January 26, 2020 – Matthew 4:12-23
Matthew 4:12-23
Hearing Jesus’ Call
Third Sunday after Epiphany – January 26, 2020
First Lutheran Church – Winnipeg, MB
Recently I read about these amazing seals in Argentina.
Soon after giving birth to their seals,
the mother seals leave their babies on the beach and go off in search of food.
Now: since all the babies are born at more or less the same time,
what you have is 100s of mothers returning after they feed to find their babies.
But how on earth do they do that? You think they will never find each other – but they do.
Each mother seal begins to call to her baby, and each listens for a response.
Eventually, through all this noise, each mother seal is reunited with her baby.
The mother calls to the baby, they find each other, and the baby follows its mother.
Out of hundreds of mothers and babies, the baby hears the right voice and follows it.
How does it all work out, even when it seems it never will?
From the time each mother gives birth,
the sound and scent of mother and baby are imprinted on one another.
That is how each baby knows its mother – and how each mother knows its baby.
They find each other almost immediately.
Immediately might be the most surprising and amazing word of our Gospel story this week.
Jesus calls to Peter and Andrew to follow him –
and immediately they leave their nets and follow him.
Then Jesus calls to James and John to follow him –
and immediately they leave their boat and their poor father Zebedee and follow him.
I think we sometimes get stuck on the word “immediately” in this story and have a hard time
moving past it.
It seems incredible – unbelievable – that they would just drop their means of making a living and
leave everything to follow Jesus.
I think Matthew wants to communicate that it must have been something very important and something very compelling they were following Jesus for.
There was something about his voice, something about what he was about,
that was so compelling they had to follow him.
We are like those baby seals on the beach, right?
We are surrounded by millions of voices, each one calling us to follow it.
So many voices demand our attention and our time – and our money.
Millions of voices are competing for our attention, our time and our money.
Some of those voices even claim to be God.
But how do you know? How do you know which is the voice of your mother seal?
And why follow Jesus’ voice rather than any of the others?
And what is it, exactly, that Jesus’ voice is calling you to?
There is a clue in the very last sentence of the story today.
Matthew says that Jesus went about teaching and proclaiming the good news and
curing every disease and every sickness among the people.
The good news Jesus announces is that, as he has just said,
“the kingdom of heaven is coming near,” or, as we might translate,
“God’s reign of healing is coming near.”
And then he shows how that is so by going about curing and healing, curing and healing.
Jesus is bringing blessing.
I think it is this that is so compelling to Peter and Andrew and James and John.
This is why they follow Jesus’ voice, this is why they find Jesus’ voice to be so authentic.
This is why they leave everything immediately to follow him.
They recognize this voice as the authentic one.
They recognize this calling to be what they were truly made for:
to participate in God’s mission to love, bless, heal and feed this whole world and
every person, plant, and animal in it.
That is how they recognize Jesus’ voice as the one to follow.
They recognize that this is the exact same voice of the God of the Old Testament.
They recognize that in this person the God of the Old Testament has taken on flesh.
The God who blessed Abraham and his family and called them to simply be blessing to
every person on earth is present with them, on that beach,
blessing them and calling them to be blessing.
That is how you recognize when it is God calling you to do something.
Does it involve being blessing? Then it is the voice of Jesus.
That is how Peter and Andrew and James and John knew on that beach long ago.
And that is how you know whether or not it is the voice of Jesus.
I said a few weeks ago that it seems to me that people are desperate to
give their lives to something meaningful, to something good, to something worthwhile.
I think this is why Matthew uses the word “immediately.”
Peter and Andrew and James and John recognize immediately that is the worthwhile thing.
This is the whole purpose for which they have been made: to be blessing.
And Jesus’ ministry will help give shape and form to that longing they have.
Year by year, I think, we continue to build a venture at First Lutheran that is more and more
filled with Godly, worthwhile purpose: to be blessing.
First Lutheran Church, we hope, offers shape and form to that longing you have to be blessing.
At food banks and children’s summer programs.
In community meals and Christmas hampers.
In refugee sponsorships and in partnering with The Excel Empowerment Centre.
Is there blessing to people who need it in these ministries? Oh yes.
Is Jesus the one calling us into these ministries? Without doubt.
Can you hear Jesus calling you to follow him and serve in being blessing in these things?
I certainly hope so.
When you support and participate in these things, you are following in the footsteps of
Peter and Andrew and James and John on that beach long ago.
More importantly, you are following in the footsteps of Jesus, participating in the
healing and curing the world’s disease, helping to bring God’s reign near.
You are hearing the voice of the mother seal – and finding your home in him.
It is not always easy following this voice – just ask Peter and Andrew and James and John.
But it is compelling, it is full of meaning, and you will find your best self in following it.
And when you are weary, when you are grieving partners in the work, when hope seems far,
remember that the one who calls is also the one who promises to be gentle and
humble of heart and that you will find rest for your best selves in him.
And never forget the further and final promise of the resurrected one: I am with you always,
through thick and thin, through the very best and the very worst: I am with you.
Together, let’s keep trying to hear where the voice of the mother seal is calling us,
and together, let us keep following that voice, no matter where it leads,
simply trusting that it leads somewhere good.
So together, let us say, “Amen.”
Pastor Michael Kurtz
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