Year A Epiphany 3
Isaiah 9:1-4
Matthew 4:12-23
January 22, 2017 at The Church of the Holy Cross in North Plainfield, NJ

When I was in high school, my aunt and uncle in Mississippi got a boat. In the summertime, when I was on break from college, I would go and stay with my dad, who lived nearby. On sunny Saturday mornings, when the winds were still and the water was smooth, the phone would ring and my aunt and uncle would invite us to go out on the boat and fish. We’d pack the cooler and race over and the adventure would begin. Many of my favorite memories with my family there are on that boat, even if I wasn’t much of a fisherwoman. I can’t tie a lure to save my soul, and I willingly admit that the one time I can claim “catch of the day” was dumb luck. I can hardly remember a thing about the fish themselves, but the memories of all of us out there together, catching rays and laughing and riding around – those journeys to nowhere and unknown fishing holes – those memories fill my heart to the brim. I came home often with hands empty of fish and a heart full of joy. The real beauty in those fishing trips was in the people I shared those sunny days with.

But just like Jesus and the disciples at the transfiguration, we can’t stay in those big, beautiful, mountaintop moments all the time. Life goes on. Last May, my seminary classmates and I graduated with our Master in Divinity degrees and embarked on our new journeys. We all left our homes and New York to head off to new places. Some went to cities they’d never been to before. More than once, I’ve found myself on the phone with a friend in a new city brainstorming ways for them to meet new people. Each of our ministries may be tied to beautiful and unique communities, but finding community in one’s personal life is an entirely different adventure. I guess you could say that the search for community is much like fishing for people, whether it’s an individual in a new place or a church hoping to grow! What lure will lay the groundwork for new relationship?
In today’s gospel lesson from Matthew, Jesus starts calling disciples. He tells them to drop everything and follow him, saying “Follow me, and I will make you fish for people.” …but how?

As we talked about a few weeks ago, in his gospel, Matthew is focusing an audience of Jews who are trying to figure out if Jesus is the Messiah. Because they are his target, he’s really focused on the point that Jesus is the fulfillment of all of these prophecies that have come before – like the passage we hear today from Isaiah that is again quoted in the passage from Matthew: “the people who sat in darkness have seen a great light.” In this passage from chapter 4, we again see Matthew continuing to build that foundation which assures that Jesus’ is the fulfillment of these prophecies. It’s comforting for Matthew’s contemporaries to believe this argument. More than just affirming Jesus’ authority, seeing Jesus’ as the fulfillment of these prophecies suggests that everything that is happening – every bit of beauty and every moment of chaos – is part of a larger plan. God’s plan! Gaining a sense of comfort from order – especially the sense that we are part of a much larger sense of order – is comforting, and scripture can be a source of comfort on our craziest days. Furthermore, we need to take that comfort wherever we can get it, because for all of the times the words of the Bible can help us calm a storm, they also call us into radical new ways of ways of being – giant leaps of faith beyond the safe confines of the known world of our comfort zone. We’ve all been around the block enough times to know how this story ends: what makes Jesus Jesus is that he calls us to big, beautiful, radical love that is far more amazing and much more challenging than we could possible imagine!

One of the biggest challenges is that when we go out into these uncharted territories, the armor of light that we wear is not some heavy metal, bulletproof, impenetrable chest plate but instead this “armor” makes us more vulnerable, walking along the road even when we don’t have a map. When these uncharted territories come in the form of a great challenge or profound grief, we probably all react in similar ways. I mean, I know I seek the solace of the ones I love when I feel lost and overwhelmed and brokenhearted. I find great solace in small communities of trusted beautiful souls. Every relationship begins with a handshake, that first invisible hook, luring us outside of our comfort zone and into a new relationship… especially when those uncharted territories find us facing and new place: a new job or a new city where we haven’t formed that community yet.

“Follow me, and I will make you fish for people”

Jesus call to his disciples was also an invitation. In the charge we’re given to fish for people, we’re invited to follow Christ’s lead into big, beautiful, and vulnerable way of being that lures people together and into deeper relationship. Look around this sanctuary! See how Christ has hooked us together with ties like super-strong nautical knots!

“The people who sat in darkness have seen a great light”

Isaiah wrote this prophecy and Christ’s light fulfilled it.
You are the light. We are the light. We’re brighter together, helping each other see the way on the days when one of us might be struggling to shine. There is a unique and beautiful piece of Christ’s light in each of our hearts, and when we answer the call to follow Jesus and to dare to be vulnerable enough to let that light shine, the warmth of that light invites others to do the same. It lures them in. It’s the best kind of fishing for people.

So, dare to follow. Dare to love. Dare to shine.