January 26, 2014
Epiphany 3
1st Corinthians
1:10-18
Matthew 4:12-23
(prayer)
It seems pretty clear from
today’s first scripture reading that the Apostle Paul was not in the habit of
editing his letters before he sent them out.
Clearly, the ink and papyrus (or whatever early pen and paper he was
using) was not easily erasable.
It is one of the most
honest, humanizing pieces of the New Testament when we read Paul’s letter as he
confronts the divisions in the church as people seemed more interested in
following a human leader than the cosmic Christ:
“I thank God”,
Paul writes, “that I baptized none of you... so that
none of you can say you were baptized in my name!”
Well,
except for Crispus and Gaius...
and there was the household of Stephanas, but other than
that... I never baptized anyone...
I think.
//
Paul sees a serious problem
within the Corinthian Church: people are bound up in personality rather than
the spirit. He has heard reports (from
Chloe’s people) that a certain amount of sectarianism is dividing the Corinthian
Christian Community - the church is splitting over leadership. (Sadly, it is a problem that has not gone
away.)
You may know that the greek
city of Corinth was a diverse place. It
was located in the narrow strip of land that separated northern Greece from
Achaia (a-ki-a) a relatively large peninsula that jets out into the Ionian
Sea. As a result Corinth was literally
the cross roads of their region:
north-south land traffic and would go through Corinth; and with major
ports on either side of town, shipping traffic brought a diverse crowd to the
city on a regular basis. People of
Corinth were, by nature, quite cosmopolitan, worldly. They were exposed to the variety the world
had to offer and could pick and choose.
It seems that is what was happening in the church. They had been exposed to a wide variety of
early Christian leaders and some were lining up behind particular ones.
I
like Paul.
I
like Apollos
(apparently a pretty good speaker/preacher).
I
like Cephas (that
is, Simon Peter).
Pardon the pun, but it appalled Paul to hear of this and to
have his name included in the divisions:
Why are you
divided? Is Christ divided? I (Paul) wasn’t crucified for you, Christ
Jesus was! You were baptized into Christ, not me; you
weren’t baptized
into Apollos or Peter - no matter who performed the baptism or who shared the
gospel with you - or whose sermons you like the best. Okay, I’m not the most eloquent speaker, but
it is about the message, not the messenger. And so I appeal to you that you should
be united under our Lord Jesus Christ.
//
Part of the work of a
United Church minister is to be involved with the Presbytery - the body of the church made up
of clergy and congregational reps in a set area. One of the main functions of the Presbytery
is episcopal: an oversight of the churches and the ministers. The UCC does not
have individuals who serve as bishops, but the Presbytery, as a whole, serves that function. In our structure, we have a Presbytery Pastoral Relations
Committee and a Pastoral Oversight Committee, who from time-to-time (routinely
and in crisis situations) send people in to guide and support congregations and
ministers. Our church had
its regular three-year visit last year.
And I recently was a visitor on a routine visit to the Stony Plain and
Mewassin United Churches.
But not every
visit is 'routine': over the years, I have been to far-too-many churches where the ethos of
the congregation is centered around personalities and not the good news of
God’s love in Christ. I have seen
churches were the personalities of one or two people can dominate the entire
community of faith - sometimes the impact is positive, but often it is negative
- and always (in the long run) it can be distracting to the mission of the
church. When how faith is lived out is so dependent on one or two people, it is
really not the church’s mission.
That’s Paul’s worry: if the life of the church is tied up around
one or two leaders, where does the ministry and mission of Christ fit in?
I know it is
ironic that Paul feels this way given that the entire movement grew out of
people following a single itinerant rabbi.
But in his defense - Paul wants the focus on that rabbi: Jesus, not
Apollos or Peter or even himself.
//
When we first
read about the adult Jesus in our Bibles, he is in the company of John the
Baptist. If you were in church two
weeks, you may remember that story of Jesus joining the crowds coming out to
John, east of Jerusalem, by the Jordan River.
Jesus would have been familiar with John's basic sermon: "Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven has come
near." (Mt 2:3). If you think
that sounds familiar from today's reading you're right. In Mt 4:17, it is Jesus who says the exact
same words: "Repent, for the Kingdom
of Heaven has come near."
The context of
today's reading is that John the Baptist has just been arrested. Not a lot of people (when reading their
Bibles) pick up on the fact that the motivating factor that prompted Jesus to
begin his own ministry was... the arrest of John. Up until then, Jesus supported John in what
he was doing. Jesus believed in the
message that John preached. So, when he
was out of the picture, Jesus decided to carry on where John left off.
