Moving Invitation

Moving Invitation

Matthew 4:12-23

One evening, as Pam and I were getting ready to have dinner with our daughter, who wasn't yet 2 years old, when there was a knock at the door. Pam and I were ready for this moment in our new appointment, and when we opened the door, there stood the saddest looking little girl. It was a Girl Scout selling cookies in Browning, MO.

She stood there with sad eyes and slumped shoulders, and meekly asked, “You wouldn’t want to buy any cookies, would you?” She acted genuinely surprised when I said we would like to buy some cookies. She handed me her sales sheet, and I noticed that she had only sold three boxes – and two were to people who had her last name.

I told her I wanted a box of Thin Mints, and she reached for the sheet. I pulled it away and said that I wasn't done ordering yet. This surprised her, again, as she said that no one ever bought more than one box of Girl Scout cookies in that town. I told her that this story was about to change.

Pam and I ended up buying 10 boxes of Girl Scout cookies, which we would later share with the children at the church. And that little Girl Scout left with a smile that didn't seem possible just a few minutes before.

If you are like a lot of other people, the question you are asking yourself right now is, “Where is Browning, MO?” We are told that something close to a miracle, an act of God, happened there, but it might be nothing more than “a preacher’s story” if we don't know if this place actually exists. Knowing the location, and that it is real, can ground the story for us.

I didn't know where Browning was until the bishop appointed us there, but Pam did. Her great-great grandparents, Frederick and Sophia Shafer, are buried in Dry Ridge Cemetery just outside of Browning. Pam knew the area, the people, and their hard-scrabble life.It was the kind of hard life which might reasonably justify telling a Girl Scout you would never buy a box of cookies from her, or anyone else, ever.

When this little girl showed up at our door, I was thinking I could do two good things at once. I could help a Girl Scout make her sales quota, and I could get cookies for our children's program at the church. Pam, however, saw it as lifting the spirits and casting out the demons in that place. That made it a miracle in Browning, even though it might have just been seen as two good things in most other places.

The location of the story makes a difference. While I was trying to do good, Pam was offering hope in a place of hopelessness. Browning, sitting along Highway 5 on the border of Linn and Sullivan Counties in north central Missouri, was in the midst of the farm crisis. And it hit the farmers thereharder than most places because the quality of the soil, even in the best of times, had thinner margins and lower yields than other farmlands in the state.

The location of the story makes a difference. We tell the story about the baptism of Jesus by John the Baptist in the Jordan River. But where on the river did the baptism take place? The Jordan River is 156 miles long. It begins as a small stream in the 9,000-foot-tall mountains of Lebanon, drops to nearly sea level to become the vibrant Sea of Galilee. The river then re-forms as a meandering boundary river that passes Jerusalem, and finally ends over 400 feet below sea level in the stagnant and life-denying Dead Sea.

The place where John did his baptizing can make a difference in how we understand the baptism of Jesus in the Bible. Was it in the rushing mountain stream of the north, the meandering still waters near Jerusalem, or the stagnant waters of the south? The difference in location can be between seeing his baptism as doing something good and seeing it as being part of a miracle.

John’s gospel places the baptism site at Bethany beyond the Jordan, not to be confused with the village of Bethany near Jerusalem, from where Jesus would later enter on Palm Sunday. The traditional, and archaeologically-supported, site is about 5 miles north of the Dead Sea, and about 6 miles from Jericho. That made it far enough away from the people to keep away the casual thrill seekers looking for a show, but close enough for the population in both Jerusalem and Jericho to walk there and back in the same day if they wanted to be baptized.

In John’s gospel, we are told that Jesus is baptized, John points him out to some of his disciples, and at least two of these disciples follow Jesus. Jesus then heads to Galilee, about 75 miles away, where these disciples invite some family members to also follow Jesus.

But in Matthew’s gospel, we are told that Jesus gets baptized, heads to the desert to be tempted by Satan for 40 days, and then heads to Galilee where he will make his base.It is when he is walking beside the Sea of Galilee that he calls his first disciples, who are working as fishermen.

It would seem that there is some inconsistency here when it comes to when Jesus called his first disciples. We might be able to reconcile this if Peter and Andrew first meet Jesus near Jerusalem, follow him to Galilee. There, Peter and Andrew get jobs as fishermen, to help support themselves and the ministry of Jesus. It is only after this long walk following Jesus and proving themselves as persons willing to do whatever it takes, that Jesus then chooses them to be his disciples. And then they go and get some family members and friends to also follow Jesus.

I know that sounds like something you would expect in a seminary paper from a student doing exegetical work. And if I was in seminary writing this paper, it would be defensible, sensible, and original work – if it was only about putting in order the calling of the disciples. That would be good scholarship, but it would not be good news.

To find the good news in this timeline, we need to think about the difference between following – a good we choose to do, and being a disciple – anact of God choosing us to lead a new life.

Today, we talk a lot about following. We can follow someone on Twitter, for example. We do that because we believe following them does something good for us, and maybe something good for others. We might follow in order to be amused, or to keep up on the news, or to be part of a discussion. When following someone on Twitter no longer serves our needs, we can stop following. It is our choice.

