COME & SEE JESUS!
SERMON PREACHED BY FR. TONY NOBLE ON JANUARY 27th, 2008
Matthew 4:19-20 "He said to them: 'Follow me and I will make you fishers of men'. Immediately they left their nets and followed him."
Today's Gospel reading is a continuation of last week's Gospel - though today is from Matthew and last week was from John. Last week we heard Saint John's account of the calling of the Apostles. Andrew went to his brother Simon Peter and invited him to come and see Jesus. He said to Peter: "We have found the Messiah", which means Christ.
Let me reflect for a moment on that. If it wasn't for Andrew inviting his brother, Peter probably would never have become a great leader of the Church - he would not have become Saint Peter, but just remained a fisherman called Simon. So what Andrew did had enormous implications and results for the Church of God
Today, in Matthew Jesus calls Peter and Andrew together - and calls them very directly. "Follow me and I will make you fishers of men", he says. It is reasonable to assume that they knew who Jesus was, particularly following on from last week's story. That was at the river Jordan, near Jerusalem, where they first encountered Jesus. Now they are back home on the shores of the lake of Galilee, back fishing. And now comes and issues the direct challenge: “Follow me”.
No doubt when they returned from the first encounter, they were thinking about this Jesus who they had acknowledged as the Messiah - and no doubt wondering about the implications for them. So as Peter today tries to catch fish, Jesus walks by and issues this challenge "Follow me and I will make you fishers of men". In another Gospel it records Jesus as saying: "From now on it is men you will catch". Here the words "fishers of men" and "men you will catch" is an analogy to fishing - and it would have struck Pete. He knew what he was being called to do - not just to follow Jesus, but a new vocation.
Although these two Gospel stories are like a developing story, following on from the other, they give us something interesting to ponder. Both Saint John's account and Saint Matthew’s highlight the two ways that people are brought to faith in Christ.
In today's Gospel, the encounter with Jesus is a clear call that cannot be ignored. The answer must be yes or no.
Many protestant churches base their theology on this principal of a call to follow Jesus. Billy Graham has obviously been the most successful - his crusades have brought thousands of people to Christ because he challenged them to make a decision - just like Jesus challenged Peter and Andrew this morning.
Perhaps some of us here can point to a definite moment or decision in our lives about our faith? When we turned around and made Christ number one in our lives. It could have been perhaps that time when we decided to go back to Church after some absence. Or perhaps when we went for the first time? Or perhaps to check out some church, such as this one, having perhaps seen it or heard something about it? Maybe it was when we came with our partner; or when as a young couple we wanted our children to have a religious upbringing? Suddenly we were in church every Sunday. They are the sorts of decisions we make which lead to a lively faith in Christ. It is a decision moment just as strong as a Billy Graham crusade. Saint John's account, on the other hand, has a different way in which people are brought to Christ. It was a discipleship resulting from Andrew inviting his brother Peter to come and see Jesus. It was not a threatening thing, it was not an earth-shattering decision - just a gentle invitation to come and see.
In 21st Century terms, this sort of movement to Christ might be by a friend inviting us to come to Church - and so we went. Or we came to Church alone and a friendly greeting finished up with the words "Hope to see you next week". Or we were quite struck by what was going on and wanted to return. It was a more gentle way but is that evangelism any less serious than a Billy Graham crusade? I think not. In fact statistics point to both being methods of evangelism.
Recently a survey was done of a protestant church which I found very interesting. The people in that church were asked why they came to church, and how it came to happen.
The statistics reveal a surprising result:
So inviting someone to Church is key evangelism. And it is so easy to invite a friend to come to Church. Many of you have done that.
Of course that's not all it's about. There has to be something there when they come - and hopefully when they come they will be touched by Christ.
Perhaps touched by the friendliness of the people; perhaps touched by the liturgy; perhaps by sound preaching; or perhaps by the feeling of community. These are usually what people are looking for - and when these are present then people find Jesus.
Today we have our parish annual meeting. It is a time for reflecting on the past and looking forward to the future. In our case today, it is a time to reflect on much growth and activity in the last twelve months and beyond. I would suggest that this has been a result because of those four factors I mentioned - friendliness of the people, good liturgy, sound preaching and teaching, and a community that people want to belong to. We can perhaps be proud of that, or certainly satisfied.
However, let us never fall into the trap that many churches do - of thinking that a Church is just a club for people who like that sort of thing; who like nice music or good liturgy, etc. That is not what a Church is - a club for like-minded people.
But it was the situation at the Church in Corinth in the 1st Century, and today's Epistle reading shows what that leads to. The Corinthian Christians were divided by factions based on personality and their behaviour. Later on, Saint Paul condemned those Corinthians in his Epistles for treating the Eucharist as a free-for-all - with greater emphasis on it as a meal than discerning the Body of Christ. His phrase "Discerning the Body of Christ" comes as both judgment and challenge in his letters to the Corinthians.
This is something for us to consider. In a Church that was divided and had different factions, they had neglected the Eucharist. They considered that the only reason they were there was for fellowship and a party. Now I'm the first person to say we should have fellowship and a party, and we do - but that is not what it is about, it is the result.
When we look at today's reading (1 Corinthians 1:10-17) with Saint Paul criticizing them for their divisions, it has an eerie relevance to us. Let me explain. We are a parish of the Episcopal Church, and we are proud to say that. We love our Church with its great traditions - but we acknowledge that these days the Episcopal Church is a church divided just like Corinth was on several issues. When we hear our leaders speak we see hostility and uncharitable-ness. We are embarrassed and cringe when we hear media reports.
That might be the Episcopal Church, but that is not our experience at All Saints'. Why? The answer of course lies in what Saint Paul wrote to the Corinthians about. The answer is because the center of our life here is the Eucharist celebrated with tradition and joy, a community gathered around God's altar focused on Jesus. That is where the Corinthians went wrong. It is where every Church that is divided goes wrong.
Of course one of the things we rejoice in is that this has always been the tradition of this parish since the 19th Century. It has always focused on Jesus in the Eucharist. We could safely say that Saint Paul would not have to write the same letter he wrote to the Church in Corinth to All Saints', San Diego today.
But let's not congratulate ourselves just yet! For we have a fair way to go before the Gospel is preached, Jesus’ love is made known and the sick are healed - even here in Hillcrest.
An annual meeting like today is indeed a time of looking back and being positive. But like Peter, Andrew, James and John in today's Gospel - the road stretches way out before us.