life would be like if we followed Jesus. If we cared about the poor, fed the hungry, gave drink to the thirsty, found shelter for the homeless, gave comfort to the sick, the orphan, and the widow or widower. We are called to come and be a part of a community of disciples who do not worship money, or power, or other human idols – but instead worship God. We are called to be a part of a community of people that welcome those who are strangers, who speak out on behalf of those treated unjustly, who care about what happens to immigrants, who are willing to walk with those who are struggling in life, and encourage them to get better. We are called to be a part of a community of people who live without fear or favor, who give of themselves freely, without thought of praise or reward, and we are called to invite people to come and see, to dwell with us, and discover how that could make a difference in their lives.

Now as in many of my sermons, people might get the idea that I am tone deaf to all that you are already doing for the sake of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I am not. I see your discipleship in the way you are with one another. Imperfect as we all are, you indeed each have moments where your faith in Jesus Christ shines, where you function as disciples, and as the community of disciples that is the church of Jesus Christ. And lest you forget, there are thousands of churches throughout this great nation and beyond, that are all working for the same thing. You are not alone! So I encourage you to continue to grow in your faith in Jesus Christ, and grow in your service to bring God’s kingdom into the midst of the world and the lives of others.

That’s who we are called to be as disciples of Jesus Christ, that is who we are called to be as Christ’s church, and that is the Good News of Jesus Christ. Amen.