012520B – Matthew 4 12-23
Get up…eat your breakfast (or not)…stop at Starbucks…head to work…work all day… return home…eat some supper…watch a little TV…go to bed… and then repeat those SAME STEPS tomorrow…and the day after that…and the day after that…
Some of us may have a few MORE steps; some of us may have a few LESS steps…but YOU get the idea.
No wonder people routinely ask the question: “Is this ALL THERE IS to life?”
We get into RUTS. We can find ourselves caught up in the HUMDRUM, the UNINTERESTING, the ROTE and the UNVARYING – it CAN and DOES HAPPEN!
Life DOES NOT have to be so PREDICTABLE. It is a choice!
In John’s Gospel, Jesus makes the comment: “I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it ABUNDANTLY.”
Jesus was SAYING there is MORE to life…
YOU DO have options…you know?
For the record NO ONE ever said you HAD to live your life ROUTINELY.
NO WHERE is it written that you have to repeat, repeat, repeat and NEVER VARY from that.
So, what we are talking about HERE is going “from THE routine” to something “MORE…”
ADDING if you will, something to the MIX…stirring up the pot…up a little.
Stepping out of our comfort zones and taking a WALK on the WILD SIDE!
Trying something NEW and DOING SOMETHING DIFFERENT. RISKING!
SO, in our Gospel text for today, Peter and Andrew, and James and John were doing what they “ROUTINELY DID,” day in and day out.
They were fishermen; so, you would EXPECT Peter and Andrew to be CASTING their NET into the WATER; you would EXPECT fishermen like James and John to be in their boat MENDING their NETS for another day of fishing.
It’s WHAT they did. Day after day… It is what they KNEW.
All VERY routine! NORMALCY!
But THINGS were about to CHANGE.
And as much as SOME people do not like “change,” it may sometimes come to us as an unforeseen “GIFT.”
Life was about to get VERY INTERESTING…very interesting INDEED!
We ALL have our “COMFORT ZONES.”
And for MOST of us it is difficult to STEP OUT OF that “comfort zone AREA.”
We like the KNOWING. We like the ROUTINE. We like the EXPECTED and the ANTICIPATED. The UNKNOWN sometimes freaks people OUT! They are leery…sheepish…wary and guarded. They desire the PREDICTABLE, the HABITUAL, the SAFE. So, in a very real way, we CREATE our own RUTS!
And then, we ask ourselves, “IS this ALL THERE IS?”
Well HELLO – we “CREATE” it and “SUSTAIN it” and “MAINTAIN IT!” We just DO NOT take responsibility for it.
Look nowhere else, it is ON YOU!
IF it is your DESIRE to BREAK out of the OLD routines, DO IT…there is nothing holding you back EXCEPT for YOU.
Taking a “LEAP OF FAITH” we call it…being OPEN. Attempting something NEW and DIFFERENT!
SO, the Rabbi from Nazareth is beginning his ministry. He starts by building a community around himself and his mission…DISCIPLES he calls them.
JESUS had just recently relocated from Nazareth to Capernaum. Capernaum on the Sea… He had just recently left his own MOTHER, family, friends, neighbors and what may-have-been a lucrative business behind…
He JUST walked away…into the waters of the Jordan and then into the wilderness of temptation where he remained for forty days.
And now HE finds himself in the fishing village of Capernaum, where he intended to reside (permanently.)
So, he STEPS OUT. He CALLS out to four fishermen and simply tells them to “FOLLOW him.”
The AMAZING thing, the UNBELIEVABLE thing, the STARTLING thing is that “THEY DO.” Just as Jesus had done in Nazareth, THEY DO in Capernaum. They leave everything BEHIND and FOLLOW him.
Boat, nets, routine, ruts and all…and they walk along side of the rabbi.
No sad farewells, no running to family and friends, no stopping first to grab their backpacks…they just walk away…completely OFF the GRID…
For whatever reason, they too, were ready for CHANGE, for something MORE, for something DIFFERENT, for something EXCITING…
And the five of them – left the Seaside and walked down the dusty roads of Capernaum and into the NEWNESS of LIFE. THERE WAS INDEED SOMETHING MORE!
Routines CAN BE broken, but remember, it’s ON YOU! Amen.