St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, Wesley Chapel, FL
Preacher: The Rev. Adrienne R. Hymes
January 22, 2023
Third Sunday after the Epiphany
Gospel: Matthew 4:12-23
At the beginning of the Gospel passage, we learn that when Jesus heard that John the Baptist had been arrested, he withdrew to Galilee in fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy. Matthew quoted Isaiah 9:1-2 to show how Jesus, the Jewish Messiah’s divine movement, was rooted in God’s purpose to bring Light to the Gentiles, the people who walked in darkness.
We enter into the scene when Jesus called his first disciples. As Jesus walked along the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon and Andrew, both fishermen, casting their net into the sea. Jesus said to them, “Follow me and I will make you fish for people” (v.4:19). We don’t know how Jesus said the command, whether or not his command was accompanied by hand gestures or facial expressions. What we do know is that there was something about Jesus that led the two brothers to immediately leave their fishing nets; abandon their source of livelihood; and physically move to follow him. Then, Jesus spotted two more brothers, James and John, also fishermen, and he called them to follow him. They, like Peter and Andrew too, responded with a sense of urgency to a stranger’s words.
The stranger, Jesus, was divinity in motion. And there was something about his presence, his divine movement and his divine command that stopped the would-be disciples in their tracks. In Jesus, the kingdom of God had come near to them. And, and in the presence of Jesus’ indescribable “otherness,” the men knew no other response than obedience—they followed.
While the men’s actions are portrayed as void of hesitation, moving to follow Jesus could not have been easy. The sacrifices the fishermen endured were not insignificant. They left their fishing nets and boats, effectively leaving their businesses and abandoning responsibility for their families’ livelihood. In abandoning the things in life that gave them identity and purpose, they sacrificed their lives. There was a price to be paid for discipleship.
The fact that Jesus noticed the men at all, and initiated the relationship by calling out to them, tells us that there was something about Peter, Andrew, James and John. In this encounter we witness the forming of community—on the fisherman’s turf, through Jesus’ personal invitation, and a very public acceptance of that same invitation, by the fishermen as they physically moved to follow Jesus. No longer would the four men be defined by their occupation as fishermen. Now their existing skills would be transformed in service to God. The job of fisherman had been transformed into a “calling”—a vocation.
I imagine that this drastic transformation might have made the newly-called disciples feel, themselves, like “fish out of water,” caught up in Jesus’ “divine net” that is at once a method of death and of new life. Much like the sacrament of baptism within which we die to sin, by the waters of baptism and emerge as new creatures in Christ.
“Come and follow me, and I will make you fish for people,” said Jesus. Inherent in that command is a clear message meant to equip and empower. For these men who were experts at what they did as fishers of the sea, were met by Jesus right where they were—just as they were. Essentially, Jesus said to them, “Listen, those ‘on-the-job skills’ you already have; those skills that keep you and your families alive—will now be used to keep others alive by leading them to me, the source of everlasting life.”
I am reminded of precious times spent, throughout my childhood, fishing with my grandad—a physician by trade, but also an experienced, lifelong angler. I would watch him assess all of the conditions and necessary tools we needed to attract the fish in a particular area, if we were on his boat, or at a particular beach, if we were surf fishing. Grandad would consider the tides at the time of day; the calmness or roughness of the water; and, necessarily the bait we would use. We would inevitably change our own positioning amidst the larger scheme of sea life that we were entering.
If a fish was too small to keep, grandad would do a mini-teaching on the fish and throw it back. Now, in the activity of fishing for actual fish, large enough to keep, the life of the fish is taken, presumably to be used for food. The fish dies and is used as food to nurture life. But if we think about this unique discipleship fishing “for people,” it is just the opposite. With discipleship fishing, lives are embraced—no life, no soul, is ever too small to throw back into the darkness, into the ignorance of a knowledge of Christ, where death is certain. The fishing net of the gospel message does not destroy life; it saves life.
Jesus embodied and modeled the Kingdom of Heaven, which had come near, by inviting disciples who could walk with him in his public ministry, and eventually take it over. Building community and equipping fishers of people was Jesus’ ministry. As his followers, it is our ministry. We must be willing to participate, over and over again, in the never-ceasing divine movement of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. It is THAT divine movement that catches us up in the “net” of God’s heavenly kingdom.
Discipleship is not easy. And, the sacrifices, which must necessarily be endured to follow Jesus, like those of the first disciples, are not insignificant. Like the newly-minted disciples, there are times when Jesus calls out to us, commanding that we follow him in ways that might make the most faithful people feel like “fish out of water,” moving toward certain death of self into fullness of life with God—and death of self is unavoidable. Our baptism into the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ assures us that this divine “net,” in which we are inextricably entangled, is God’s saving grace through which we have eternal life.
Yes, there was something about Andrew, Peter, James and John that led Jesus to call out to them.
Yes, there was something about Jesus—his divinity in motion—that moved four men to follow a stranger. And, yes, in the presence of the indescribable “otherness” of Jesus, there is something about each one of us that causes Jesus to call out to us commanding that we follow him as faithful disciples.
Let us boldly and joyfully cast our nets that call all people to be caught up in the love of Christ—a love that does not destroy; the love that is and gives, for those who believe, eternal life itself.
I conclude with the words of Arthur Michael Ramsey, 100th Archbishop of Canterbury, who said, “There is only one status that Our Lord bids us be concerned with, and that is our proximity to Him. ‘If a man serve me, let him follow me, and where I am there also shall my servant be.’ (John 12:26). That is our status; to be near our Lord wherever He may ask us to go with him.”[1] Amen.
[1] Five Helps for the New Year by Bishop Michael Ramsey — The Anglican Parish of Haliburton (haliburtonanglican.org), accessed January 20, 2023.
