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January 27, 2008
George Bennett - Student Associate Pastor
"You Have Multiplied the Nation; You Have
Increased Its Joy"
Isaiah 9:1-4
9But there will be no gloom for those who were in
anguish. In the former time he brought into contempt the land of Zebulun and
the land of Naphtali, but in the latter time he will make glorious the way
of the sea, the land beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the nations. 2The people
who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who lived in a land of
deep darkness— on them light has shined. 3You have multiplied the nation,
you have increased its joy; they rejoice before you as with joy at the
harvest, as people exult when dividing plunder. 4For the yoke of their
burden, and the bar across their shoulders, the rod of their oppressor, you
have broken as on the day of Midian.
Matthew 4:12-23
12Now when Jesus heard that John had been arrested, he
withdrew to Galilee. 13He left Nazareth and made his home in Capernaum by
the sea, in the territory of Zebulun and Naphtali, 14so that what had been
spoken through the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled: 15“Land of Zebulun,
land of Naphtali, on the road by the sea, across the Jordan, Galilee of the
Gentiles— 16the people who sat in darkness have seen a great light, and for
those who sat in the region and shadow of death light has dawned.” 17From
that time Jesus began to proclaim, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has
come near.”
18As he walked by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two
brothers, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net
into the sea—for they were fishermen. 19And he said to them, “Follow me, and
I will make you fish for people.” 20Immediately they left their nets and
followed him. 21As he went from there, he saw two other brothers, James son
of Zebedee and his brother John, in the boat with their father Zebedee,
mending their nets, and he called them. 22Immediately they left the boat and
their father, and followed him.
23Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their
synagogues and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and curing every
disease and every sickness among the people.
Prayer
Father in Heaven, We pray that this entire service – readings, music and sermon
be received today as you intend us to receive them & that our Lord present in
the Holy Spirit dwell in our hearts. In Jesus name, we pray. Amen.
Introduction
Many of you probably remember, about a month ago we baptized three babies; but I
will never forget it. When I visited my family for Christmas, it was all I could
talk about. Every time someone would ask me what was going on in my life, I
would blurt out that I got to baptize three babies. My relatives would give me
the strangest looks. As if to say, "so, you splashed water on some squirming
kids. What's the big deal?"
The children themselves made a memorable impression upon me. I had never been an
official part of an infant baptism before. Each child that I held gave me a
completely different feeling. One wanted to have her own voice heard: she was
competing with John for the lines in the service. The other girl was quiet as
long as she could see her mother: She knew what made her feel safe. The boy was
completely relaxed and taking in the experience without any anxiety at all. He
wanted to touch everything and worry about nothing. Even after I told my family
about these amazing children, they still didn't get why I was so excited.
So let me try to put my finger on the excitement. These are babies, and babies
are special because the possibilities of their lives are endless. They could be
writers, inventors, leaders or peacemakers. They could be brilliant, humble,
funny or compassionate. They were created by God, and recently at that. You
know, hot off the presses. They even smell new…most of the time. What is more,
these children were joining our community of faith. This church and their
families were making a covenant to raise these children with the teachings of
Jesus and the United Methodist Church in the foreground. It was time to praise
God the way Isaiah did declaring, "You have multiplied the Nation; you have
increased its joy!" But, it wasn't just the babies that were exciting; God had
called new disciples into being as well. This is like our story from the Gospel
of Matthew, Jesus only speaks twice saying, "repent, for the kingdom of heaven
has come near," and "Follow me, and I will make you fish for people." From these
simple phrases, the disciples began to accumulate and a church was born. How
many times has the church been born since? What do we need to know about the
word repent?
Exegesis
When we are listening to the scriptures that were chosen for today, we are
tempted to draw some obvious conclusions by the repetition in the verses. We
hear that the words in the Gospel of Matthew are very similar to the words in
the book of Isaiah, and we want to give Isaiah credit for a miraculous and
prophetic vision that captures a moment eight hundred years in his future with
amazing accuracy. Another possibility is that the same words are being used to
describe two different things entirely. I will read you the words that I am
referring to, and then we can talk about the stories that unfold around them.
the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the
latter time he will make glorious the way of the sea, the land beyond the
Jordan, Galilee of the nations. 2The people who walked in darkness have seen
a great light; those who lived in a land of deep darkness— on them light has
shined. 3 Isa 9:1-2
Isaiah goes on to make two comments that are important.
3You have multiplied the nation, you have increased its
joy;
And
4For the yoke of their burden, and the bar across their
shoulders, the rod of their oppressor, you have broken as on the day of
Midian.
With some explanation, we can understand exactly what Isaiah is saying. Isaiah
lived during a time that the northern territory near the Sea of Galilee was
occupied by a force of invaders called the Assyrians. The Jewish people were
anticipating a savior king from the line of David: they called this person
Meshiah, which is messiah, the anointed one. The Meshiah would do two things.
First, restore the Promised Land to a member of the one true royal family of
Israel, the house of David. Then, release the Jewish people from the burden of
oppression.
These words from Isaiah are a birth announcement. Isaiah is overjoyed with the
possibilities that exist in the tiny baby before him. King Hezekiah and his
family were from the house of David, and they were living in the region of
Galilee during the time of Isaiah. When a child was born, Isaiah was praising
God for the joyful circumstance and raising the hope that this child could be
like Gideon, and rescue God's chosen from the oppressors. The Midians were to
the people of Gideon just like the Assyrians were to the Galileans of Isaiah's
time.
