MATTHEW 4: 12-25 

Matthew in the Margins…3rd Sunday after the Epiphany…Revised 2017

The Baptiser is called to announce the Christ. Jesus, the Christ, the Anointed, is called to live out God in our midst. He then calls others to live out the God they see in Him. He begins with Peter & Andrew, James & John, & hasn’t stopped calling others in all the years between their stories & ours. Are we answering that call in our own personal & community living? Can others see God in us? 

Jesus travels to Galilee, probably to to buy time to discern the implications of John’s arrest for His ministry. In Galilee, all He’s learned during His trials in the wilderness are being put to the test again. Galilee isn't the quiet place many of us seek when we have big decisions to make! Galilee is marginal! A hot-bed of resentment & resistance towards centralism of all kinds & the pitfalls that go with that. Jesus is as comfortable in life’s margins & among marginal people, as in institutions, sacred or secular! Are there margins we need to get out into for God?

Taking God seriously means holding God's Rule (‘Kingdom’) & human rule of every ilk in a constructive & creative tension. The Baptiser, Jesus, these first four followers, & those who come after, then or now, ‘get’ God’s Rule. Not always immediately. The starting place may be something like genuinely ‘wanting in’. Do we want to live & breathe God? Do we want to be moved to do so & act accordingly? The Baptiser opts in from a background of desert self-denial; Simon & Andrew, from casting nets; James & John, from mending them. Are Zebedee, & his wife, & other parents of those called enabled to opt in to God’s Rule by letting go & letting God? It's a big ask for anyone to leave their ‘desert’, their ‘boats’, ‘nets’, family, daily bread. But Jesus becomes Bread of Life, Living water, too, for those who will follow. 

Following, Proclaiming, Teaching,  Healing, etc., all need to happen out in life’s margins as well as inside church. Church is called to play an important role in setting the scene, but many ‘God things’ usually happen out-side the protective walls of sacred space. Compare the ways Jesus & John operate. You have to move outside your comfort zone & go outside to John. Jesus on the other hand makes home visits to call us beyond our comfort zones. More, where John seems to major in sin, repentance, & punishment, (but n.b. LK3: 10-15), Jesus delivers compassion, acceptance, & healing (restoration) in Person.

Word of Jesus spreads person to person! No internet! No Face-book or Twitter! There’s no substitute for person to person spreading of the Gospel. Jesus never just talks up good news; He is good news! In Person! In you & me! When we opt in!

What - or whom - may God be calling us to move on from today? Boats we're going down in? Nets we're tangling in? People or situations that can’t or won't free us to move on in God & for God’s Rule? Even when it means venturing outside our comfort zones.