Matthew 4:12-23 Freedom in Following Christ, we are not the moon!

Now when Jesus heard that John had been arrested, he withdrew to Galilee. He left Nazareth and made his home in Capernaum by the lake, in the territory of Zebulun and Naphtali, so that what had been spoken through the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled: "Land of Zebulun, land of Naphtali, on the road by the sea, across the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles—the people who sat in darkness have seen a great light, and for those who sat in the region and shadow of death light has dawned."

From that time Jesus began to proclaim, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near."

As he walked by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the lake--for they were fishermen. And he said to them, "Follow me, and I will make you fish for people." Immediately they left their nets and followed him. As he went from there, he saw two other brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John, in the boat with their father Zebedee, mending their nets, and he called them. Immediately they left the boat and their father, and followed him.

Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and curing every disease and every sickness among the people.

In this message of good news, Jesus is walking alongside the Sea of Galilee (his new home) and he spies a few fishermen. We know men who fished for a living in Jesus’ day were on the low rungs of the social ladder. So Peter, Andrew, James, and John (those we consider today pillars of our faith) began ministry the same way Jesus did: in lowly estate. They didn’t expect to even be noticed, let alone chosen. But what did we learn last week? Everyone’s chosen! When God has the work of transformation in mind, God chooses us (no matter our social status) to do the hard work of ministry. I bet these fishermen knew something of hard work.

I’ll also bet they had NO IDEA what they were getting themselves into, following Jesus. Probably they were curious about this language of repentance. Repent from what? Yet as they thrust their nets aside to follow Jesus, these lowly fishermen answered their own question.

Repentance means turning a new direction, toward the truth that we actually need God. A lot of human misery centers on how much we think about ourselves all the time. “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near!” Jesus invites us to think about a calling greater than our own needs. A calling Peter, Andrew, James, and John fulfilled so we might too. I like to sit in wonder about what those first disciples must have felt. Whatever it was that compelled them to leave their nets and their families, to walk alongside this strange itinerant preacher and healer, whatever power Christ embodied, they felt it- and knew they needed his lead. “The people who sat in darkness have seen a great light, and for those who sat in the region and shadow of death light has dawned."

We need church, but not for the sake of church; we need church because church reminds us that we need to follow the light. A UCC devotional this week by Matthew Laney caught my attention. He says, Zen Buddhism has many wonderful sayings such as, “The finger that points to the moon is not the moon.” In Zen, the “finger” is whatever points to the truth of existence. If you focus on the pointers, you will miss the truth to which they point.

This distinction is an important reminder for Christians, he says: The Bible that points to God is not God. The theology that points to God is not God. The church that points to God is not God. The pastor who points to God is not God.

My first sermon here as your pastor, I preached on this same “fishing for people” story, that time from John’s gospel. I admitted in my first week here, that I wasn’t always sure what fishing among you in Christ’s name would look like. What I promised then is still true today: I will do my best to point in the direction of the one who does. “The people who sat in darkness have seen a great light.” That’s us! We are not the light, or as the saying goes, “we are not the moon,” we just get to point ourselves (maybe even one another) toward the light. And the more we point, the closer we align with the light, and the deeper we feel the radiance of Jesus our Christ. That’s freedom- the ability to worship someone other than ourselves. We all come into God’s presence with equal merit, none of us the moon, all of us needing God’s light. Amen!