Follow Your Bliss – sermon on January 22, 2016
Matthew 4: 12-23 When Jesus heard that John had been put in prison, he withdrew to Galilee. Leaving Nazareth, he went and lived in Capernaum, which was by the lake in the area of Zebulun and Naphtali to fulfill what was said through the prophet Isaiah: “Land of Zebulun and land of Naphtali, the Way of the Sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles – 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.” From that time on Jesus began to preach, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.”
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. “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will send you out to fish for people.” At once they left their nets and followed him. 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, and immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him. Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people.
Sermon: Follow Your Bliss by Rev. Doreen Oughton
I was struck by this question posed by someone in the Lectionary FB group: “Is it fair to say that ‘fishing for people’ is among the Bible’s worst metaphors? A fish is happy and swimming free before being ripped without consent, by hook or net, into an environment where it can’t breathe. Then usually it is killed, gutted, cooked and eaten.” What do you think? Does it work? How might you phrase the call if you were the speechwriter for Jesus? “Come follow me and I will send you out to…. what?”
We had bible study this week, where we ponder what the good news is in the readings. For me, the good news here is that Jesus calls people to accompany him, right at the start of his ministry, right after he ends his desert retreat. He invites us to follow him, but to do what? He tells Simon Peter and Andrew it is to catch people. Does he also want us to catch people? Catch them for what? Is it to get them to go to church? To hold the right beliefs about Jesus as Lord and Savior and so earn their place in heaven?
Jesus started his ministry by preaching. His message was to repent, to turn around, go in a different direction, for the kindom of heaven has come near. Certainly it is good news that the kindom of heaven has come near, right? I think so, but some people hear this as a threat or a caution – as in “straighten up and fly right, because God is coming, and God isn’t happy.” But the term “gospel” means “good news.” Jesus is proclaiming good news. The kindom – a place of joy and justice – is near, and by turning from the paths that the world has laid out, or that we have cut for ourselves through this life, we can follow Jesus right into that kindom.
Gospel writer Matthew concerns himself quite a bit with the idea of Jesus being the fulfillment of ancient biblical prophesies, and so we have him referencing the book of Isaiah, ch. 9, a passage often used at Christmas time: “The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; on those who lived in the shadow of death a light has dawned.” Matthew leaves out the next line, though. “You have multiplied the nation, you have increased its joy; they rejoice before you as with joy at the harvest.” And I agree with Matthew that Jesus is the fulfillment of this great prophecy. Jesus is the light that pierces the shadow of death; he comes to increase our joy. His mission is to lead us to our bliss. His call to repentance is not a warning to protect us from God’s punishment, but a correction to our own bad maps that would lead us where we don’t, in our deepest selves, want to go. He’s like a GPS. Perhaps we all have a GPS-type thing in our souls that God programmed in at our creation to lead us back to God, back to the unity and oneness from which we came. The signals got all mixed up, and Jesus re-programs us, saying in effect “make a U-turn whenever possible.”
I know I am mixing lots of metaphors, but I think it is an important question to consider. What does it mean to be a disciple? What does Jesus call us to do and to be? Certainly it involves people. And it is not just about helping people. Jesus could have preached and healed and cast out demons all on his own. He didn’t call the 12 so that he could heal them. And though he was teaching them so they could continue later, I imagine that sometimes the needs of the apostles slowed him down. Jesus was showing us something important about what it means to be God’s children in how he lived his life – with people as companions, not just “projects.” He wanted to catch us up to a different understanding of ourselves and each other. He wanted to remind us that we, together, are the image of God. The image is incomplete if any are missing. He doesn’t want us caught to be gutted, cooked and eaten. He wants us to catch and be caught for the reunion.
I think a better metaphor might be “go and be bus drivers, picking people up and bringing them to the best family reunion ever.” Jesus wants to catch us all up in kindom living, in which we rejoice over one another; in which we see that our own well-being is all tied up with the well-being of others. Now this bus is not a luxury vehicle. The road can be bumpy, the ride rough. The seats are not very comfortable, and sometimes we have to stand and hang on for dear life. It might not look all that appealing to get on at all, and we might be very tempted to get off along the way. Following Christ will bring us to our bliss, but not right away. Jesus’ way is the way that leads to the cross, and only then to joyful new life. It’s not that we earn our way in by suffering, it’s just that traveling that road requires that we let go of a lot of things we are afraid to let go of.
At the worship service I attended last week, the preacher talked about the way of sacrifice. He said following Jesus involves suffering as Jesus did. But I don’t know that sacrifice and suffering are the same thing. To sacrifice means “to make sacred.” Jesus sacrificed his life – he made it sacred. We “sacrifice” our money by giving to the church – we make it sacred. By doing something difficult, something that is courageous or selfless or giving, even if there is a cost, we sacrifice. But I believe true sacrifice is more likely to lead to joy than to suffering. Maybe the body is sore, but the soul soars. Maybe the purse is empty but our hearts are full. Maybe we have no time for ourselves, but we are blessed by our connections with others.
I love the psalm we read together today – the confidence expressed in it, the certainty that God has got you covered, and that coming to worship is a joyful act, even if times have been trying. I love what scripture tells us about the ministry of Jesus – that it wasn’t about getting people to follow the rules, not about getting people to fear God. It was about healing and freeing. It was about table fellowship and helping people reconnect with community. I want to share the devotion we had at bible study, since it fit so well with the lectionary readings. It is based on a passage that comes later in the Matthew – ch. 9: 14-15: Then the disciples of John came to him, saying, “Why do we and the Pharisees fast often, but your disciples do not fast? And Jesus said to them, “The wedding guests cannot mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them, can they?” Martin Copenhaver writes: Billy Sunday, a famous evangelist of the early twentieth century, observed, “The trouble with many people is that they have got just enough religion to make them miserable.” They are serious about their religion (which is a good thing) but in a dour way (which is not). They know a good deal about duty but grace is a stranger to them. Billy Sunday concluded, “If you have no joy in your religion, there’s a leak in your faith.” Copenhaver goes on: Some critics of Jesus thought he had the opposite problem—he was just too joyful. Jesus and his followers did not fast as often as others did. In fact, Jesus relished food and drink so much that some accused him of being a glutton and a drunkard. Beyond that, Jesus just seemed to be having too good a time. There’s got to be something wrong with that, or so concluded some of his contemporaries. When the “good” religious folk confronted Jesus about this, he likened himself to the groom at a wedding celebration. You cannot expect a groom to be anything but joyful. A groom is supposed to be joyful and there is something amiss if he is not. And those celebrating the wedding are expected to, well, celebrate. C.S. Lewis once affirmed that, “Joy is the serious business of heaven.” Jesus obviously thought joy is the serious business of the living, as well.
Jesus wants us to be caught up in joy, and he wants us to catch others up in it too. Do you feel joy in following him? Do you feel joy in worshiping him? Do you feel joy being part of his body, this body of Christ? We need your joy; the world needs your joy. If you don’t feel it, perhaps there is a leak in your faith. Is there something you might need to sacrifice – some way to make your life more sacred? Is there something you have been afraid of, for which you can repent – make a U-turn with Jesus right into kindom living? I know it won’t be easy. But I trust what it is that awaits us. May we find the courage to follow him. Amen.
