Loving God, you call us into relationship with you through your Son Jesus, teaching us how to live in love.  By the power of your Holy Spirit, help us continue to grow in faith and in love, that your light might be glimpsed among us; through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

    When today’s gospel begins, you might get the impression that Jesus is removing himself from danger.  Matthew mentions how John had been arrested and how Jesus then “withdrew to Galilee” (Mt. 4:12).  However, a little investigation reveals that withdrawing to Galilee was not, in fact, a move away from John’s arrest.  Rather, Galilee was ruled at the time by Herod Antipas – the same Herod who arrested John and later had him beheaded.  And so, when Jesus chooses what will be the home base for his ministry, it is as if he chooses to be in the midst of darkness and death.  “The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light” (Isa. 9:2).

    The other thing about Capernaum, where Jesus chooses to make his home, is that most who lived there either farmed or fished.  Jesus chose to be among the common people, and not among the rich and famous.  And so, it is there – in the midst of ordinary people and under the ruler who was hated and feared as a Roman puppet – that Jesus begins to proclaim, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near” (Mt. 4:17).

    It is in Jesus himself that this kingdom comes near, for in his teaching and in his healing and in his acceptance of outcasts and sinners, we begin to see what the kingdom of heaven is really like.  In fact, the kingdom of heaven still comes near wherever people live in love for God and for one another, following Jesus Christ.  It is a kingdom that is first revealed through Jesus, that continues to be revealed even now, and that will be seen in all its fulness in the life to come.  “Your kingdom come” is a prayer that this kingdom would also be made known among us!

    However, Jesus also called people to repent.  Repentance is not, in fact, feeling sorry about something, but rather changing direction.  In fact, we could probably say that Peter and Andrew and James and John “repented” when they left their nets in order to follow Jesus.  After all, this seems to have been quite a change in direction in their lives.  They turned away from their nets and their families in order to turn toward Jesus!

    Can you even imagine doing this?  Can you imagine leaving all of your family commitments behind in order to follow Jesus? ... I think most people have a hard time with this.  In fact, we have a hard time identifying with those first disciples at all because we can’t imagine leaving our families behind, and most of us don’t feel particularly called.  And so, what are we to do with this, and where are we to find ourselves in today’s gospel?

    To be honest, this is a tough one to sort out.  My own experience is that I did feel called by God into ministry and that this was more important than family.  In fact, I don’t think I would have the time and energy to do both.  I find it very hard to imagine being a pastor and also trying to raise a family.  Somebody in there is going to get gypped, and usually it is the family.

    However, for those of you who do have families, how do you attend to your family responsibilities and also follow Jesus?  One pastor who writes about today’s gospel talks about how we are being called – not necessarily into a particular line of work, but into a relationship with Jesus (workingpreacher.org).  In fact, we are called into relationship not only with Jesus, but with each other and with all the people we meet from day to day.  So what do we do with family relationships?

    One thing that we are not told much about in the New Testament is how family relationships got worked out for those who were disciples of Jesus.  We do know, though, that most of them were married, as Paul writes about Peter and the other apostles being accompanied by their wives (who were also believers) when they traveled (1 Cor. 9:5).  And so, how did all of these relationships get worked out?

    Certainly, at first the disciples spent a lot of time with Jesus, for in order to have a good relationship with somebody, you need to get to know them! However, at the same time they did see their families (at least, when they were at home), for one of the healing stories in the gospels involves Jesus healing Peter’s mother-in-law, and many others coming to Peter’s house in order to be healed (Mt. 8:14-16).

    Meanwhile, new relationships were added to the family relationships that already existed.  The thing about getting to know Jesus is that it is never just you and him, for Jesus always calls us into community with other people.  The disciples were together with one another.  The community of believers was always gathering together after Jesus’ death and resurrection.  People did not worship God all by themselves or have Jesus all to themselves.  Rather, their relationship with God was always connected to all of their other relationships.

    And so, for us, too, our relationship with Jesus needs to direct all our other relationships.  This means spending time in prayer and in worship and in Bible study so that we know Jesus well enough to be able to allow him to direct us.  Where the real challenge comes, at least for some people, is when family relationships seek to draw us away from Jesus, or even to prevent us from worshiping and growing in our faith.  Still, we need to find ways to work these things out, for ultimately it is the relationship with Jesus that is able to give life.

    One of the things that I’ve noticed particularly in Winnipeg is that many people are quite insular, never really looking beyond their own families.  What I mean is this: Every Christmas Eve my parents used to invite people over after the candlelight service.  These people included whatever relatives were close by, as well as various people from the church who didn’t have any family in town or were new to Canada.  While I’m sure there are some families here who extend invitations to those who don’t have much family or are on their own, it seems to be far less common than I’ve seen in other places.

    I mention this because it reminds us of how our relationships expand within the body of Christ.  We are not only members of our own families, but also of the family of God.  And within the family of God, we both give and receive just as we would in any loving family.  This is not an added burden that gets piled on top of all the family commitments we already have.  Rather, these relationships flow out of our relationship with Jesus, which helps us to set our priorities.  Nobody is able to do everything.  We all pick and choose where we put our time and energy based on what is most important.

    And so, perhaps the message that we most need to hear from today’s gospel is to repent and to follow.  Jesus calls us to turn away from those things that do not give life and to turn toward him and the kingdom of heaven.  At the same time, Jesus calls us into relationship with him – a relationship that heals and gives life and directs all our other relationships.  For, “the people who walked in darkness have seen a great light”, and his name is Jesus.  Amen.

Epiphany 3(A)                                Matthew 4:12-23
January 26, 2014                                Isaiah 9:1-4
St. Luke’s Zion Lutheran Church
Pastor Lynne Hutchison

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