Time for a real reformation?

 ‘…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....’ (Matt 4:16)

Matthew 4:12-23 (Year A: 3^rd Sunday after Epiphany Sunday 22^nd January 2017)

This extract from the Gospel of St Matthew comprises three key parts:

• A setting of the scene by reference to the prophecy of Isaiah and directly applying it to Jesus (v.12-16)
• A clarification of what it was and what it is that Jesus came to proclaim and do: repentance and healing. (v. 17,23).-
• A call directed to specially chosen persons to become followers of Jesus and the response of those called. (v. 18-22)

Setting the scene

Matthew was addressing, among others, a Jewish Christian audience.  Many who heard and read his testimony understood the Hebrew narrative about a messiah and the promise of a new reign of God.  Matthew probably drew on multiple oral sources many of which were shared by all four evangelists who made into the official church-approved canon some centuries later. Citation of the prophet Isaiah in the initial verses of this extract would have carried deep significance and insight for those hearing it again.

What is it that Jesus came to proclaim and do?

Jesus came to proclaim the in-breaking of God’s kingdom here and now and beyond.  But, that on its own, was not enough. Jesus came to effect salvation and liberation in the here and now.  So, healing or liberation goes hand in hand with proclaiming. The two are different sides of one and the same coin. By ‘teaching’, ‘proclaiming’ and ‘healing’ Jesus was showing the freshly called disciples what discipleship for the new kingdom looks like and what it involves.  The first disciples were, indeed, a type of ‘discipulus’ or pupil in Latin. We have no chance of being a light for others if, we do not learn and continue to learn from the Word made flesh amongst us.  Likewise a ‘teaching’ church is a ‘learning’ church learning from its own members living and past. It also learns from those outside the fold who may not share the same understanding, experience or language.

A call to the first disciples

Those initially called were very ordinary people. Certainly, they were not Temple officials or learned scribes and teachers.  If anything, God’s choice – in Jesus – was leaning towards the low to middle end of the socio-economic profile of Palestine.  Fishing was a way of life for those living by the Sea of Galilee and since Jesus grew up in this region and settled in Capernaum by the lake (he ‘made his home’ there). He probably had closely observed people like James, John, Andrew and Simon to be later called ‘Rock’ or Peter and decided that these were the right persons for the right mission at the right time which was now. Perhaps uncouth, headstrong, opinionated, given to rivalries at times and untrained in the finesse of Jerusalem court life these country bumpkins would be just right though in time they would run away and abandon Jesus for a while. The first key point is that the first disciples were called as they were. 

Matthew relates that they Simon and Andrew ‘left their nets and followed him’ while James and John ‘immediately…left the boat and their father, and followed him.’ In other words, those called left all at least for now. They left parent or parents and occupation. They did so in trust not knowing where this would lead. Why did they do this? How were they motivated to leave their families and to abandon their occupation or livelihoods?  There is no Gospel evidence that they ever returned to their families or livelihoods.  We might assume that something very powerful moved within the minds and hearts of the first called. Perhaps they had heard or even known Jesus to some degree beforehand. Perhaps the teaching of John the Baptist had ‘cleared the way’ for a strong experience such as they had.  Whatever happened it is clear that they answered Jesus’ call ‘immediately’.  There was no procrastination or years of trial.  There was no time for that. After all, the kingdom of heaven was at hand.  While the historical record is not certain it is reasonable to assume that most of the initial disciples met persecution and death as a result of their following of Jesus.  The second key point is that the first disciples answered the call in the here and now. This sets a pattern for all future disciples (and not just those who may be called to a special ministry). The call is in the here and now and not in some hypothetical future or in some set of conditionalities. Today. Now.

Seven questions to consider

1. Where is the ‘good news’ (gospel) being proclaimed today in a way that is convincing and relevant to the questions and needs of people today? 
2. How is this ‘good news’ being communicated and in what terms and language (primarily as a threat or as an invitation to something even greater and better)?
3. Are those proclaiming credible witnesses living according to what they proclaim?
4. What does discipleship mean today and how does it relates to the many different expressions of ministry in the church (or churches)?
5. If, as it seems, a rising proportion of people are ‘walking away’ (or never walked there in the first place) from traditional, organised and formal ‘religion’ how do they understand and seek spiritual meaning, identity, connection, truth and values?
6. Are the current ‘parish’ or ‘congregation’ models fit for purpose? (put another way, are liturgy, ministry and church fit for purpose?)
7. What do we do about it?

Might we, all, one day witness the fulfilment of Isaiah’s prophecy and cited by Matthew:

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. (Matthew 4:16)

That would be real reformation making a real difference in people’s lives.