Matthew 4:12-22 The Next Prophet

Sometimes I sit with the sermon text before me- and my notes- at a loss, flummoxed, stumped, confused, overwhelmed, because there is invariably more than I understand- I know I’m not getting it all; and frustrated, because there is surely more than I am able to express in words; and sometimes I just can’t figure out how to start. So let me begin like this: three prophets- in this passage are mentioned three prophets, like the scripture from two weeks ago, in chapter 3, that introduced and a few verses later that introduced the adult who had come to be baptized. Here, John is spoken of again, but has been taken away and the begins. This third prophet is not present, but his influence is felt in the words he had written centuries earlier. In chapter 3, John the Baptist had come fulfilling ’s prophecy of the one preparing God’s path into the world, the new way of God into people’s hearts. And in our passage, Jesus has come fulfilling Isaiah’s prophecy that God’s has now this moment entered into the world. It’s no accident that the author cites only this one Old Testament prophet- he wants us to read the two quotations side-by-side and compare these two latter day prophets, John and Jesus, so that we understand John’s word is the promise we can hear and hope for- a day still to come; and Jesus is that day at last arrived, the promise fulfilled. John’s is the voice that gets the world ready, Jesus is the light which the world has been waiting for: the light of truth and life and wholeness and healing. Jesus is the next prophet, following after those preachers and teachers in Old Israel, and coming after John- in fact, taking over for John.

But when we read Isaiah’s testimony about him, how the light has finally come, and the testimony of John the Baptist, that the coming one is the very person who brings God’s spirit into the world; and when we hear the witness of the voice from heaven, “this is my beloved Son” (3:17), we realize he is more than a prophet.

You see, for some time now, I’ve been trying to understand what it means that John the Baptist had preached this message, “Repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand.” Word for word, the of Jesus’ preaching, in verse 17. Yes, it means perhaps that Jesus began his spiritual quest as a of John and learned from John, and now that John has been put away, he wants to continue the work, and preaches the same good news. But Matthew’s quote from Isaiah means that the ministry is no longer the same. Jesus is not merely a continuation of John’s work. He is the culmination of John’s work, the culmination of all prophecy.

What we can see now is that John the Baptist was preparing the nation of Israel, and making eager hearts everywhere ready for God’s kingdom; but Jesus is the one making the kingdom happen, opening it up and bringing you into it.

I think it becomes clear to us when we look at the event following Jesus’ proclamation of the kingdom: the part of the story we usually entitle, “the call of the first disciples.” With the unfortunate result, though, that we disregard the context of these verses, and separate Jesus’ preaching in verse 17 from the following paragraph. But they belong together, verses 18-22 are not simply the calling of the first disciples, but the induction of the very first citizens into God’s kingdom: the call of these men should define our understanding of Jesus’ preaching about the kingdom, and help us interpret the great teaching that follows immediately after- the (chapters 5-7).

It may be that I’ve told you nothing you didn’t already know. This isn’t a new thing. But the point of it is this, that Jesus is the only one who can call persons into the kingdom. John couldn’t, Isaiah couldn’t. Certainly, prophets and teachers, and leaders from all walks of life, may invite followers to join them, but

Jesus is the “more than a prophet” who calls Peter and Andrew and the sons of

Zebedee into a community, community and all that means- a fellowship of God- worshippers and people-servers. When Jesus offers this invitation to the fishermen- or command, if you want to read it that way- he speaks as the one who will teach and lead, yes, but more, he speaks as the authority, the Ruler of the community. And so, their response is the only proper one: to drop everything immediately and follow. It doesn’t mean they stop working and live off handouts- we’ll see them later go back to their nets and boats- but it means they have entered into a new kind of life that puts everything in the world in correct order. Their lives are lived in the context of community-

God’s community, God’s kingdom- where life is shared- a life of giving praise to

God- and where selfless love is given to each other. In these verses, in this call to enter into the kingdom and into relationship with God, we see Jesus exalted as the

Ruler, because they obey him instantly; and we see the community established, as they all go with him: their obedience unites them. And even today, by our obedience and worship and love for one another, we, too, are part of that community.

I preached a eulogy yesterday for a man I didn’t really know. So I wasn’t sure what to say- well, one never knows what to say. And so, I looked at some other memorial sermons I had preached, and I read this from a funeral nearly four years ago- one of the members from my church in Dallas- and I thought it applied to what the sermon today should teach us.

“I don’t know much about Eddie’s life. I know he loved traveling with Ruth after those 45 years at IBM. But there was one thing that kept coming up in the conversations with his daughter Nancy these past few days, and in the emails and remembrances I’ve received: he was a fix-it man. He made things right. He would mend what was broken- there is a story of him one day at church- around 80 years of age and legally blind- on top of a ladder reaching up to change a bulb or to fix something. He evidently would try to repair anything, and usually succeeded at it- an old record player or clock, kitchen appliances, rebuilding engines; he won awards at work for developing procedures for repairing office machinery. He even met his dear wife while on a call to repair the machines in her office; and later when they were married, she would often go with him at night as he worked after hours. Maybe this tells us something about this good man, the man who fixed things: that he was frugal, certainly a good trait in an honorable family man- one story has Ruth complaining that she never got anything new because he kept repairing everything; but more than that, that he took pride in his work, an admirable trait in a laboring man; but more than that, that he found joy in making things work. But perhaps there is still more, and a lesson here we can learn from

Eddie, that we mustn’t give up on broken things, that things and people can always be repaired. What that requires of us, of course, are the same humble qualities

Eddie possessed: patience, and a hopefulness about others, and the willingness to give and to help.”

Eddie’s example is our call to discipleship today. Matthew 4 ends with this information about Jesus, verses 23-25: that he went all around , teaching and preaching and healing; and people were coming to him from everywhere. I think this tells us that God just doesn’t give up on us- any of us- that we can be repaired, made whole. This is part of the message about God’s kingdom and

God’s community- it’s where we are invited and welcomed, and fixed. Let us devote ourselves to finding ways to help, and to keeping a hopeful attitude about other people.