We can follow a diet or exercise program. We do that because we believe following the program does something good for us, and maybe something good for others. We might follow the program in order to feel better, to look better, to live longer, or to do some other perceived good. When following a diet or exercise program no longer is needed, we can stop following. It is our choice.

We can follow directions from our GPS to turn right, or to merge into traffic, or to take the next exit, until we get to our destination. We follow the program to do the good of arriving safely, in a timely manner, and at the right destination. When we get there, however, we no longer need to follow our GPS. And the next time we get in our car, we might or might not use our GPS. It is our choice.

Being a disciple may start with following Jesus, but it isn’t complete until we are chosen by Jesus. A lot of people followed Jesus in the Bible, sometimes numbering in the thousands, but their choice may have only been to follow until they got the miracle they needed, or their stomach was filled, or the sermon was over. It was their choice, and when they believed they didn’t need Jesus any more, they quit following Jesus. It was their choice.

The gospels tell us that only 12 men were chosen to be his disciples, to be those who stayed with Jesus. These 12 men left behind their nets, their families, and their choices, and all because Jesus had chosen them. If we were writing the gospels today, that number would have been more than 12, because we would have included Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James and John, and Joanna, and the other women who also continuously traveled with Jesus and left everything else behind because they had been chosen by Jesus.

Unless we are someone like Paul, who was chosen while persecuting the Christians, the disciples were all chosen from those who are following. The disciples were all persons who had readied themselves and put themselves where they could be chosen. They were all persons who prepared the way of the Lord to enter into their hearts and lives.

Jesus didn’t come looking for fans. He came looking for disciples. He came looking for persons who would choose to leave all else behind in order to learn from the Son of God what it means to become perfect in love. He came looking for persons who would continue his work after his death and resurrection, the work of loving God and loving our neighbors in order to bring the kingdom of God on earth as it is in heaven.

That is the difference between our trying to do good and our becoming a disciple. When we only follow, it is our choice. When we are disciples, we follow because we are chosen as an act of God, which is a miracle.It is a miracle because it is not about our worthiness or our goodness, but about God choosing us. And because we are chosen, it is not us, but God at work through us, who does the good and who receives the glory.

The people of the ancient Middle East understood being chosen a bit differently than we do today. Calling disciples was actually a common event in the Middle East. Usually, a person with a grievance would invite persons to join him in resolving the grievance. You get your people together, I get my people together, and we settle the grievance.

Those who were chosen left everything behind in order to support the one who had called them. It might be a short-term “discipleship” – if enough persons accepted the call and could then enforce their will to settle the grievance. Or it might be a long-tern “discipleship” – if both sides saw the other side as the source of the grievance, if they both saw the other side as being the problem.

We remember that this was a culture where it was the community which decided if something was right and true. The justice system in Jerusalem was not two parties facing one judge. The justice system was 70 judges who heard the grievance together. And while the majority ruled, at least one of the judges had to find the losing side had a point which needed to be heard and affirmed. A good resolution to a grievance was not supposed to create a new grievance later. Resolution was not possible until the community affirmed it, and made it so.

We know that Jesus had a grievance, but it is not with one person or with a clan. Jesus’ grievance is with sin. His grievance is with people not loving God. His grievance is with people not loving their neighbors. The thing Jesus has to do, in order to begin to address this grievance, is to call and gather together his disciples. And this helps us understand why Jesus said his disciples would fish for people.

When we think about fishing in Missouri, we think hooks and bait. If we are to fish for people, we tend to think that means we need a hook, properly baited, to catch people for Jesus. Adam Hamilton famously said that in one of his books, that it is his job to be the tastiest worm on a hook, so that he could catch people for Christ.

But in the time of Jesus, fishing meant using nets so you could gather the fish together. And then, from the gathered fish, those needed would be chosen. The imagery again is on gathering together followers, from whom God will choose those who will address the grievance of Jesus against the sins of the world.

This morning, we are gathered together as followers of Jesus Christ. In a very real sense, it is our choice to be here. We have practiced the means of grace to ready ourselves for being chosen. We have placed ourselves where God can more readily choose us. But we are not yet disciples until we accept the calling God places on our hearts to address the grievance of Jesus against the sin in our world. We are not yet disciples until we know that we have been chosen by God for just a time and purpose as this.

Some of you have already been chosen to be disciples. You might be a disciple chosen to deal with the sin of hunger. You might be a disciple chosen to deal with the sin of homelessness. You might be a disciple chosen to deal with the sin of lost sheep or lost children or lost hope.

Being chosen is the difference between trying to do good on your own and being part of an act of God which brings a miracle into someone’s life. Today may be the day when some of you will be chosen to become disciples. Today may be the day when you are chosen to address a grievance of Jesus against a particular sin in our world. If there is something bothering your heart, a grievance against a manifested sin in our community, it may have been placed there by Jesus as part of choosing you to serve and witness as a disciple.

Jesus is here with us in this service, looking again for disciples. If you are being chosen this morning, or if you feel called to renew your discipleship, I invite you to come to the altar railing, to kneel and pray as you commit yourself to the work of Jesus, as we stand and sing our next hymn.

UMH 344“Lord, You Have Come to the Lakeshore”