God's Last Words

“Jesus Goes Hunting”

Matthew 4: 12-23

 

A young executive was leaving the office late one evening when he found the CEO standing in front of a shredder with a piece of paper in his hand.

"Listen," said the CEO, "this is a very sensitive and important document here, and my secretary has gone for the night. Can you make this thing work?"

"Certainly," said the young executive. He turned the machine on, inserted the paper, and pressed the start button.  "Excellent, excellent!" said the CEO as his paper disappeared inside the machine. "I just need one copy."

Whoops! Leaders depend on their followers. Leaders find followers who know what they need. Jesus was no different. But not all bosses are equal.

The new vice president was flaunting his title so much that one of his co-workers finally said to him, “These days vice presidents are a dime-a-dozen. In fact, the title is getting so ridiculous, my supermarket has a vice president in charge of peas.

The new V. P. was insulted, and skeptical. So he phoned the store and asked for the vice president in charge of peas. The voice on the line asked, “Canned or Frozen?”

Company leadership or even positions of power and prestige in organizations often come about by chance. An old computer legend tells about how DOS (Disk Operating Software) beat out a competing brand to be included in the personal computer.

The competitor’s developer decided to play golf one morning and wasn’t in his office to receive a telephone call to come and share his system. Bill Gates and his friends were. And the rest is history.

Today we’re going to continue talking about Jesus’ call of disciples. I sometimes wonder if God chooses the Disciples specifically or used those nearby with the talents and abilities He could use.

Does it make a difference to be divinely appointed or does God use who is willing?

 

Now when Jesus heard that John had been arrested, he withdrew to Galilee. He left Nazareth and made his home in Capernaum by the sea, in the territory of Zebulun and Naphtali, so that what had been spoken through the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled:

"Land of Zebulun, land of Naphtali, on the road by the sea, across the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles-- the 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."

From that time Jesus began to proclaim, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near."

As 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.

And he said to them, "Follow me, and I will make you fish for people." Immediately they left their nets and followed him.

As 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. Immediately they left the boat and their father, and followed him.

Jesus 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. (NRSV)

I mentioned last week that it depends on which Gospel you are reading regarding which Disciples were recruited in what order. I don’t think it matters a whole lot – and I don’t think Jesus every really marked one disciple out over any others. Each had unique talents and abilities.

It doesn’t seem like Jesus had to hold interviews or job fairs, did he? It doesn’t seem as if He needs to hunt down His disciples; they appear before Him as he travels. We usually think God chooses the disciples, but what if He just used those who were around?

What message would it send to use that God called ordinary people to do extraordinary things? What if He could call us too? 

The Gospel writers were slightly different in the way the ministry and life of Jesus and those who followed Him are recorded. Not in the important things, but in the ways that individuals would notice and report.

Unlike what some people’s views of Christianity may be, we celebrate and embrace the diversity of believers and recognize it would be boring otherwise.

Jesus doesn’t seem to have a corporate model of the ideal disciple in mind. But He does have the ideal corporate motto: Repent, believe in Me, Heaven is near..

But think about Jesus’ time.

Israel was a servant state to the power of the Roman Empire. Jewish hopes were based on the Laws given to Moses and most Jews could not see past the rituals that shadowed the coming Messiah.

The Messiah was just prophecy in most Jewish minds. It was hard to translate into flesh/blood.

To them, a Messiah meant a deliverer King, a fighting man with near supernatural ability to defeat the Romans and expel them in defeat. To most people the question was: Who was this hillbilly carpenter’s son that thought of Himself so highly that he spoke near blasphemy in their minds and in their hearing?

Jesus was not what they envisioned. They did not want a poor man of lowly means that had no power of making war. Jesus was a Man who fit every prophecy of a coming Messiah to the letter.  And He fulfilled them in full view of hundreds, if not thousands.

It’s amazing to know that there were some who knew that Jesus was the person the people had been waiting for over 400 years. They knew every last detail of His coming and His family ancestry, based on the clear words of the Torah and the prophets, and they still didn’t recognize Him, nor accept Him.

If you look back at Scripture, to when Jesus rose from the grave and appeared to the apostles and many others, even the men who followed Jesus for 3.5 years still did not understand the reason for the coming of the Messiah, and realize it was Jesus.

As Jesus spoke with them, just before He ascended to heaven, the disciples asked Him in Acts 1: 6-7: “Now those who had come together began to ask him, "Lord, is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel?” He answered them, “It is not for you to know what times or periods the Father has set by his own authority.”

At this time, even these men who lived, ate, and slept near the King of kings while He was a Man on earth, they still did not recognize His mission.

They would start getting their stuff together when the day of Pentecost came as they were filled with the Holy Spirit and the ability to speak out boldly of who Jesus Christ really was, what His mission had been, and revelation of what He had accomplished.

They would teach that He brought salvation to the Jew first, then to the Gentiles, as Paul, who wasn’t even an original disciple, eventually took the message to the Gentile nations in Asia Minor and the world.

If your look at it that way you begin to see that people may be called to discipleship, but they still have to grow into it.

So who does God call? Someone who can answer witty questions such as the one I remember from my Industrial/Organizational Psych class as an interview question:

You are driving along in your car on a wild, stormy night. You pass by a bus stop, and you see three people waiting for the bus: 

1. An old lady who looks as if she is about to die.

2. An old friend who once saved your life.

3. The perfect man (or) woman you have been dreaming about.

Which one would you choose to offer a ride to, knowing that there could only be one passenger in your car?

Think before you answer. (The old lady, the old friend, or the perfect man or  woman?). By the way this is a moral/ethical dilemma that was once actually used as part of a job application training process.

You could pick up the old lady, because she is going to die, and thus you should save her first; or you could take the old friend because he once saved your life, and this would be the perfect chance to pay him back. However, you may never be able to find your perfect dream partner again.

The candidate who gave the best answer (out of an initial 200 answers) had no trouble coming up with his answer. He simply answered: “I would give the car keys to my old friend, and let him take the lady to the hospital. I would stay behind and wait for the bus with the woman of my dreams.”

This answer is what’s called “Thinking Outside of the Box." But people who think outside boxes are unorthodox, often headstrong, and given to streaks of independence.

Kind of how Satan got to be who he is. And that's not good.

But if you think about it Jesus wants people who are willing to submit themselves to living, thinking, praying, and worshipping inside the Box of Christianity and the church.

Jesus doesn't want people to be God - He wants them to be willing to follow God within God's Will.

God uses each of us as we are because we are all capable of discipleship on Jesus’ terms. Whether you call it hunting or fishing Jesus would have us share Him with the world. Amen.