Epiphany 3: Isaiah 9:1-4, 1 Corinthians 1:10-18 and Matthew 4:12-23
Who or what do you follow?
A particular team or band? A TV series or hobby?A public figure or movement?
Social media relies on followers. Verified accounts and influencers develop a strong brand identity - content, stories, expertise, hashtags, paid partnerships, lifetyles, campaigns. Data and engagement become a form of currency.
Who or what we follow is important: who we get behind or support, the direction we want to go in. To follow suit isn’t just to show interest or understanding, but to copy or obey. Those things shape us and our communities - for good or ill.
As human beings get caught up in following and influencing, perhaps these questions from William Du Bois sharpen our minds:
How shall Integrity face Oppression?
What shall Honesty do in the face of Deception?
Decency in the face of Insult?
What shall Virtue do to meet Brute Force?
Du Bois was a sociologist, historian and economist who championed civil rights - the first African-American to earn a doctorate from Harvard. He acknowledged that there were many answers - but also that some met such questions hourly and daily, others once a year or decade.
Today, Jesus invites two sets of siblings to follow him: they let go of their nets and he draws their skills into a new purpose - one which lifts the yoke of burden and breaks the rod of oppression. For in him not only is a kingdom of justice and compassion announced, is embodied and comes near.
Matthew tells us that Jesus withdrew when he heard of John’s death. In the land beyond Jordan, he walks the way of the sea, in Galilee of the nations.
Before he begins to teach, preach and heal, before he calls disciples to follow, he fulfils the hope of Isaiah. The hope of a light that enlightens, a joy that multiples, a hope that nations and people will be set free.
Isaiah spoke in the face of oppression and exile; now that promise of God’s reign of justice and peace draws near in Jesus, God with us.
He takes up John the Baptist’s call to repentance - a radical change of life and direction that many long for. It is a call which invites us to follow suit - to get behind a movement from anguish to rejoicing. It’s a way which holds onto integrity and virtue, honesty and decency, which refuses to return force or insults with blows.
The choice faced by Simon, Andrew, James and John is disruptive: and yet they risk the accusation of being irresponsible, foolish or impulsive by responding immediately. There’s no check list of pros or cons, no cost-benefit analysis.
At that moment, they put something before family and work. They are invited into a new community - all their relationships and obligations are rooted in this deeper peace.
Others, like them, will also respond to Jesus: touching his garment, kneeling at his feet, asking him questions, sharing broken bread. The wealthy and exploited, the enemy and the outcast, the leaders and the exhausted. Some turn away sad because to follow is too costly; others draw near, giving what they have, because here is life and love.
Jesus invites with power and with compassion. He sees us as we are and knows how to use our gifts. Those who mended and casted nets had a depth of patience, resilience and experience - now he wants to make them fish for people.
He takes their awareness of their physical limits, their knowledge of water and weather, their attention and their dedication and he says I will make you. I will nurture and challenge, teach and perfect so that you will be who God created you to be.
They, like us, are invited to bring their whole selves to this way of life. To follow and allow God to work with the stuff of our lives - our skills, experience, learning and memories; the anguish and the hope, the loves and dreams.
The writer Barbara Brown Taylor calls this moment a miracle story because although we might waver or hesitate, it is Jesus who makes the following possible. The God who calls us helps us to follow. In Jesus, God is capturing our imaginations as the hungry are fed, the powerful challenged, the excluded are embraced, the elderly are valued, the young raised up.
This is good news for all: whatever our age or mobility, gender or sexuality, race or occupation.
It is good news which will make and remake us: there will be cost and blessing, surrender and risk. For this is the way of love which goes to the margins and changes the centre.
The call to us as we follow is what one commentator called a ‘social generosity’. It is a change of direction - transformed thoughts, seeking a different way: doing justice and loving kindness; seeing the fruit of power in generosity, dignity and equity; shaping a common life which rejects hate and division.
Such a way nurtures our integrity, decency, honesty and virtue through the dazzling brightness of God’s light and love.
It is a dazzling brightness of light and love which confronts oppression, deception, insult and brute force as Jesus bears the weight of that human ill on the cross; and breaks the yoke of its power in resurrection.
Such a way is what Paul is calling the Corinthians back to: they had allowed arguments and tribal loyalty to divide the body. He reminds them that the foolishness of the cross stands before our eyes - as God’s love breaks the yoke of oppression.
We are invited to follow Christ every time we take bread and receive blessing. Those are urgent moments of epiphany and decision - we see who Jesus is.
That should be good news for every Londoner: love and grace which includes. By the power of the Spirit, may we respond to the light of God’s love and shine with the radiance of Christ day by day - in every act of loving care and resistance.
© Julie Gittoes 2023
