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Called to be Evangelists
Matthew 4:12-23
Roger Miles

When I first looked at the readings for today I was not sure what direction to take. And so I sat and read Paul’s letter to the church at Corinth, and Saint Matthew’s Gospel again and I had what might have been a revelation.

There were two distinct messages for us to hear.

The first is in Paul’s letter. One passage in it stood out as I read. And it is in the first verse; “All of you should be in agreement and there should be no divisions among you”.

What an intriguing passage.

Do you think we could ever be in complete agreement with each other? I don’t! And I don’t think it would be good for the church anyway.

It is the diversity that each of us brings with us, and the give and take with which we talk about our different perspectives, that brings the creativity, and dare I say, wisdom that shows itself from time to time.

Paul goes on to say “but you should be united in the same mind and the same purpose”. Is there not a contradiction here?
 
No! We can have different views and discuss them openly and learn from each other.

There is a difference between unity and uniformity and, I believe, Paul is
asking for that unity which is a gift of the Holy Spirit.

The purpose of telling people how much God loves us, so much that he sent his only Son, Jesus, to save us from our sins by dying for us on the Cross, throughout the world.

The second message is in the reading from Matthew.

Jesus, on learning of the death of John the Baptist, withdrew to Galilee.

Why?

Was he afraid – I don’t think so!

Was it because he wanted to mourn the death of his friend and cousin – again I think the answer is no. But it was a place remote from where John had been preaching and word of what he had been saying may well have not reached there.

Or it could have been because his ministry could not really get under way until after John’s death!

Whatever the reason, Jesus went to be by the lake and made his home in the Capernaum.
 
Jesus was well schooled in the books of the Bible, he knew who He was and what he was doing. The prophet Isaiah’s writings speak to us so much of the coming Messiah, that it should come as no surprise that Jesus took himself off to the place identified by Isaiah as the place that the “Great Light” was first seen.

 The now familiar call of “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near” was first heard at this time as Jesus began to preach and teach in earnest.

That is a very powerful call to stop breaking the Ten Commandments, to cease going against the laws of God as delivered to Moses. It echoes down the ages to the world of today.

There have recently been newspaper headlines reporting the words of the Archbishop of Canterbury when he said something to the effect that Christianity was becoming less and less a part of life today.

He was not wrong. We live in an increasingly godless society – which is so much the poorer for it!

I am not saying we should go back to the strict Victorian way of life, as that was full of hypocrisy – as has been well documented on television.
 
A return to living according to the Ten Commandments, as well as the laws of the land, would bring about a sea change in our society.  I have used the phrase “this fractured and fragmented world” in prayers over recent weeks as more and more we see, hear and read about violence, greed, tyranny, oppression & torture, all of which are an affront to God and need to be stopped.

But “what can we do” is the usual reply when these things are brought up.

We can do lots.

Firstly we can ask God for forgiveness of our own wrongdoings – we, heaven knows, are not perfect. And if we do that and return to being the recipients of God’s grace, we have made a start.

What else can we do?

Answer Jesus’ call, as did Simon Peter, Andrew, James and John.

To digress for a moment I have, from time to time, wondered why Jesus chose these four fishermen to be his disciples.

Fishermen are usually rough, tough, hardy men who can take knocks, get up and carry on about their business. Did Jesus choose these four for that reason? He knew what his destiny was and he knew that those around him would have to face some pretty nasty situations too. Was that why he chose them?
 
Whatever the reason, Jesus made a very good choice!

So what is the message contained in this reading?

It is yet another call for us to be evangelists. To stand up and proclaim the good news of salvation as told by Jesus.

Verse 23 “Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and curing every disease and sickness among the people”.

The cure for this fractured and fragmented world is to hear about God’s
love for his creation; what he did to bring us back to being in communion with him – sent Jesus to be the light of the world.

It is not easy to be a Christian today, we may be mocked or scorned for our beliefs, but if God is for us, who can stand against us?

God is with us, and Jesus is standing right by us too so I challenge you to let people know where you stand and then maybe, by the grace of God, we can fill this church and bring peace to our community.

AMEN