Body

"Jesus: On Tour"

(Matthew 4:12-23)

Rev. Billy D. Strayhorn

INTRODUCTION:

I'm a child of the sixties. I grew up listening to rock and roll. Like nearly everybody else at that time, I started playing the guitar. When I was in Junior High a group of us formed a garage band. Remember those? If you could get 3 or 4 kids together with their instruments, you could have a garage band. Ours waffled between three and as many as seven members. At one point we had a drummer, an electric organ, three guitars, a bass and a saxophone. We'd get together and practice whenever somebody's parents weren't home. We were so bad, it was the only way any of them would let us play in their homes.

I think we learned to play maybe five or six songs. I remember playing the standard song that every rock band had to play, "House of the Rising Sun" by the Animals. But we also learned "Louie, Louie," "Wild Thing" by the Troggs. "Hey There Little Red Riding Hood" by Sam the Sham and the Pharaohs and "96 Tears" by Question Mark and the Mysterions. The organ player brought that one with him when he joined.

Actually we probably spent more time discussing the name of the band than we did actually playing. You see we figured if you could come up with a really cool name like "The Troggs" or "The Beatles" then you really didn't have to play that well. The name would sell the group. We came up with names like, "The Wild Things," "Dinosaur" "The Toads." There must have been at least a hundred others. My personal favorite was: "Uncle Monkey." Don't ask me what any of those meant, I don't remember, but we thought we were "cool." You were cool if you were in band, right? You didn't have to play very well, but you were definitely cool.

This morning we find Jesus moving from his hometown of Nazareth and setting up shop in Capernaum because his cousin John has been arrested. He wasn't running from the law. John's arrest was sort of a signal for him to begin his own ministry. And he picks up right where John left off, with a message of repentance. But a message filled with far more hope than John ever dreamed of.

And in beginning, Jesus starts to put together his own band. Not a rock band. Not a garage band. Not a band of gypsies. Nor a band on the run. But a band of followers, a band of disciples who will help him bring light, hope, peace and salvation to a world filled with darkness and sin.

Jesus begins his "tour" in the area surrounding the Sea of Galilee. Today there is only one town or city on the Sea of Galilee, Tiberias. But back then there were at least nine communities surrounding the Sea of Galilee. Most of them were small to medium fishing communities, like Capernaum. Most folks thought Galilee was sort of the hicksville of Israel. The folks who came out of Galilee spoke with an accent and were thought to be country bumpkins. But the truth was that Galilee was a crossroads of culture. Two of the worlds trade routes went right through Galilee. One, through Capernaum. The Via Maris, "the Road" or "Way to the Sea" and the Via Rex or the "King's Highway" went to too far from the eastern shore of the Sea of Galilee.

One day we find Jesus walking along the shores of the Sea of Galilee. He spies a group of fishermen plying their trade. He recognizes a couple of them as Peter and Andrew. And then two more as the sons of Zebedee, James and John. He sees them fishing and he casts out an invitation and a challenge. "Jesus said to them, 'Come with me. I'll make a new kind of fisherman out of you. I'll show you how to catch men and women instead of perch and bass.'"

(Matthew 4:19 The Message)

And the amazing thing is that they dropped everything and followed. They left their nets and their livelihoods and their families and followed, no questions asked. Most of them had heard John the Baptist preach. A couple had even been disciples of John.

What was the difference? John had a certain look in his eyes. When you looked in John's eyes you could see the far off distant glory of God. His voice and his message made you want to see it because it helped you see and feel the promises of God. But when Jesus spoke. When you looked in Jesus' eyes, there was nothing far off and distant. when you looked in Jesus' eyes you saw the glory and presence of God, right there present with you. The promise that you saw in John's eyes became flesh and blood right before your eyes. You stood face to face with God's glory and God's promise all wrapped up in Jesus.

That's what was different and that's why they dropped everything and followed. And what did they find? They found a fervent faith, fearless fortitude and a faith that flourished.

I. FERVENT FAITH:

A. For years the first thing I've read out of the daily paper is the theological section. You know, the comics. There's lots of good commentary on life and current beliefs in the comics.

Take for example Close To Home from Tuesday. It shows a guy at the Pharmacy, obviously waiting for his prescription. The Pharmacist is talking to him and pointing to a barrel full of pill bottles and he says: "Your prescription will be $80, or if you want, you can try our grab bag for $5 and hope you get lucky." (1)

Unfortunately that's the way a lot of people try to live their lives. They look at faith and religion as sort of a grab bag. They grab this belief from this system and that belief from that system and come up with this hodgepodge of stuff that doesn't hold together, doesn't hold water and doesn't help them in times of struggle or need. It isn't really light. It only gives the appearance of light.

It was the same back in the time of the Disciples, too. People were chasing after this teacher and that teacher, this religion and that religion, hoping to get lucky. Hoping to find the answer. When Jesus came along, it was the first time that hope had become a reality. It was the first time that light and hope had solidified into flesh and bone and walked among us.

