Follow Me

While all sorts of folks get interested in the fishing imagery - I don’t fish, and I don’t like people who do. . . strike that . . .
While all sorts of folks get interested in the fishing imagery, I have been nudged to simply look at the call “follow me.”
What is contained in this call to follow? Where will Jesus lead you?
I saw an interesting article that suggests that Jesus is not making a polite request for one to consider following him. . . "'Follow Me'" The Imperious Call of Jesus in the Synoptic Gospels” by F. Scott Spencer, a NT prof at Baptist Th. Sem. in Richmond. [I looked up imperious, "assuming power or authority without justification. arrogant or domineering" - interesting word choice] He opens with a reference to the song “I have decided to follow Jesus” and does a nice riff from there to suggest that the Jesus we actually encounter is no Mr. Rogers.

[Jesus] insists that they follow him on his own terms — period. Jesus does not negotiate with disciples. He does not force anyone to follow, but those who do follow fall under the force of his call and agenda. Bluntly put, it is his way or the highway.
Such a pushy, peremptory Jesus is scarcely in vogue today. . . . . . . The rule that Jesus promotes, while as totalitarian in scope as anything Caesar might imagine, runs directly counter to the tyrannical character of Caesar's regime. Jesus advances the basileia ton theou, the just and merciful empire of Israel's God, before whom no other gods or kings, deities or powers, are worthy of honor.

In conversing with Pay No Toll, he mentioned the Quo Vadis, and this caused me to take a peek at this reflection in The Cross in Our Context
for a reminder:
Peter is in the act of fleeing Rome, where many Christians are undergoing terrible persecutions under Nero. As he is rushing along the Appian Way, he is apprehended by a vision of Jesus, heading in the opposite direction. "Quo vadis, Domine?" Peter asks him. "Where are you going, Lord?" And the vision answers “Into Rome, to be crucified again.” Then Peter, once more humbled by truth, turns around and returns into the city, where, legend tells us, Peter was martyred, crucified, head down.
Hall offers this reflection:

“What informs this legend. . . is a remarkable sense of the world-orientation of this faith. It is not the SUFFERING of [Peter] that is held up here as the goal we should all emulate, but the indelible connectedness of this faith with responsibility in and for the city of earth - civitas terrena - God’s world. The risen Christ, in his eternal reign as in his historical sojourn, is always going toward this world, the world's rejection not withstanding, and discipleship, when it is authentically so, is always a matter of being taken up into this world-directedness, despite one’s own preference for security and peace.” pg 54

One more line from DJ - this is a bit out of context, but a rich line none the less: he says that God is one - “who will be loved only as one who loves the world. (John 3:16)” pg. 55

Let me suggest that we are called to follow Jesus, not as an idea, nor even as God incarnate. We are called to follow this one who - as God incarnate - ventures to the cross, who loves the least and the lost and expects his followers to do the same.

Baptism - Again

Matthew 3:13–17
Then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan, to be baptized by him. 14 John would have prevented him, saying, "I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?" 15 But Jesus answered him, "Let it be so now; for it is proper for us in this way to fulfill all righteousness." Then he consented. 16 And when Jesus had been baptized, just as he came up from the water, suddenly the heavens were opened to him and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. 17 And a voice from heaven said, "This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased."

I - sometimes - find myself not too excited about Baptism of Our Lord. In fact, I sorta grimace at the thought of once again going down to the Jordan. . .
However, usually, by the time I preach on it, I see it as a good starting point for the venture into the Epiphany season and the new year.
As the year begins, as folks have thought - a little - about New Years’ resolutions, having thought about themselves in a sort of critical or abstract way, this might well be a good time to touch on Baptism as God’s gift of identifying you as God’s own. As one in whom God is “well pleased.”
I like Daniel Patte’s commentary on Matthew - and he goes on quite a bit about Jesus’ vocation, his identity given in the name Emmanuel, and the name Jesus - “he will save his people from their sins.”
I suspect that our congregations (and our own darn selves) might be well served by reflecting on Baptism - Vocation - other Baptism themes abound, and they are probably all fitting for our preaching on this text. Reflecting on the theme of God’s claim on you in Baptism - I like this line from my sermon last year. Noting that some think their baptism is not meaningful to them because they can’t remember it. . . (names have been changed to. . . ) -

If Bilbo or Frodo were to complain that they did not remember the day when their adoption was finalized, I would tell them, it didn’t matter. “What matters,” I would say, “is that your daddy held you in his arms at the court house and cried happy tears, he knew that no matter what, for all our lives, we belonged to one another.”

As you venture into the year ahead, you are God’s own. You are called. You are sent. I like this idea from Loving Jesus by Mark Allen Powell. He says that we sometimes talk as if forgiveness means that God loves you in spite of who you are. Yet, could the Good News of the Gospel be heard in a fresh way, if the congregation heard ? - “God loves you because of who you are.” God has proclaimed about you, “with you I am well pleased.”

Where is the child?

Matthew 2:1–12
In the time of King Herod, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, 2 asking, "Where is the child who has been born king of the Jews? For we observed his star at its rising, and have come to pay him homage." 3 When King Herod heard this, he was frightened, and all Jerusalem with him; 4 and calling together all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Messiah was to be born. 5 They told him, "In Bethlehem of Judea; for so it has been written by the prophet:
6 'And you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
are by no means least among the rulers of Judah;
for from you shall come a ruler
who is to shepherd my people Israel.'"
7 Then Herod secretly called for the wise men and learned from them the exact time when the star had appeared. 8 Then he sent them to Bethlehem, saying, "Go and search diligently for the child; and when you have found him, bring me word so that I may also go and pay him homage." 9 When they had heard the king, they set out; and there, ahead of them, went the star that they had seen at its rising, until it stopped over the place where the child was. 10 When they saw that the star had stopped, they were overwhelmed with joy. 11 On entering the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother; and they knelt down and paid him homage. Then, opening their treasure chests, they offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. 12 And having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they left for their own country by another road.

One great thing about following an absolute dipwad, is that you end up on all sorts of wacky mailing lists. . . A packet of materials just arrived from Christian Tools of Affirmation. CTA.
I believe that the liturgical response to such a load, is “Uff Da!”
We might well ask whether the Gold, Frankincense and Myrrh were very affirming.
After I thought of that - admittedly, not very affirming - shot, I began to wonder. Continuing down that road, one might suggest that the gifts do affirm the calling Jesus bears as Messiah, as suffering servant, as one who will bring life and salvation through suffering and the cross.
I know that is a sort of pedestrian reading. Sort of common. The “We Three Kings” carol and all. But, it might not be common at all.
How might that be? Where do we go with this wonderful tale?
I like the bulletin cover art from Sundays and Seasons for this week.
Three kings bow before Jesus, (in a manger - oops). The Magi in front looks to be Asian, the middle, maybe Indian? maybe feminine? the third looks African.
This one, whose calling is foreshadowed in the gifts, has come for ALL.
There is much here.
Which path shall we follow?