Eight hundred years later, we have these words being used again, and there isn't
a baby in the scene. The parallels are that the scene takes place in "Galilee of
the gentiles/nations" depending upon the translation, and that the author is
introducing a person using the definition of Meshiah as an expectation of
greatness. Remember? He must be from the house of David, and he must release the
people from the bondage of oppression.
Readers and hearers of the good news are expecting someone like Gideon to
eliminate the oppressors by force and set the Israelites free, and in comes
Jesus with only two phrases.
17From that time Jesus began to proclaim, “Repent, for
the kingdom of heaven has come near.”
“Follow me, and I will make you fish for people.”
Before Jesus calls anyone his disciples, he goes around Galilee and from time to
time, he calls for repentance. Do you think that Jesus is asking for the
dictionary definition of repent? The dictionary says to repent is to feel sorry
for an improper act or to feel remorse. Bible scholars are suggesting that Jesus
wants his hearers to reconcile themselves to God, to be in harmony with God, to
be compatible and consistent with God. Reconciling is so important to the life
of the church that before Jesus calls anyone to be a disciple; he first calls
for the act of reconciliation. Once the reconciling happens, Jesus does not even
have to explain himself. He just says follow me, and a faith community is born.
Hermeneutic
Today is Reconciling Sunday, and we are the only Reconciling United Methodist
Church in the state of Nevada: what a great time to remind ourselves about the
importance of reconciling in the work of the church. Several of us in church
today are wearing nametags that have ribbons dangling from them. The ribbons
say, "I am a reconciling United Methodist;" and since the ribbons are the colors
of the rainbow, and the rainbow has a special meaning in our culture, some
people are tempted to ask the obvious question. Do you where this ribbon because
you are Gay? Imagine that there were enough ribbons for everyone to wear one,
that you yourself were wearing one, and that a visitor to our church asked you
this very question. How would you answer? This ribbon begs a question. This
ribbon has the potential of calling us to speak our truth. This ribbon gives us
the opportunity to talk about why we feel called by God to be reconciling
people, what reconciling does for the church and the community, and what
reconciling does for ourselves and our families.
Don't you just love the image that comes to mind when we call ourselves
reconciling people? Especially in light of today's gospel story, where I have
learned that reconciling is a necessary step of preparation in the life of a
disciple of Jesus. Without the need for reconciling, we might come to church for
the purpose of hearing the preacher declare that God is on our side, as if God
was facing a choice and forced to make a decision. Instead, we are hearing that
we find the meaning of our lives by giving ourselves completely to being on
God's side. God is not facing the choice, we are. Remember, Jesus is walking
through the town, and from time to time issuing a calling for people to "repent,
for the kingdom of heaven is near." He has not picked a group of people or
religious building to speak from as if to say be righteous like these people;
instead he issuing a call in the midst of the daily hustle and bustle of normal
commerce. Anyone willing to pay attention has the ears to hear and can respond
by reconciling themselves to God.
The gospel gives images to what is possible with reconciliation for the church
and the community as well. Both pairs of disciples that join a faith community
with Jesus in this story are commercial fisherman. They are either casting or
working with nets. They are not fishing with a pole. Pole fishing is likely to
use a specific kind of bait, and to fish for a specific kind of fish. Net
fishing captures all of the varieties of fish that are available. When Jesus
declares that he will make them fishers of people, he was not speaking to people
holding poles. He was speaking to people holding nets, and the image of
community and church that is the result of this sort of fishing is a community
that is inclusive of all of the varieties of people that God has created. Being
a reconciling United Methodist means fishing the way that God taught us to fish.
That is, fishing for people and fishing with a net.
Reconciling becomes much more sensitive when we are talking about our families.
Troy Plummer of the Reconciling Ministries Network in Chicago wants us to ask
ourselves, "When is it okay to tell our children that they are no longer welcome
in church?" Children surprise us. The child that Isaiah was so excited about did
not turn out to fill the expectations that he had when he praised God with the
words, "you have multiplied the nation; you have increased its joy." The
children of the world have had a tremendous variety of life situations that have
never been included in the hope-filled thoughts that we entertain at a birth
announce, a baptism, or a bris. When we tell our children that they are not
welcome in church because their lives do not fit our current cultural definition
of normal, we are on a slippery slope. Do we just exclude people for "abnormal"
sexual orientation, or do we also exclude other "abnormals" like physical
abilities or even appearances. When the United Methodist Church began to
integrate, we had a terrible struggle being the people called Methodist and
being a reconciling people. Members of our own congregation still recall the
pain of being unwelcome in a church of their own denomination because of their
"abnormal" skin color. If the abnormals are out, then what do we tell our
children that fall into addictions? What do we tell the children that commit
crimes?
There is no right time to tell our children that they are not welcome in church,
and that is why I wear this ribbon. John Wesley founded a church that believes
that there is grace in all, and grace for all. That includes the people who
disagree with us. God and we have entered into a covenant with our children at
baptism that they are part of our community of faith, and God always keeps God's
promises. Keeping this promise alive in our church is choosing to be aligned
with God. Keeping this promise in our church is being a reconciling people.
Keeping the promise in our church opens us up to the possibilities of
discipleship. Thank you, God for issuing the subtle calls that cause us to
respond in faith.
Amen.
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