That's why Peter and Andrew, James and John put their whole lives on hold. It's why they dropped everything they were doing and followed. Somehow, something in them saw who and what Jesus was and wouldn't, couldn't be left behind. And what they gained was a fervent faith.

B. I guess the best way to describe what I mean by a fervent faith is to tell you about my friend Rick. I met Rick ten years ago. A few years ago, Rick became deathly ill. They finally diagnosed it as a form of encephalitis. the best I've ever heard it described is that it's sort of a brain flu. Rick survived. But it turns out that the scar tissue left by the encephalitis some how became cancerous. Thursday they operated. Rick survived this very delicate and long operation.

Rick is a devout Christian and an ultimate optimist. He can find the good in even the worst situation. His wife, Nancy told me that the night before the surgery he told everyone. "I'm not worried. If anything goes wrong or I don't make it, well, I guess I'll just go home. And then I'll be there waiting to welcome you when you get there, too."

That's the kind of faith the disciples had. A fervent faith that would lead them through difficult times. A fervent faith that would lead them, even when they faced martyrdom. You see, the only one of the disciples who died of old age was John. The rest all died in similar ways to Jesus. They died for their faith, a fervent faith.

II. FEARLESS FORTITUDE:

A. Their fervent faith gave them fearless fortitude. They had the courage and the faith to risk everything to follow Jesus. There's no other explanation that I can think of. Someone suggest Jesus was the Pied Piper of Galilee. If he was, then his song wasn't one designed to lead mindless rats to their death, it was one designed to give life and hope. It was the tune of the Good News of light and salvation for a people living in the darkness of sin and death. It was a tune that filled them with a fearless fortitude that helped them step out of the darkness and into the light. It was a tune that filled the with fearless fortitude that allowed them to lay down their burden and look up.

B. One of the most frightening jobs a novice seaman could be asked to do on the old sailing ships was to climb the mast and unfurl or repair the sails in the top rigging. Riding high above the swaying deck tested the courage and nerve of even experienced seamen. And the worst thing that could happen was to have to go up during a storm to lower a sail that had gotten tangled. Most captains and other crewmen gave the same advice, "If you lose your nerve and become afraid, don't look down. Look up." (2)

That's good advice even today. It advice that the disciples learned in the midst of the storms of life they faced while following Jesus and proclaiming the Word. It was the something they learned from Jesus. Time after time, in the midst of a difficult time, Jesus would go off by himself or take Peter, James and John and go pray. He constantly looked up. And so did the disciples. That's where they got their fearless fortitude. Their fervent faith filled them with fearless fortitude because the always looked up.

III. A FAITH THAT FLOURISHED:

A. And that lead them to a faith that flourished. A faith that grew beyond compare. A faith that spread from Capernaum to all of Galilee. From Galilee to all of Israel. And then from Israel to Rome and from Rome to the rest of the world.

B. It still happens today. When one person shares their faith with another. When one person reaches out to help another and offers a word of hope, the faith flourishes.

It's amazing what a little faith can do.

Sara Lackey, a member of our former Church, told me that just before Thanksgiving, her four year old son Blake was at preschool where the teacher had been talking about giving thanks. She asked the children to name something for which they were thankful. The children all said things like Mom and Dad, or food or their toys. But one little girl said, "I'm thankful for God and Jesus." At that point Blake popped up and said, "Hey, I know those guys. They go to my Church."

How did Blake know those guys? Because somebody told him. Because his parents talked about their faith. And they took him to Church and Sunday School. Blake is already grounded in the faith. Right now he just knows who we're talking about and how to pray and that the people at the Church love him and that God loves him. But the seeds have been planted. He has a faith that will flourish and I hope will grow to be a fervent faith so he can know the fearless fortitude of faith.

CONCLUSION:

Maybe you heard about the little boy whose father was a banker. They were on their way home from Church one day when the little boy said, "Dad? When I grow up I want to be a teller." Dad was pleased and said, "That's great. Maybe you can work at the same bank with me." But the little boy got irriitated and said, "No, I don't want to work at the bank! I don't want to be that kid of teller. I want to tell people about Jesus."

Now the obvious conclusion to all of this is that like the disciples, we've been called to follow Jesus. We've become part of the band. We may not play an instrument and we may not be able to carry a tune. But we can be tellers. We can sing the song of light and salvation. We can have a fervent faith that will fill us with fearless fortitude and allow us to have a faith that flourishes through sharing the Good News with others.

Join the band. Let Jesus "make a new kind of fisherman out of you. He'll show you how to catch men and women instead of perch and bass."

This is the Word of the Lord for this day.

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Bibliography

1. Close To Home, Jan 19, 1999. John McPherson, Universal Press Syndicate.

2. Parables, Etc. (Platteville, Colorado: Saratoga Press), January 1999

Other References Consulted

William Barclay, The Daily Study Bible, the Gospel of Matthew Vol. 1. (Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1975)

Copyright - Rev. Billy D. Strayhorn, 1999 - - (please acknowledge if citing these sermons.)