This week’s reading: Matthew 4:12-25
Hi Friends,
Every great movement has a start. In this week’s reading we will see the start of the ministry, the start of gathering followers and the start of spreading the news about Jesus (pun very intended). The reading will be from Matthew chapter 4 verses 12 through 25. Hear the invitation Jesus still offers to us:
“‘Come, follow me,’ Jesus said, ‘and I will make you fishers of men.’” Mt 4:19 NIV
Picking up where John left off. After John the Baptist calls out King Herod for wrongly marrying his brother’s wife, the king gets angry and puts John in prison. This is where Jesus then begins His ministry. Like His cousin John, Jesus begins with the core of our problem, our heart. He calls out for His listeners, that includes you and me BTW, to “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near.” (v17) Oh if those there knew just how close the kingdom was! There was Jesus, the King of kings, drawing them to His side so that He would be able to cleanse them, from the inside out. Praise God, Jesus is still doing this ministry work.
No one is meant to walk alone. We read a condensed version of the calling for His first disciples in this Gospel of Matthew. But if we combine all 4 Gospels, we get a fuller picture of what must have happened. In the Gospel of John 1:35-42, we see that Andrew was one of John the Baptist’s disciples, who heard John call Jesus, the Lamb of God. He and another disciple, who is unnamed, immediately go to Jesus and spend the day with Him. Andrew is so impressed and convinced that he goes to his brother Simon, who is later called Peter, and tells him that they have found the Messiah, then he brings Peter to Jesus. Then in the Gospel of Luke 5:1-11, we see that Peter and Andrew have returned to their fishing business, along with their partners James and John, the sons of Zebedee. They had been fishing all night and caught not even one fish, when Jesus steps into Peter’s boat and begins preaching. When He is done, Jesus tells these tired fishers to, “Put out into deep water, and let down the nets for a catch.” This must have sounded absurd to Peter who has been doing this all his life, yet maybe it was their first encounter that started moving Peter’s heart, or I suppose he probably heard something in the preaching of Jesus that day, something caused Peter to say, “But because you say so, I will let down the nets.” We know the rest of the story…but if you don’t, please check it out because this encounter is powerful. It is the culmination of what convinces Peter to leave everything he had known behind. May we each have the same kind of encounter, as well. So we get back to the Gospel of Matthew and we can see why Peter, Andrew, James and John immediately leave everything behind. They are persuaded that Jesus is not your ordinary Preacher.
God’s extra on our ordinary. It is so lovely to see that Jesus calls ordinary men. They are not educated. They are not influential. They are certainly not equipped to run this worldwide ministry that spans the course of time. But this is what happens when God calls us: He gives us everything we ever will need to live the Abundant Life, as well as spread it far and wide. This again includes all we require to fulfill our mission here in this world. Whether this mission is to be a wife and mom and raise good, godly children. Or whether it is to be a founder of an organization that does good works all around the world. Or whether it means, like these first disciples, to continue what Jesus has begun and spread the news about the Love of God the Father, the Salvation given to us in Jesus the Son and the free gift of Eternal Life in the Holy Spirit. Whatever it is, God will teach us, guide us, equip us and make us successful. In Christ, we each become extra-ordinary, that is, we become extraordinary. This is the continued work of Jesus in and thorough us. He called these first men to become fishers of men, and He still calls us to do the same, wherever we are in our corner of the world. Again whether this means sharing Jesus with a coworker, teaching children in Sunday school at church, or loving on those who need to know they are loved, God will be with us and show us how to be His hands and feet.
Start spreading the news. Jesus then begins to, not only teach and preach, but He begins to heal all the sick that are brought to Him. It is obvious that this Rabbi is no ordinary Man! He begins to display His power over disease and demons, and later, over nature itself. I can almost feel the hearts of those around Him starting to burst with Hope and anticipation of their pending freedom. Oh if they only knew Jesus was there to set them free from so much more than worldly oppression…and oh if we only understand this too! You see, these people run to Jesus because He was filling their earthly needs, and sometimes if we are honest, we do the same. We look for the presents of God, not the Presence of God. Yet it is this relationship with Jesus, this intimate, personal friendship that changes everything. I love the saying, “Give a man a fish and he eats for a day, but teach a man to fish and he will eat for the rest of his life.” It is the same idea here. Jesus could, and praise God does, fulfill our worldly needs, but that will last as long as it takes for us to get into the next round of troubles. Instead, Jesus wants to live in communion with us, teaching us how to lean on the Holy Spirit the way He did when He walked on this earth. Then we will be equipped for “come what may.” And we will be even more enthusiastic about spreading the good news of Jesus to others. We will speak to them about what He has done, but more importantly, we will live Jesus out in our lives because we will be becoming more and more like Him. So when Jesus preached for others to repent, we lovingly will too. When Jesus calls HIs disciples to His side, we will call others to His side too. When Jesus began healing people, we can heal too. I know this can be a very controversial topic for many, but it doesn’t have to be. If we are not given the spiritual gift of physically healing others, we can still heal their broken hearts by simply being with them and loving on them. Healing comes in many different ways, and if Jesus did it, through Him, we can still do it too.
We can start something. This might be the easiest step, and the hardest step too. Way too often we get bogged down with the details of who and where and when and etc, etc. Yet leaning on God’s Wisdom, we must simply take that leap of Faith and start. I started this ministry, “Spread the News,” in 2005, and while it is still a tiny organization of just me and Jesus, because I love God, I started and I continue. Now I will trust Him to do what only God can, take my efforts and help me catch some fish for His Glory! I feel blessed when I do this. I sense God’s approval as I write, teach and share. And my life? It becomes more and more abundant, as I continue to do something New for God’s Kingdom. Want that? Then won’t you join me?
Until we meet again, keep lifting your eyes to God, He’s closer than you think.
<>< Peace, Diane
