Matthew 4:12-23
After I graduated from seminary Susan and I moved to Siren, Wisconsin where I began work as a parish pastor.
- Shortly after arriving I was invited to join a community study group.
- It was a small group of people all of whom worked in some form of ministry.
- I was the newest in the group…the newest to Siren…and the only Lutheran.
- They were very interested in how I got from being a would-be history teacher to being a Lutheran Pastor.
“Tell us the story of your conversion” they said.
- “Tell us how you found Christ and became a pastor.”
- “Well…” I began. And then there was silence. I thought hard about the question.
- I started again. “Well” …more silence.
- Then I said: “You know…it was just always there…a sense of connection…relationship…longing.
- I cannot remember a time when it was not there.”
- One of them asked: “There was not a particular day or event?”
- I shook my head. So did they. They were clearly disappointed and maybe even a bit doubtful about me.
I think that conversation highlights one of the difficulties with today’s gospel reading.
- It sounds as if one day Jesus shows up and immediately…we walk away from our old life and leave everything behind.
- That’s how Matthew describes it for Peter and Andrew and James and John in today’s reading.
- But for me it was a continuous and steady experience of Jesus.
- Others would tell a story of struggle and wrestling…give and take…back and forth.
- How does any relationship begin…continue and grow?
- There is no one way or even a right way.
- There are probably as many ways of being called…finding Jesus…being found by Jesus…as there are people.
- It is unique and personal to each one of us.
But you know what? Our entire life is a conversion.
- We are always on the way…on the road…being shaped and formed into the likeness of Jesus.
- Repeatedly…Jesus comes to us saying: “Follow me.”
Our relationship with Jesus is grounded and experienced in the people and events of our lives and world.
- So…it was for Peter…Andrew…James and John.
- Throughout the remainder of Matthew’s gospel…
- He describes the life and ministry of Jesus and the ongoing shaping and forming of those four disciples’ lives.
- That shaping and forming was moved by Jesus’ teaching of the beatitudes…by his healing of the sick…by his telling parables…by his feeding the 5000.
- By Peter complaining that they had left everything behind…By James and John arguing with the others and hoping to sit at Jesus’ right and left…by Jesus’ crucifixion…by his resurrection and ascension…and by the coming of the Holy Spirit.
Every one of those moments echo with Jesus’ words: “Follow me.”
- Turning points always resound with the invitation to follow Jesus.
- They are the intersection of our lives and his life.
- That is what is happening in today’s gospel.
- We hear it in Jesus’ words: “Repent” and “Follow me.”
Repentance is more than just a moral change.
- It is a life change…a turning point.
- We look in a different direction.
- We see with new eyes.
- We establish new priorities.
- We travel a new road.
OK then…let’s think about our turning points…times when our lives were turned around:
- Moving out and beginning life on our own.
- Falling in love and getting married.
- The birth of our child.
- The death of a loved one.
- Words or actions that hurt another and forever changed a relationship.
- Graduation from school and beginning our first job.
- The failure of a business or the loss of a job.
- A divorce.
- A success or accomplishment that was significant or meaningful.
- Discovering the passion that excites…inflames…and drives our life.
- An anniversary grounded in commitment and deep satisfaction.
- Going to a first AA meeting.
- Our new role as caretaker of a spouse or parent.
- A longtime dream that finally came true.
We can all tell stories of our lives’ turning points.
- Our lives are a series of turning points…some big and others small.
- Regardless…with each turning point we see ourselves…others…and the world differently.
- We think differently…we focus on different concerns…we ask different questions…and we move in a different direction.
- What they all have…though…is Jesus’ invitation…” follow me.”
Each turning point comes with the opportunity to refashion our lives.
- That’s what Jesus did for Peter…Andrew…James…and John.
- “I will make you…” he says.
- That is what he does for us as well.
- He makes us more who we truly are to become.
- In him we begin to recognize ourselves.
This happens in and through our life’s circumstances.
- That’s how it happened for Peter…Andrew…James…and John.
- Their turning point came in sailing the same boats…on the same lake…using the same nets…doing the same work they had done the day before…and the day before that…and the month before that…and the year before that.
So today we look at our lakes…our boats…and our nets.
- The circumstances of our lives.
- What is the turning point we face today?
- Somewhere in our lives today is a turning point…a place of repentance.
- It is there and so is Jesus…beckoning…calling…longing…desiring.
- He stands there and says: “Follow me.