Matthew 4:12-25 “The Call to Repent, Follow, and Heal”

If you remember last week’s Scripture, Jesus has been baptized by John the Baptist at the Jordan River. The voice of God comes down and announces that Jesus is the beloved Son of God. Thereafter the Holy Spirit directs Jesus to spend forty days fasting in the wilderness. During that adventure the Devil tempts Jesus three times. In the end, Jesus casts the Devil away.

Now, finally, Jesus is ready to start his public ministry! If you were to start a ministry, what would you do? The first thing that Jesus does is that he moves out of his comfort zone. He leaves his father and mother in Nazareth and heads to the city of Caperanum on the Sea of Galilee. He is going to where there are more people to reach. Capernaum, at that time, was like Lihue is to our island. It is the center of trade and commerce. It is where the land routes come together along with the port on the Sea of Galilee. Jesus is going where he can make the biggest difference right away.

What is the heart or center of Christ’s message in Capernaum? What is he preaching about? The Kingdom of Heaven is “near.” Most bibles actually use the term “The Kingdom is at hand.” I will not bore you with all of the Greek wording and the like, as I normally do, but the verb in this case is in the “perfect” case. The action has already happened. The Kingdom has already come down to earth. It is not just “near” somewhere close by–it is at hand. It is present among us.

The simple idea that lies behind this is that where you have a king, you must also have a kingdom. The King has come in the person of Jesus. If Jesus is on the planet, then the Kingdom has been established in His Presence.

Matthew quotes the text of Isaiah here: “The light has come and the day has dawned.” Do you all remember the first light of dawn after the recent hurricane. All the power is out. Suddenly a little bit of light is seen in the eastern sky. I was afraid to look outside. I really did not want to see all of the damage. I had to force myself outside. When the sun set, Waimea looked one way. When the light dawned the next morning, Waimea looked completely different. The new reality was at hand. For better or for worse. I walked around the debris and fallen lines over to the church to get the first glimpses of the new day.

With the start of Jesus’ ministry, the light from heaven has come. It is at hand. The new creation has started just like the first Creation happened with God proclaiming “Let there be Light!” Now Jesus is the light that will dispel the darkness.

The first thing that Jesus commands in his ministry, His proclamation is “REPENT.” I have preached about this word before, so you may recall that the word in Hebrew, Aramaic, and in Greek, simply means “to turn around.” If you look at the Song of Songs (Song of Solomon) 6:13 you can read the line “Turn, turn, O Shulammite” as referenced to be a dance. It is that exact same word in Hebrew: שׁוּב . It can mean to spin around as in a dance. Turn around and dance for joy that the light has come!

We always think of the word “repent” as a torturous and heavy contemplation of sin and grief in one’s life. The Kingdom is at hand. The king is right before us. This is not a sad thing at all. Turn around like the whirling dervish and dance before the Lord! Turning back to God is to be a moment of joy! That is the first proclamation of Jesus’ ministry. It is how it all starts.

The next command from Jesus is “to follow.” Jesus is down at the port and sees Simon Peter and Andrew fishing in their boat. He calls out to them to follow. This word simply means to come and be with another person. It does not mean to trail behind someone like a duck following its mother. Jesus is inviting these others to do ministry with Him.

What do Peter and Andrew do? They drop everything and follow “immediately.” The word in English has changed from its original meaning: in this case it means “without anything in between.” They did not have a conversation. They did not talk to others about the boat. They did not go home to tell their families. Without any action in between, they followed Jesus. That is a profound way to make ministry.

When my wife and I were approved to be missionaries in Thailand, the board at the Division of Overseas Ministries of the Disciples of Christ Church met and gave final approval in mid November. We were to start as missionaries in Thailand on January 1. We also thought we could spend Christmas in Malaysia. So really, we packed up our lives, quit our jobs, made all the necessary arrangements and got on a plane with three suitcases in two weeks’ time. Peter and Andrew probably would have loved to have two weeks! Yet, they left immediately into the new ministry with Jesus.

This same sense of immediacy is repeated when James and John are called by Jesus. Those two fellows literally leave their dear father Zebedee in the boat. The old man now has to do all the work as his sons disappear into the ministry! That is absolutely crazy, right?!

I just want to say that the immediacy of all that is happening in this, the coming of the kingdom and the being present with Jesus by following, is really what we should be enjoying in our lives. We need not ever ask ourselves “Jesus, where are you now?” Jesus is at hand because we choose to follow.

So, Jesus has made His proclamation of the Good News. That is what he has come to do. Jesus calls us to be with him by following in His way. Shouldn’t that be enough for the start of a ministry? Apparently not because we read that Jesus and his new disciples are out there doing the truly messy part of ministry: they are healing the world. Another way of putting it is that they are putting ministry into action. They are going out to the people, and mostly the people in need of healing in their lives.

I have to point out because the geography here is amazing: The bible says that Jeus and his disciples went to Syria and across to the other side of the Sea of Galilee. Like wise people came from pretty much the entire known world to be with Jesus in His healing grace.

You know, I am today amazed when I look at the ip addresses of those who log onto our worship videos to realize that they are from all over the planet: Africa, Asia, Europe. . ..all over. We have had people come to this church from all over, too.

Although Jesus does not yet command his disciples to do so, but He will by the time we get to the end of Matthew: Matthew 28:19 (The Great Commission) “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, son, and Holy Ghost. . .And remember that i am with y ou always to the end the age.”

I was talking with our sister Melissa Bachman who has taken on a “healing touch” ministry of her own this last week. She noted to me that she can lay hands on anyone in the world through healing touch prayer. She does not have to be in the room even. We can make Jesus’ presence in the world known that way, but we can also go move branches in our neighbor’s year. We can help with food. We can heal with all we do in the name of Christ.

I recall sitting at my desk in the office when one of the kids came in behind me and started massaging my neck. Wow, that was unexpected. How did that child know i needed my muscles relaxed at that moment? We need to be attentive to the needs of others and be ready to apply the healing touch.

The start of Christ’s ministry is just this, “turn around, be with Christ, and share that love out to others.”

Amen.