Thoughts going in, Sunday Jan 26th

Matthew 4:12 When Jesus heard that John had been put in prison, he withdrew to Galilee. 13 Leaving Nazareth, he went and lived in Capernaum, which was by the lake in the area of Zebulun and Naphtali-- 14 to fulfill what was said through the prophet Isaiah: 15 "Land of Zebulun and land of Naphtali, the Way of the Sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles-- 16 the people living in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned." 17 From that time on Jesus began to preach, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near." 18 As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. 19 "Come, follow me," Jesus said, "and I will send you out to fish for people." 20 At once they left their nets and followed him. 21 Going on from there, he saw two other brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John. They were in a boat with their father Zebedee, preparing their nets. Jesus called them, 22 and immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him. 23 Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people.

            This Sunday, Epiphany themes continue as we go from considering the call of the first disciples in John's Gospel (last week) to the call of the first disciples in Matthew's Gospel. The weekly bulletin introduction says: "Jesus begins his public ministry by calling fishers to leave their nets and follow him. In Jesus the kingdom of God has come near. We who have walked in darkness have seen a great light. We see this light most profoundly in the cross—as God suffers with us and all who are oppressed by sickness, sin, or evil. Light dawns for us as we gather around the word, the font, and the holy table. We are then sent to share the good news that others may be "caught" in the net of God's grace and mercy."

            There's a certain 'wow' factor in that in this reading Jesus appears at the place of work of these men, issues the simple invitation "follow me," and they drop everything and do just that. Traditional commentators who are keen on 'harmonizing' the gospels are quick to note that Matthew does not always concern himself with strict chronology and time-tables. One such commentator says:

A long period lapses between the temptation and the next event recorded. Matthew does not try to follow the order of events, and he now passes over more than a year. This year had been actively employed. The intervening events are, (1) the return of Jesus from the wilderness to Bethabara, where the first disciples are called ( John 1:15-37 ); (2) the return to Galilee and the miracle at Cana ( John 2:1-11 ); (3) the first passover of the Lord's ministry in Jerusalem and the temple cleansed ( John 2:14-25 ); (4) interview with Nicodemus ( John 3:1-21 ); (5) ministry in Judea ( John 4:3 ); (6) leaves for Galilee, passes through Samaria, conversation at Sychar ( John 4:4-42 ); (7) heals nobleman's son ( John 4:46-54 ); (8) a period of retirement in Galilee, John imprisoned ( Matt. 4:12 ); (9) attends feast in Jerusalem, miracle at pool of Bethesda ( John 5 ); (10) returns to Galilee, April A. D. 28. We thus see that an interval of more than a year elapsed between the temptation and the imprisonment of John. John was thrown into prison because he rebuked Herod ( Matt. 14:4 Mark 6:17 ).  Saw two brethren. These two brethren, Peter and Andrew, were already disciples ( John 1:35 ). Simon was the name of the first until Christ changed it to Cephas, or Peter. Their home was at Bethsaida on the Sea of Galilee ( John 1:44 ). They had been John's disciples, but he directed them to Jesus.

            This reliance on outside material, John's Gospel in this case, is fine if one desires to try to reconstruct a basic history using all known texts.... but it must also be admitted that it's a bit unfair to Matthew and the narrative he's spinning. Whether or not Matthew knew of these missing months and details is beside the point; they are not included in his story. What's more, including those details lessons the punch of what's going on in Matthew 4.

            So, if we remove that extraneous knowledge from our minds and stick ONLY with what Matthew wants to tell us, what do we see going on in the story? We see the awesome power of the divine call, the voice of God, at work. It's like Genesis 1 all over again. Now the earth was formless and void... and GOD SAID 'let there be light,' and there was light. The men in the text as Matthew tells HIS STORY are formless and void. We've not encountered them before. They are simply laboring away in their chosen profession when a personal Epiphany moment hits them. The voice of God... only this time not echoing from the sky.... but coming from the dusty peasant rabbi standing before them, says, follow me... and just as there was light in Genesis 1, the light of Christ overwhelms these men and they drop everything and follow him. THAT'S what Matthew wants us to know. He wants us to KNOW & SEE the real power, the EPIPHANY POWER in this 'vox Dei,' voice of God on earth.

            For us there are some great applications. As the weekly commentary says, we too, prior to hearing this voice in our baptism were consigned to sitting in darkness, but as baptized children of God we're invited to hear his call and walk in his light. And while it's likely true that we WISH we could hear this vox Dei more often... especially in terms of what the stock market is going to do, or when the real estate market is going to bounce back, the Bible tells us that we can rest assured that the voice is most active when/where it's most needed in our lives: in the pronouncement of the absolution... hearing with our own two ears that God isn't keeping score in terms of our sins; he's not holding them against us; we're forgiven; we have an open invitation to come into his presence.... spiritually in prayer, and literally when our days here are ended. And we hear this voice of power, this vox Dei echoing in the words "this is my body," "this is my blood," giving us assurance that our Lord has not left us here to walk this road of spiritual wilderness without nourishment.

            In the end, it's great to use the other gospels to fill in the historical gaps of the Jesus Story... and there's a time & place to do this. But when it comes to the Sunday readings and especially trying to mine the main point the writer has in mind, I prefer what seems to me to be the more honest approach of letting the writer tell the story HIS WAY... and then trying to discern HIS POINT.

Cheers,

TM