Isaiah 9:1-4; 1 Corinthians 1:10-18; Matthew 4:12-23
Ordinary 3A
Jesus proclaims, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”
The time of Jesus’ public ministry is upon us; no longer is the kingdom near, the kingdom is here and now. I wonder sometimes if we postmodern people with all of our technology and distractions, our comforts and connections, our 24-hour news cycle and on-demand everything, ever consider that Jesus is in our midst even as he sits on the right hand of God. Are we aware of the divine right in front of us and the responsibilities our allegiance to the holy requires of us? Who do we think rules our lives and our world, really? What forces and motives, interests and loyalties truly guide our actions? Who in this world has agency and power and influence? And who, alternatively, exists at the mercy or whim of others’ actions?
As I read this beautiful passage of comfort from the prophet Isaiah, I’m struggling with the news of states and communities voting to ban refugees from resettling in their area. I hear the reports of parents sending young children alone across the border to seek asylum because the conditions in the camps are so horrific and unsafe. I read the anguished words of their parents and I wonder if the kingdom of God is at hand or not. NPR reported in November on one family:
Alexis Martinez, a Honduran man who traveled with his two young sons to seek asylum in the United States, last saw them holding hands, their faces streaked with tears, bravely walking across the Gateway International Bridge into Texas — alone.
After weeks in a makeshift refugee camp in the Mexican border town of Matamoros, Martinez knew he had to send 5-year-old Benjamin and 7-year-old Osiel without him. Benjamin had contracted bronchial pneumonia, and Martinez couldn’t afford any more antibiotics.
“They were sleeping on the ground, in the cold. These tents are not good for children because the cold goes right through them,” Martinez said in Spanish. “Sometimes you do things not because you’re a bad father, but because you want what’s good for them, and you don’t want to see them suffer.”
Where is the rule and reign, the comfort and provision of the kingdom of God at hand for Alexis, Benjamin and Osiel? While I know God is with these parents and children and Jesus (if we take his admonition in Matthew 25 seriously) isthem, but how exactly is their gloom gone, their joy increased, their darkness no more? If the kingdom of God is at hand, why do so many vulnerable people suffer under those with earthly power? I desperately want the Lord of all to intervene in ways that bring the great reversal detailed in the Isaiah text this week, don’t I?
That’s the painful, soul-searching question those not living in deep darkness must ask ourselves. Do we really want the kingdom of God to be at hand, so close that Jesus upends our expectations, invites us to leave all we know, causes us to follow wherever he goes and utterly transforms our priorities, our purpose, talents, resources and skills?
It is easy to gloss over the call stories of those first disciples. We have heard these stories before. We are not fishermen, and our lives are radically different than those of Simon, Andrew, James and John. What would it even mean for us to leave our nets and be fishers of people? Yes, yes, something about Jesus caused them to jump up and go — and that’s commendable. But what, really, does this narrative have to do with us?
All of these questions are related: How is the kingdom of God at hand, here and now? Do we really want God’s upending rule to reign supremely and exclusively? Does Jesus’ call cause us to radically reorient our lives and subsequently the world all around us?
If we aren’t willing to consider that third question, the first two are solely rhetorical. If we are not willing to hear and heed God’s call where we are, right now, in tangible ways, then the Godly kingdom’s proximity will not matter much, and the great divine reversal, while not ultimately thwarted, will surely be delayed in places and for people dying right now for its coming.
God’s light will shine. The darkness will be lifted. Jesus and his followers will preach and teach and heal. The rule of God cannot be stopped. However, if we are not responding to Jesus in our midst right now, if we are consumed with lesser gods, expending our energy on infighting, focused on winning petty arguments or increasing our own power and sway, the kingdom of God will feel far off to those most in need of its immediate, unquestionable presence.
Perhaps that’s why Jesus begins with a call to repentance and Paul admonishes the early Christians to be united in the same mind and purpose. Our repentance and our unity matter, not only to Jesus, not only for our own sake, but for the state of God’s creation and all its inhabitants. We cannot fish for people if we remain ensnared in the nets of sin and self-interest.
Following Jesus and fishing for people requires the freedom that comes from repentance and letting go — letting go of our cherished nets, our certain plans, our entrenched expectations, our fears of scarcity and our sole allegiance to our tribe.
Another father who sent his son across the border alone told a reporter: “I don’t know what’s going to happen to the parents. I don’t know if the laws will ever permit us to reunite with our children. What happens to us is in God’s hands. But I want to be sure my son is safe.”
What happens to them, to all of us, is in God’s hands. However, what happens to them, to all of us, is influenced by those who claim to be the Body of Christ, Jesus’ hands and feet in this world, those united and making evident God’s reign in their lives and in the world, right now.
This week:
- How are you a fisher of people for Jesus? What skills do you employ in Jesus’ service?
- What does it mean to you that the kingdom of God is not just near, it is here now?
- How do we repent? Of what do we need to repent?
- Is it possible for Christians to be united in the same mind and purpose? What does this look like in real terms? What does the opposite of the unity look like? What’s at stake?
- What do you make of the fact that Jesus calls two pairs of brothers? Do you think it made a difference that he called them together?
- Do you ever imagine what the people around these first disciples thought? What did their families do when they left the family business to follow Jesus? How do we faithfully answer Jesus’ call in the midst of all our loyalties and responsibilities?
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