A Sermon
Presented by Rev. Merlin T. Batt
Intentional Interim Pastor
St. Matthew’s United Church of Christ
Maiden, North Caroline
Third Sunday in Ordinary Time
January 27, 2008

Scripture Lesson: Matthew 4:12-23
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The summer and fall of 1985 in Israel was very much like that of 2007 in North Carolina – unusually hot and dry. The combination of relentless, high heat and lack of rain created a severe drought in the whole region. In order to irrigate the parched fields, a massive amount of water was drained from the Sea of Galilee, which is actually a lake, roughly 12 miles long by 8 miles wide.

The lake is Israel’s main source of fresh water. As the water flowed south and out into the fields, the water level of the lake fell dramatically, exposing vast expanses of mud flats. Just picture what the Catawba River looks like today with its wide, exposed banks, and you have a pretty good picture of what the Sea of Galilee looked like in Israel 23 years ago.

The only people who benefited from the long drought were archeologists. For example, in January of 1986, two brothers named Moshe and Yuval Lufan made a discovery of great archeological importance. The brothers were walking together along the drought-widened shoreline, somewhere between the ancient harbors of Gennosar and Magdala (that’s Mary Magdalene’s home town, by the way). There they discovered the faint oval outline of a boat in the muddy lake bed. One of the brothers later said about their discovery, “It was little more than a curving arc of wood, flush with the surface of the ground, but we immediately realized that this was the uppermost plank of a boat that was entirely buried by the mud.”

Before the water level in the Sea of Galilee returned to normal, the ancient boat was cleared of mud, enclosed in polyurethane foam, and floated across the Sea of Galilee. The boat was placed in a conservation pool at the Yigal Allon museum on the grounds of a kibbutz. A kibbutz is a cooperative Israeli farming community. There for nine and a half years the boat was submerged in a pool of special wax material which served to preserve its deteriorating timbers.

The wooden boat – 26 ½ feet long, 7 ½ feet wide and 4 ½ high – was subjected to Carbon 14 testing, which determined that it was constructed in about 40 BC and was in use until well into the 1st century AD. Historians suggest that the boat was most likely sunk in 67 AD, during a fierce sea battle between Jewish rebels from Magdala and Roman forces moving southward toward Jerusalem.

The reason I take time now to tell you about this archeological find is that the boat was in use in the fishing industry on the Sea of Galilee during the time of Jesus. In fact, it is popularly known as “the Jesus Boat.” Did Jesus himself travel in this boat? Did he see it plying the waters of the Sea of Galilee? Did the boat belong to any of Jesus’ fisherman-disciples? We don’t have definite answers to any of these questions, but we do know at least that this boat was used by fishermen to earn a living on the Sea of Galilee in the time of Jesus. The rest must be left to our imaginations.

And because of that, I must add, when we last traveled to Israel in 1996, it was a thrill and a privilege to see this boat with my own eyes! The sight of the decayed ribs of that ancient boat helped me to visualize the various scenes in the Gospels involving Jesus and a fishing boat. For example,

The time when Jesus crossed over by boat to the Gentile side of the Sea of Galilee and there a large crowd gathered round Him while He was by the lake (Mark 5:21)

And the time Jesus was teaching by the lake, and the crowd got so large that Jesus got into a boat and sat in it out on the lake, while all the people were along the shore at the water’s edge (Mark 4:1)

And then the time when Jesus was asleep in the stern of the boat as He and the disciples were crossing to the other side of the lake during a terrible storm. Remember? The disciples, fearing for their lives, woke Him up and said, “Teacher, don’t you care if we are perishing?” And Jesus then quieted the winds with a word and said to his disciples, “Why are you afraid? Have you still no faith?” (Mark 4:36-41)

And, of course, this passage from our Gospel lesson today:

As Jesus 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.

Was it the same boat which surfaced during a recent drought in Israel? Could be!

Well, no matter how many times I read or hear this text, I am struck again and again by how really odd it is. Notice, first, that Jesus went looking for disciples. He sought out Simon and Andrew, and James and John. He made a point to go to their place of business to extend his call. Jesus took the initiative. This is not how such things typically happened in Jesus’ day. Rabbis did not go looking for disciples. Instead, would-be disciples went searching for a rabbi from whom to learn. But here in this story from Matthew’s Gospel the roles are exactly the reverse of what we would expect. How odd!

Notice also the strange approach Jesus made to the fishermen. Matthew gives us no hint that any prior conversations had taken place among Jesus and these four fishermen whom He called to follow Him – no previous meetings, no indication that the fisherman had even met Jesus, no leisurely conversations with Him over dinner, no explanations of what following Jesus would mean for them, no negotiations, no promises about the future, nothing! As Matthew tells the story, all Jesus said to them was “Follow me,” and the fisherman dropped what they were doing and obeyed. How odd! Sounds a little like the opening chapter of Genesis – God spoke, and things happened!

