What wakes you up

What’s our wake up call?   What are you like when the alarm goes off? Is it immediately jumping out of bed, and if you are of an age, a quick trip to the toilet? Perhaps you need that jolt of coffee to quick start your day? You may be a reflective person who slowly wakes up, chewing over the news of yesterday as you eat your shredded wheat or porridge. Nevertheless, that alarm, or someone else stirring, or even the morning light breaking into your bedroom may be what wakes you up. 

We believe that the Bible, our Holy Scripture, has everything within it, but there are some issues. It’s often called the “Synoptic Problem”. Syn Optic as that means ‘seen together’, but there are times when they don’t agree. Well, given that Mark’s Gospel was written in the early 60ADs, Matthew in the late 60s/early 70s, Luke in the mid 70s possibly even early 80-s, you can sense that there may be some problems afoot. Hence John’s Gospel written in and around 80-100AD is quite separate.

We may have heard about the baptism of Jesus from the Gospel of John (John 1:29-40), where Jesus isn’t actually baptised. In fact, the focus is entirely upon the calling of the disciples, the ones that originally were assigned to John the Baptist. The phrase ‘Come and See’ was used extensively. ‘Come and See’ what God has done, in Jesus.

You don’t need to be told anything, no special words or prayers are needed. Come and See.
Look with your own eyes, make your own decision.

The work of Jesus may well be considered starting there according to John, but Matthew cites the time when John the Baptist was arrested. The word arrested we heard may be better translated as handed over or even betray, as with Judas. My thoughts on the word used with respect to Judas are here. Some imply that God handed John over as part of the Gospel story. Well, given his temperament, his statements that certain Roman puppet leaders had relationships with folk who were already married, and were happy to eliminate folk who got in their way, you see why his head was on a platter – literally.  John the Baptist was a courageous fellow. He was one for civil disobedience, inspiring others to do more. Not sure the current Government would appreciate him at all. What might this mean for Jesus, who is seemingly taking over from John?

Jesus on his travels

He has come from Galilee to the Jordan to meet up with John the Baptist, but then he has gone into the wilderness for forty days – more of which we will discover again in Lent. Then he was back in Judea and now he has travelled north to Galilee. You’d have thought that he’d make home his base, but there a lot more life in Capernaum. That place on the northern shore of the Sea of Galilee, it was made popular by the port made busy by the fishing trade. A major Roman highway, the Via Maris, passes its northern edge, bringing great connections from foreign lands. 

Matthew I think might get caught out if he were to go back to School. He has a habit of citing Old Testament or Hebrew Scripture verses without much context. We have seen that throughout the Christmas story. Here he refers to Zebulun and Naphtali. But he is making the point that Capernaum lies in the region of Zebulun and Naphtali. It was the land where the King of Assyria invaded Israel back in 732 BCE, citing that Galilee was the capital of the Gentiles. So when Jesus speaks of the Gospel is for all nations, this might be a good place to start. But that was millennia ago – but Matthew may have been alluding to the Roman empire which ruled Galilee. Jesus is shining a light in the darkness of Roman domination. Is that sufficient a call, what wakes you up, stirs you?

Where’s he off to now?

Jesus isn’t in the synagogue, he is walking along the banks of the Sea of Galilee. Note that. He is where you and I might have walked. Possibly passing the time at the end of the day.

Jesus sees what is going on, and invites dedicated fishermen Peter and Andrew (different order than John’s Gospel) to Come and Follow me. Amazingly they must have seen something very different in Jesus as they left their expensive and trusty nets, immediately. He sees James and John, also fishermen and says again Come and Follow. They leave their boat, nets, livelihood and their Dad’s (Zebedee) business immediately. 

What is it like to leave everything you have ever yearned for, for the stability, the normalcy it offered? 

We can see this as a very personal transformation but I invite you to step back. Our passage today speaks of the darkness which is preventing the flourishing of the land, its people. The Roman Empire is through its Pax Romana, that non-peaceful ensuring that the citizens will do what Rome says. And Jesus is saying stop, move away from their business model – there are better ways. Just like John the Baptist, when he says Repent which is not a call to say sorry but to turn away from the Roman way of living and find real life, Jesus is doing exactly the same.

See the light, come and see, Come and follow. It’s the call of a rabbi to find a new pathway, start a new journey.

What’s our Turning Point?

So why start the work of God after a momentous turning point in a friend’s life? Jesus may have seen this as a precursor to initiate the ministry he would take forwards. Perhaps the incarceration of John the Baptist was the final straw. What wakes you up?

What made you sit up and take notice over the last week? When you watched the news, read a newspaper, responded to a conversation: what made you so uncomfortable that you had to take action? 

You might want to briefly think back over our lives, perhaps later this afternoon, and recall what made you do particular things in your life. Why did we do certain trades or lines of work, take an interest in a particular subject, come to Glasgow perhaps?

Crossroads

Jesus was at a crossroads, Capernaum. It was of Israel, then Assyrian, now Roman, but full of a diverse group of people, making their way in life. There was a shift occurring, a transformation. Jesus was at the epicentre of something incredible. From this place Jesus would slowly move south towards Jerusalem, but Capernaum never joined in. There’s no evidence that it played any part in the Jewish revolt in the late 60sAD with its focus in Jerusalem. They stood at a distance and took notes.

Jesus took note of the people as he wandered along that coastline. He heard, felt that call to action, and invited others to participate Come and See, Come and Follow, join in with the flow which could bring such a transformation. The Kingdom of Heaven is near.

and our Wake up Call for 2023? (Not the bells)

What might be our wake up call in 2023? What might be a time when, regardless of our age or ability to travel at pace, we can also be the one to say Come and See, find out for yourself what God has done, can do, will do. What wakes you up?