Jesus, Calling

Why Does Peter Quit his Job?

This week we meet Jesus, who in Matthew, says his first words. And his words are the same words that John was saying before him. “Repent for the Kingdom of Heaven has come near.” Well, just like with John, that message is a preached message for everyone.  It is the gospel. Jesus heralds the gospel. That God’s kingdom has come near. 

But the second thing that Jesus says is to a few individuals; to Peter and Andrew (brothers) and James & John (also brothers). That second word is “follow me”. And Matthew tells us that this good news that Jesus is preaching lands on their doorstep as a disruptive call to follow the one who is preaching it. They leave their work - their day jobs - and become students of Rabbi Jesus. 

Why did they leave? 

Because they saw in Jesus something greater, more important, more pressing, more - dare I say interesting - than what they were doing before. And it raises for me an important question: why does anyone change anything about their life? We are, as a rule, notoriously bad at changing things, and here are Peter and Co. giving up their life’s work for a Rabbi from Nazareth. The call from Jesus to follow him is an invitation to set out for the unknown. To change. To be given new purpose in the world. But, change is hard. And no matter what we say about it people aren’t actually very good at change. 

It is said that people will not change until the pain of staying the same is greater than the pain of changing. I wonder how that plays in your life. Does it ring true? I think it does for me. 

It reminds me of one of my favorite poems, by Scott Cairns. 

Setting Out

It plays with the reason why people leave home and start a journey - a pilgrimage. The poet imagines a pilgrim who does not want to leave home. The road is not very compelling. The weather is bad. But then, being alone the life in his hut takes on a deathly stillness (bone white dust). He is scared of being alone near death. When the weather turns briefly this is enough to make the road look more inviting.

I like Scott’s very real sense of how people work. Sometimes the call of Jesus in our lives only gets our attention when everything else begins to lose its luster.  But we follow Jesus because some how his Way and his Presence have become more interesting than all the other things around us. 

That is the message after all - Repent because the Kingdom of Heaven is near. 

We are still in the season after Epiphany. Epiphany means “manifestation”. And this is the season where Jesus, who came at Christmas, is revealed to us. He manifests the glory and presence of God here. 

That’s why Peter and Andrew say yes to Jesus call. The One who is the Gospel that he is proclaiming is asking them to get up close to this and study it. 

Pastor Matthew