Grace Lutheran Church

Sermon for Epiphany 3

+ In Nomine Jesu +

The Rev. Evan Gaertner

Third Sunday after the Epiphany of our Lord

January 27, 2008

“Called to Believe”

What is on the horizon when you drive? When you go fast enough I suppose you will find out quick enough what is across that horizon. But of course there is always another horizon to look towards. What do you expect is on your horizon? What do you expect out of your life? Some of you will have amazing goals and a vision that is very dramatic. Some of you will have dreams and hopes but in the end you have no expectation of fulfillment. Some of you find yourself living simply day to day with no thought of a grand plan to everything.

What do you suppose those brothers Andrew and Simon Peter, and James and John the sons of Zebedee, had on their horizon when Jesus came to them and said, “Come! Follow Me.”

What we expect on our horizon defines and looms over us.

The Jews during Jesus time knew about the Day of the Lord, the coming of the kingdom of heaven. The expectation for the Lord God to act loomed large over their lives. But there was also an everyday reality of working. So we find those brothers mending their nets and preparing them for another days work. Those sons of Zebedee were in the boat with their father.

As we wait for hope to be realized, as we wait for promise to be realized, as we wait we live our lives. But what happens…hope becomes deferred, promise becomes lost, and we start living a different life. We live without the horizon of God at work in our lives.

When Jesus came and walked around the sea of Galilee he came proclaiming and saying, “Repent! For the kingdom of heaven stands near.”

Jesus brings and announces a new reality. The call to repentance is not simply a call to turn away from sinful behavior. Rather it is a call to turnaround and follow a new horizon. It is a call to be converted from unbelief to faith.

A call to have faith that Jesus came from the horizon, from the promise, from the hope, into the lives of those brothers, into our lives. Jesus proclaimed the horizon which had been given up by people has become the truth, the reality. The Day of the Lord had arrived. Now this promise was not yet fully realized, but Jesus, the Son of God, is here and he is bringing a salvation that will give us the Last Day.

The kingdom of heaven Jesus proclaimed is not a place or a people but the reality that God the King is present. Jesus breaks into our history to give us a new history.

When Jesus told those brothers, “Come! Follow me,” he was calling them to not just dream or hope or expect but a turnaround from living a hope deferred and to start living in the kingdom. Live in the reality that God the king is at work.

Jesus is not an augment, an add-on, a plug-in. Jesus is not simply an upgrade.

There is a show on MTV where they take an old beat up car and give it a bunch of after market extras like fancy wheels, a new paint job, and custom stereo, and then they return it to the owner. The owner of the car is always shown driving the upgraded car with a new attitude and bounce in his step.

But the truth is our lives of sin are rotten and broken to the core. There is no amount upgrade that we can bring to this skin and bones to give us a horizon of promise to ride on towards. You can dress up a pig, but you can’t erase that it still is pig. Old wineskins cannot hold new wine. Jesus has broken in to our lives to reclaim and save us.

Jesus brings and announces the reign of God. God at work is not just about the grand magnificence of creation. Jesus comes to what we have made of this world and brings us salvation. Jesus does not work in tired and broken ways of this world. He has come to bring a new reality. He brings in his life, death and resurrection the reality of love. Jesus brings to us the victory over sin, death and the devil by being faithful and obedient to the will of the Father. This is a path that could only be taken by him in love and sacrifice.

The new horizon that Jesus has given to us live and walk in is ours by his love. Jesus claims you and has called out to you and says, “Come! Follow Me.” Jesus does not walk alone, but has given himself so that all might walk in the light of God’s kingdom.

Those brothers dropped their nets and got out of the boat and followed Jesus. They became followers of the Lord Jesus. The disciples did not choose their teacher as was usual practice. Normally a person would identify a wise teacher and follow that teacher until the teacher noticed him and invited him to study under him. Jesus chooses you. While we were yet still sinners Christ died for us.

The Gospel of John records Jesus saying, “You did not choose me, I choose you and I appointed you to go bear fruit that will last.”

God has called Abraham, Moses, the twelve disciples, and he calls you to be his child. He does not call us all to participate in his mission to the world in the same way. But he does call you. Jesus said, “I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” You have been called to be believers. You have been called to live with a new horizon.

Soli Deo Gloria