Matthew 4:12-23

Kathy Redpath, pastoral intern



Jesus was a man on a mission. He had work to do and he needed some helpers, people he could depend on. He wanted people who would accompany him in his ministry, people who would carry on with his mission when he was gone. He was searching for a few good followers, people who would witness what he did, remember what he said, and then tell others all about it. He knew he wouldn’t be walking these roads forever—he needed disciples who would be willing to speak up later about all that had happened. He needed people who wouldn’t be reluctant to share what he was going to teach them, to tell of what they had seen and what they had heard while they followed him throughout the countryside.

So down by the sea he went, trudging through the sand and over the rocks. He stopped at a place where two brothers were heaving their nets into the sea. They were laboring hard over their daily task of catching fish. Jesus called to them by name, offering them a new life with him, a life of catching people instead of fish…and Simon and Andrew and James and John left what they were doing to follow him.

I wonder if they realized when they so easily fell in with this teacher, that they would eventually be going around telling their stories to other people? They would be talking to people who were not members of their own family or their own circle of friends. They would be sharing with people who didn’t belong to their synagogue, or live in their own town. If these men had kept their stories to themselves, Jesus’ work and ministry wouldn’t have been made known to the rest of us. We needed them to spread the word. As Jesus went around preaching and teaching and healing, his reputation was made known through his personal disciples as much as by those to whom he ministered. If they had all been closed-mouthed over what they saw and heard, how would we have ever come to know about it?

When Jesus began his ministry, he didn’t begin in the area of Jerusalem, where there was a high percentage of Jewish people, but rather, in the more northern area of Galilee, an area referred to in today’s text as “Galilee of the Gentiles.” He started in an area outside of his home place, among people who were not all of his own background. The Greek word used here and translated as “gentile” is a form of the word “ethnos” which can be loosely translated as “not us.” Our own English words referring to “ethnicity” have their roots here. The word refers to something apart from us, something different from us. “Not us.” If used by Jews, it’s the Gentiles who are “not us.” If it’s used by believers, it’s the pagans or the unbelievers who are “not us.”

This same Greek word is picked up again in what is referred to as the Great Commission, at the end of the gospel of Matthew, when the risen Jesus tells his followers to go to all the nations—here, “ethnos” is again used—Go to all those who are “not us” and make disciples of them. I can’t help but notice that in Matthew’s gospel, Jesus begins his ministry among the “not us” and then at the end, he instructs his disciples to go to all the “not us” to share the news…These two references form a perfect set of bookends to his ministry. In between lies all that needs to be told, the gospel that needs to be shared. This was never a story to be kept among the local fishermen. It’s a story to be shared with everyone who has not yet heard it!

We all know that the story did get shared. We’re gathered here at Christ Lutheran Church today because we already know the story of Jesus’ ministry. Someone already shared the good news about Jesus with us. Those of us who are baptized are no longer “not us.” We’ve heard the gospel from others—parents, Sunday School teachers, close friends, family members. Now it’s our turn to go to the “not us” of our world—to those who do not yet know it—and to share the news about Jesus and his life and death and resurrection.

I know first-hand that it’s not something we do easily. I must confess that I am personally guilty of doing a miserable job of speaking about Jesus with those I don’t already know have heard it. Here’s a perfect example. When I announced to the people at Trinity Lutheran Church where I was an active member that I was considering going to seminary, the response from more than one person was, “It’s about time!” They had seen my faith in action as I taught Bible studies, planned special ministry events, and talked about faith issues with them. At least two people told me that they’d thought for years that I should go into ministry. My decision, at this stage of my life, was more a surprise to me than it was to them.

And yet, when I told the same plan to the people with whom I had worked for over ten years at Mercy Hospital of Willard, I got quite a different reaction. It wasn’t total confusion or disbelief, but for most of them, it was not the easy acknowledgement of something they’d seen coming as it was for those within my circle of fellow church members. At work, I had been content to live my faith quietly and to almost never broach the subject with others unless I already knew them to be Christians. I failed to even test the waters for fishing.

Sometimes, that’s the best we can do because of rules on the job. But more often it’s just that we are simply reluctant to cast our nets, to speak of Jesus to those who don’t already know him, to share our faith with the “not us” people around us.

We sometimes forget that Jesus went purposefully among the outsiders…and he did so in order that they would know of him. When he called those fishermen from beside the Sea of Galilee, he told them that he would make them fishers of people. And he did—they went from catching fish to spreading the news of Jesus’ resurrection to anyone who would listen!

No matter what our occupation, we can all do that kind of fishing on the job or off—Jesus calls each of us, not to keep the gospel to ourselves, but to find ways to share it with others who need to hear it. If you’re like me and you don’t know much about fishing, just change the metaphor to something appropriate for your own calling. When I left the respiratory care field, I said I was just going to resuscitate people in a different way…Think about what works in your line of work. A lawyer might make a case for Jesus, a chef might cook up some good news, a builder might hammer out some details about another carpenter!…You get the idea.

The new building here at 3001 Lovers Lane offers us some great fishing opportunities. It’s easy to think of ways that the new and enlarged facilities might be used to strengthen our own connections with Jesus and with one another—through classes and activities that build insight and fellowship. But I would also like to challenge us to find ways it can be used as we live out our baptismal promises, ways that we can intentionally include the “not us” of the neighborhood, of the city, of the world…ways we can use the building as a base from which we, too, can become “fishers of people.” That promise that Jesus made to Simon and Andrew, to James and to John beside the lake that day--it extends to all of us. Once we have been “caught” in baptism, we have a solid promise worth sharing with all the “not us” of the world. So…pick up your nets –we have some fishing to do!