JESUS' FIRST SERMON

What we have in this gospel from Matthew is Jesus’ first sermon.  It’s only nine words in length.  “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.”   (Nine words - Don’t get your hopes up and suggest any contemporary applications about sermon length!)  

Jesus packed a lot into these nine words:  “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.”   I ask you?  Do you hear this brief first sermon of Jesus as more of a threat; or more of a promise?       

“Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.”   Did Jesus mean something like this?  “Repent, all you sinners out there!  For the frightful and fearful kingdom of heaven is about to break into human life, and if you don’t get down on your knees and repent your soul is going to be in eternal jeopardy!   Repent before it’s too late, or you will burn in the fires of hell.”  

Is that what Jesus meant for us to understand and take from his first sermon?  Is Jesus trying to scare us into believing?  A huge segment of Christianity down through church history has understood this sermon of Jesus pretty much in that vein.  Many preachers and Christian expressions have preached a message of fear and condemnation; an emotional “repent or else” theme has characterized the message.  We sometimes call it “hell, fire and brimstone.”

Or did Jesus perhaps mean something entirely different?  Something like: “Repent, for love is drawing very near to your life.” 

The word “repent” literally means “to turn around” or “to move in another direction.”    

You may think I am crazy, but I think proposing marriage is a lot like the biblical meaning of repentance.  When I proposed marriage to Marcia and Marcia accepted, it was a major new direction for not only my life, but also for Marcia’s life.  However, I didn’t propose out of fear.  It was not a “propose or else” kind of a deal.  I proposed out of love; my love for her and her love for me.  My life changed direction because of love; first her love for me, and then mine for her.  You see it was love that set our lives into motion; love that changed the direction of our lives and caused us to turn around and move toward each other; love that caused us to join our lives together and move in a common direction.  And, a huge part of that turning around was letting go of other entanglements and other commitments; a reprioritizing of our lives; an elevation of this new relationship born out of love ahead of all others.  My “repentance” - that is my “proposal of marriage” was the result of love - not the result of fear or coercion.    

Immediately following Jesus’ first sermon we have this intriguing little story about Jesus inviting Simon and Andrew, James and John to follow him.  The juxtaposition of Jesus’ nine word sermon and then this encounter with the fisherman is no accident.  I believe it was Matthew’s design and intention.  This story about Jesus’ call of Simon and Andrew, James and John is a living illustration, a personification of Jesus’ nine word sermon. 

Let me split Jesus’ sermon into two unequal parts. The second part first; the last eight words: “…for the kingdom of heaven has come near.”   

So who or what is the kingdom of heaven “coming near” in the story?  It’s Jesus of course!  Jesus is the bringer of the kingdom of heaven, and it was Jesus that brought the kingdom of heaven very near, and very personal to Simon and Andrew, James and John on that Galilean shoreline so long ago.  Did he come in fear and anger – hardly!   Did he come and point a weapon at them and force them to follow?  No way!   The kingdom of heaven doesn’t come like an ominous dark threatening thundercloud.  The kingdom of heaven is brought by the “Word (that) became flesh,” Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior; who died on the cross and made love, grace and forgiveness the operative force in the kingdom of heaven.

The second part of Jesus’ sermon is one word, “repent.”  So what’s the correlation in the story?  It’s just this: “Immediately they left their nets and followed him.”  That’s a picture of repentance. They dropped their nets (they dropped a boatload of personal entanglements) and headed off in a whole new direction following a person they hardly knew.  So what made them follow?  It obviously wasn’t fear.  They were not forced.  So what was it?  What could have possibly caused them to follow with such haste and immediacy? 

I believe what ultimately set that beach scene on fire that day so long ago was love.  At that point they may not have been able to name it as love, but they perceived something in this man that caused them to lay down their nets and follow, even against their better rational judgment and best common sense.   Intuitively that knew it; they sensed it; they trusted it.  Somebody once said that, "Faith is the direction our feet start moving when we know in our heart that we are loved, even if our head isn't sure!"   Peter and Andrew, James and John had no idea where they were going; no idea what was in store for them, but somehow they were convicted that they were moving in the direction of an exciting and life-giving love - the likes which they had not known before. 

Of course, we know the rest of the story. Their following that began on that Galilean beach finally took them to a cross where this man, for whom they had given up everything, died a brutal and bloody death.  But three days later he appeared to them, risen and alive and then they finally knew for sure; finally knew without a doubt  that what they had intuited about him three years before on that Galilean beach really was true.  They had been following love all along, a love the likes of which the world had never seen. 

I say to you on behalf of Jesus, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.”  My friends, it’s an invitation of love, not a threat.  You can turn away from all that entangles you, because LOVE has arrived in Jesus Christ.  You can turn from all that entangles you: sin, selfishness, indifference, apathy, pettiness; whatever because arms of love are waiting to embrace you.    

“Follow me, and I will make you fish for people.'  Immediately they left their nets..."

One last thing: The disciples didn't fish with hooks, and poles and flies, and spinners.  Think about it, the strategy behind fishing with a pole and hook and bait, or a fly or spinner is to trick the fish into thinking that the bait is something it's not, until it's too late and they are hooked. In my view there has been down through the centuries far too much of that kind of Christian witness, where people have been hooked by force, by fear, by trickery or by manipulation; and grievous damage and harm has been done in the name of Jesus Christ.

The disciples fished with nets.  Too me that’s a much better metaphor!  Of course, all metaphors have their limitations, but do you see the difference?   I like the metaphor of the net; the net that gathers in; the net that brings together a community of fish. That's what we are to be about. As disciples of Jesus Christ we are to be the kind of people who gather people in to the great loving net of God, and in so doing we create a community; a community that is different from every other community. It is not a perfect community, by any means, but rather a community through whom the love of God in Jesus Christ finds expression and finds a home; in every class; in every committee; in every conversation; in every meeting; in every action of service. We have along way to go, that’s for sure!  But that's the journey the Lord Jesus Christ invites us upon when he says, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.  Follow me, and I will make you fish for people."