01/22/23 - Follow that Light - Westminster Presbyterian Church Westminster Presbyterian Church | Serving God and others with open mind, hands and heart - 01/22/23

01/22/23 – Follow that Light

HEALING LIGHT (Follow that Light)

January 22, 2023
3rd Sunday after Epiphany
Isa. 9:1-4; Ps.27; I Cor.1:10-18; Matt. 4:12-23
Rev. Denise Clark-Jones

For so long it seemed, our greatest fear was getting sick. During over a year of little public activity and none without a mask, I forgot what it was like to be sick. With vaccines and boosters, obsessive handwashing, and wearing masks in public, I didn’t even have a cold for two years. But as life came back to normalcy, people stopped wearing masks and the common cold has made a comeback. When your body betrays you with an illness, you realize that no matter how careful you think you are, you can still get sick from tiny germs that are invisible to the naked eye. There’s no doubt about it, sickness is humbling.

Perhaps my recent bout with a nasty cold heightened my awareness, but have you noticed there are a lot of stories about sick people in the gospels? Jesus’ healings were not just metaphorical, he healed people with physical illnesses. Why? Because that got peoples’ attention. Health is not just a medical issue, it is also a justice issue, an economic issue, and a social issue. In the Judean province in which Jesus began his ministry, the Roman Empirical system was not conducive to good health, primarily because of widespread poverty. Water quality was poor, and food insecurity and poor quality of food sources available made people more susceptible to becoming sick. Many people suffered and died from illnesses that are preventable or curable today. If they could not work, they could not eat and got sicker. A disability rendered one with no means of economic support except for begging in the streets.

But even today in our first-world society, just because a cure is available, doesn’t mean everyone has access to a cure. And poverty makes one more likely to get sick. If you are poor, you are more likely to become ill for many reasons. Environmental causes are more likely to affect the poor because various sources of environmental pollution are more likely to be located in areas where the poor life. Yes, we know about water toxins such as those seen in Flint, Michigan, and Jackson, Mississippi, but did you know that you are more likely to have highways and factories that pollute the air, water, and soil near your home if you are poor? Lack of preventative health care or good nutrition due to economic circumstances also makes one more likely to become ill. Once someone has become ill, the cost of health care keeps people from seeking treatment until the illness has become debilitating or untreatable.

Having access to healing is no less critical and subject to economic conditions today than it was in Jesus’ time. The United States is the only country in the industrialized world that does not have some form of universal health coverage for its citizens. (1) The United States also has the least affordable health care in the industrialized world. A study published in the American Journal of Public Health in 2019 found that 66.5% of bankruptcies in the U.S. were attributed to medical bills. (2)

Considering our own issues with healthcare today, it is no surprise that what drew the big crowds to hear Jesus preach were the reports of his healing power. That was the big draw. In our gospel reading for today, Matthew introduces Jesus with a quotation from our Old Testament reading from Isaiah: ¹⁶the people who sat in darkness have seen a great light, and for those who sat in the region and shadow of death light has dawned.” Matthew makes an analogy between the Assyrian Empire’s threat to Judah and the Roman Empire’s oppression of Jews. Again, another Gentile empire controls the Jews. In fact, Roman control had recently been reasserted with the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem. Rome, like Assyria earlier, brought “darkness.” Like the new servant leader God promised through Isaiah, for Matthew, Jesus was the new leader, the light that would shine through the darkness of Roman oppression.

The words, “from that time.” introduce Jesus’ public ministry. Jesus would tell the people about the kingdom of God and then show them what the kingdom of God on earth looks like: “your will be done on earth as it is in heaven,” Matthew 6:10). He preached and then he healed. Jesus’ healing acts repaired the damage done by the empire and demonstrated God’s life-giving acts which restored people’s lives. The world envisioned by Isaiah, in which ‘the blind regain their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are healed, the deaf hear and the poor receive good news’ is the same vision of health and wholeness Jesus proclaimed as the kingdom of God on earth. (Matt.11:5; Isa. 35:5-6).