But Jesus made
one significant change in style: John was a preacher who set up shop in one
place and the people came out to him. It
may be the case that Jesus realized that this may have been John's downfall:
when the powers that be wanted to arrest him, they knew exactly where to find
him. So when Jesus begins his ministry
preaching about the same nearness of the kingdom of God, he will do it as a
traveling preacher - he will take his ministry on the road. Jesus will meet people where they are and
bring his (John's) message of God's forgiveness and love right to their
doorsteps.
So, as we read
the text today, the first thing Jesus does after John's arrest is to leave the
region where John had been ministering.
The first verse of today's reading says that after John was arrested,
Jesus returned home:. "He withdrew
to Galilee.". But Jesus didn't stay in Nazareth, he "made his home in Capernaum by the [Sea of
Galilee]." It was along the
shores of the lake that Jesus began to preach his version of John's repentance
message.
Admittedly,
the gospel account of this episode in Jesus' life is a bit abridged. It is fair to assume that Jesus had been
espousing his views around town for a little while. That is probably why when Jesus decides to
expand the ministry and heads down to the shore, that some people were willing
to follow him on a moment's notice. I
don't think that Simon, Andrew, James and John were blindly following a
stranger - they were willing to make a major change in their lives to be
disciples of a rabbi that they had already learned to respect.
Jesus learned
from John and now these new disciples were learning from Jesus.
//
When Jesus
calls these first disciples, he is not just trying to pump up his numbers by
taking just anyone into his inner circle - just as the people of Capermaun have
been getting to know Jesus, Jesus has been getting to know them. As we read between the lines of today’s
passage from Matthew, we can see that Jesus specifically selected these two
sets of brothers. It was not just a
general call at the seashore: “Hey,
everyone listen up, anyone want to come follow me?”
No, it was “Simon,
Andrew, you two, come with me.” And then
down the shore a bit, “James, John, come join us.”
In one of the
most meaningful, poetic parts of the bible, Jesus tells them that they are just
the kind of disciples he wants - ‘hey fishermen, come help me catch people in
the net of God’s love.’ ‘I will make you
fishers of men [people].’
Of course
Jesus wasn’t actually going to trap people in nets, but the metaphor meant that
he saw something in James, Andrew, Simon and John that he thought would allow
others to be caught up in a message about the nearness of God’s kingdom.
//
Implicit in
that story is that there is something within each of us that can serve the
Kingdom. Although (as the Apostle Paul
would say a few decades later in the same letter we read from earlier), there are a variety of gifts, skills and
activities, but one spirit, one lord, one God (cf. 1st Corinthians
12).
//
Our unity is
not in our sameness, but in our bringing our diversity into the service of a
common gospel.
//
Jesus (and
Paul) knew, that one thing that brings people together is sharing a common
vision and working toward a common goal.
//
I mentioned
earlier that the United Church Crest is in the shape of a fish. Take a look at it on the cover of the
bulletin today. It is full of diverse
images.
Diverse images
making up a common image - all contained within the call to fish for people.
//
Today marks
the end of the annual “Week of Prayer for Christian Unity” - Leduc is the only
community that I have served where the various local churches did not do
something formal together during the last week of January. It was a big ecumenical deal in Red Deer and
Swan Hills. I’m not worried about the
corporate body of Christ here, because the various church’s do work together
well at other times of the year.
Nevertheless,
some of my personal prayer time this week, has been spent focusing my best
hopes and dreams for what unites us as people of God, as followers of Christ.
The
differences are easy to see.
But the unity
is known in our common calling to share the good news about the nearness of God’s
kingdom - God’s shalom, God’s peace, where the metaphoric lions and lambs lay
down together: where our unity is in Christ, not in our sectarianism or even
our own personal spiritual experiences.
//
God calls us to
extraordinary discipleship; we hear this in Matthew as Jesus calls the first
disciples to follow. Extraordinary discipleship invites us to make room in our
lives for the activity of the Spirit.
What changes in our lives
are we willing to make to be a learner of faith on Jesus’ Way? That is a challenge heard in our scriptures
today. But these scriptures also help us
hear Jesus’ call as a gift. Jesus’ call creates a decision point for the
disciples; they are given the gift of free choice. They are given the
opportunity to move from the former time into the later time. Christ creates a
hinge point for them that defines them and gives them unity as followers of
Jesus.
We are on the Path.
Let us pray:
Oh
God, our light in former times, be our light this day. Help us seek you and
behold your beauty. As we go about our usual routines, call us to follow you.
We pray in the name of Jesus the Christ. Amen.
#691VU “Walls That Divide”
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