Oh, one more thing. Notice how disruptive Jesus was in the lives of these men and their families. They were all involved, and presumably happily so, in a business which provided adequately for them and their families. They didn’t make huge profits from the fishing business, but enough to live on and, in good years, have a little left over. Fish were plentiful, particularly in the northern part of the lake where the nutrient-rich water came in from the mountains of Lebanon. The markets were good – it was a cosmopolitan area with soldiers, wayfarers, pilgrims and peddlers coming and going, as well as the local population who would always want what they provided.

In other words, these fishermen were well-established in a solid, respectable, and profitable business; and, as far as we know, they were married men, possibly also fathers. James and John worked with their father Zebedee in the family business. And you can be sure that old man Zebedee wasn’t one bit happy when Jesus showed up one day, laid claim to his two adult sons, and they left him there in the boat with the nets and the work and all. How odd!

Why did Peter and Andrew, and James and John give all this up to follow some wandering preacher? If we can answer this question, then the odd aspects of today’s story may not appear quite so odd after all.

The answer can only be found in Jesus himself! It only makes sense when we take into account the astonishing power and magnetism of Jesus’  presence. It’s the reason why, even today, someone gives up a promising career in some lucrative field to become a preacher, sacrificing a lifetime of high earnings for the insecurity, the frustrations, and the financial limitations that come with pastoring and teaching a church. It’s the reason why a person with extraordinary talents abandons her gifts to become a monastic, a missionary, a teacher among the poor, a nurse to the sick and dying. It’s the reason why ordinary, everyday Christians reject lifestyles and practices that appear very attractive and lucrative in order to maintain honesty and integrity, and be persons of faith, hope, and love. In a real sense, the same thing is going on today as happened by the Galilean shore two millennia ago.

The power of Jesus’ presence can be known today as it was on the day when he called Peter, Andrew, James, and John. It comes to us as we listen and meditate upon the stories about Him and pray to know Him better. Jesus still draws near and says, “Follow me.” Just as He did on the shore of Galilee to those fishermen, He takes the initiative with us. Just as He did to the fishermen long ago, He extends His call without telling us what it’s all about and where following Him will lead. And just as He did amid the boats and nets and family businesses on Galilee, Jesus disrupts our plans and dreams with the purposes He wants to accomplish through us. The story in Matthew’s Gospel has a very familiar ring to it.

Near the end of the Fourth Gospel, Jesus is speaking to his disciples, preparing them for the time when He will no longer be with them, at least in the same way to which they have become accustomed. By this time in the story, many things have happened in the course of their following Jesus from village to village, hearing Him teach and preach, watching Him heal the sick and free those held in the grip of demonic forces, and so on. Remembering the various occasions when He called them to follow, Jesus looks at them, making eye contact with each one individually, and He says, “You did not choose me but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit…”

It’s still as true today as it was long ago when Jesus called Peter and Andrew, James and John. We don’t choose Jesus – Jesus chooses us! Of course, it’s true at one level that we choose Jesus in that we choose to be present where He is proclaimed, in the community where His words are studied. We choose to read the Gospels and ponder their significance. But at a much deeper level, we must acknowledge that the reverse is true: that in all our choosing, we were being chosen; and in all our searching, we were being sought.
 
For some of you, Jesus’ choosing was dramatic, datable, sudden, and life-changing. It was that way for me. For others of you, it came as a result of a lifetime of His quiet leading and coaxing. But for every last one of us, the deep truth is that Jesus took the initiative, summoned us to follow Him, and appointed us to go and bear fruit!

Think for a moment what that means. It means that your life has been claimed by Jesus Christ. There’s a purpose for your life that’s far larger than any of the little purposes that determine your daily activities, or even the sum of them. It means there’s a value to your life that isn’t measured by what you do or don’t achieve, or by what others may think about you.

And think about what it means for our life together as a church if we have been summoned to follow Jesus. It means that the church is not your typical “voluntary organization.” Rather it’s a divinely created instrument for getting His work done in the world. It also means that you didn’t just happen to wander in the door one day and decide to stay, but that in the mystery of God’s ways you were led here, put here, placed here, set in relationship with others here to learn what it means to be members of Christ’s family, and how to function as His body in this place and time. “You did not choose me, but I chose you,” said Jesus. “And I appointed you to go and bear fruit.”

Let us pray:
Lord Jesus Christ, in the mystery of your ways, you came to us, tracked us down, sought us out, called and summoned us. Lord,  give us what we need to be faithful followers of your summons. Amen.