Today we also read that Jesus called two sets of brothers to be his followers. (Matt. 4:18-22) Simon, Andrew, James, and John are enmeshed in the Roman economy. Following their fathers’ footsteps in the family fishing business, every aspect of their vocation was controlled by the Empire. Rome controlled the land and the sea, their level of production, the transportation of their catch to market, the terms of their contracts, and the taxes they paid. But Jesus calls them to a new allegiance and mission. Jesus calls the fishermen to follow him.

Jesus wasn’t just asking the four men to believe he had power but invited them to do something, to tap into that power to do the things Jesus was doing. Jesus’ observable actions were was healing broken bodies, broken minds, and broken lives. I believe what Matthew is telling us is that by immediately stopping what they were doing and following, these fishermen were doing what is necessary to begin a life of real discipleship. The task at hand was to follow Jesus.

The repentance Jesus talked about was different from the repentance spoken about in John the Baptist’s sermons. John was big on people not sinning and telling them the consequences of not repenting. That used to be the common homiletic style for preachers. When Jesus spoke of repentance, he spoke of turning around on the path one is on and following Jesus on his path to the kingdom of God. In these few verses, Matthew captures the challenge of accepting the Christian vocation. No, I do not mean becoming a priest or a pastor. The Christian vocation is discipleship, and like old age, ‘it isn’t for sissies.’

Being “fishers of people” seems awfully radical for us, who are comfortable Christians and want to stay that way. What we need to understand is that Christian vocation doesn’t mean giving up a job nor does it mean giving up all that you possess. It means giving up everything that is standing in your way, preventing you, from following Christ. But that in itself can be a tall order. And yes, Jesus told his audiences that, very often, our money and possessions are the biggest obstacles blocking our way. But there are others as well. Are we willing to give up those unquestioned assumptions that make us feel superior? What about the privileges we have, but are afraid to admit we enjoy too much to share them with others? Is that what Jesus is calling us to do today? I believe it is.

Paul warned in his letter to the Corinthians that following any person, theology, or ideology except Christ would lead the church down the wrong path. Doing so would divide them and cause them to lose sight of their common vocation to follow Christ and lead others to Christ by being the body of Christ in the world. The congregation needed to be unified in its mission. Paul did not expect that the people that made up that congregation would become homogeneous, but a people of diverse attributes who would employ their various attributes for the kingdom of God on earth. The first Christian congregations brought together people from vastly different backgrounds and cultures. Paul understood that the only thing that would unite them was their faithfulness to and love of Jesus Christ.

Following Jesus is more than selecting a certain set of ethics or beliefs. It is being called to a vocation of caring for the poor, the marginalized, the oppressed, and those we see as strangers among us. It is being called into a life knowingly dependent on God’s grace and experiencing gratitude. It is being called into a life that does not remain inactive or silent in the face of injustice experienced by others. It is being called into a life that seeks joy and fulfillment for others as much as for oneself, to heal others as we seek healing for ourselves.

The Gospels give us a narrative of Christ’s teachings and the way he lived his life. We aren’t given a step-by-step guide as to how to navigate the day-to-day issues and challenges we face today. To figure that out we need to do as Jesus did, to follow his actions. We need to pray, study, and immerse ourselves in God’s world with a mind and heart set on shining light into the darkness by sharing God’s love, revealed to us in Jesus Christ. Like Jesus, we are called to be healers wherever we are.

As he did for his first disciples, Jesus has promised not only to lead the way for us but also to walk beside us on the journey, especially when the journey is traveled in darkness. It is in the dark times on the path that Jesus shines the light of hope and assurance giving us the courage to go wherever he leads.

Amen. May it be so!

1. World Atlas, 2023. https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/10-notable-countries-that-are-still-without-universal-healthcare.html.

2. Konish, Lorie. ”This is the Real Reason Most Americans File for Bankruptcy.” CNBC, Feb. 11, 2019. https://www.cnbc.com/2019/02/11/this-is-the-real-reason-most-americans-file-for-bankruptcy.html

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