Revolution!

The Holy Gospel According to St. Matthew, the 4th Chapter

Now when Jesus heard that John had been arrested, he withdrew to Galilee. He left Nazareth and made his home in Capernaum by the sea, in the territory of Zebulun and Naphtali, so that what had been spoken through the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled: 

“Land of Zebulun, land of Naphtali, on the road by the sea, across the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles— the 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.” 

From that time Jesus began to proclaim, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.”

As he walked by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea—for they were fishermen. And he said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fish for people.” Immediately they left their nets and followed him. As he went from there, he saw two other brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John, in the boat with their father Zebedee, mending their nets, and he called them. Immediately they left the boat and their father, and followed him.

Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and curing every disease and every sickness among the people.

You say you want a revolution.  Well, you know we all want to change the world.  You do realize that this is the story of how Jesus started a revolution?  Jesus was bringing in the Kingdom of Heaven, which was and is, a lot of different things but it’s first and foremost a Kingdom and that meant the other kingdom… the kingdom of Caesar… had to go!  This IS the story of how Jesus began his work of bringing in the Kingdom of Heaven.  The story of changing the way the world works from Caesar’s way to God’s way.  The story of the God of all creation, overthrowing Caesar, the head of the Roman Empire who thought so much of himself that he believed himself, not to be simply a mere mortal, but a god.  

Caesar ruled through violence, intimidation, hate, oppressive economic systems and fear.  He, and the people who fed his god complex and followed his lead, became ridiculously wealthy and they became that wealthy by crushing every last cent out of the people on the edges of society.  They worked the poor, the foreigner, the hungry, the sick and the homeless so they only had time and energy enough to barely stay alive, and never enough to hope for something better.  THAT oppression of the kingdom of Caesar was the great darkness in which the people sat, always covered every day by the shadow of death.  

Now, Jesus could have started his revolution by going straight to Rome.  Straight to the seat of the emperor himself, installing himself as king and then spreading the Kingdom of Heaven from the top down and from the center out.  And there have been disciples along the way who thought, and still think, THAT would be the best way to handle this revolution.  But Jesus started his revolution in a VERY different way.  He started by going from Nazareth to Capernaum.  To put that into perspective, if the United States was the Roman Empire, with Washington D.C. as Rome, Boston would be a regional center like Jerusalem, and so with that in mind, Jesus moving from Nazareth to Capernaum would be like Jesus moving from Bangor to Calais to begin his revolution.  

The other thing Jesus could have done, is that he could have surrounded himself with the most powerful, wealthy, strongest, most influential people he could find to help him start this revolution and topple Caesar.  But that’s not what Jesus did either.  Instead, Jesus dredged up the Middle Eastern equivalent of four sternmen on a lobster boat, not captains… not people who owned their own boats, but sternmen… from the Middle Eastern equivalent of Down East Maine.

Then he announced his revolution by saying “REPENT! The Kingdom of Heaven has come near.”  Now, I know when we hear “REPENT, the Kingdom of Heaven has come near” we think this is like the fifth grade when the teacher had to leave the room and the class went nuts until someone keeping watch yelled out “GET BACK IN YOUR DESKS!  The teacher is coming back!”  We hear REPENT and we think we’re being caught doing something naughty, and sometimes the call to repent is like that, but what’s REALLY happening HERE is that when the Kingdom of Heaven comes near, people’s lives can’t help but head in a new direction.  We hear the word “REPENT” and we think of it as a rebuke, but here “REPENT” is not so much Jesus telling these folks on the fringes to turn around because they’ve been naughty, as it is Jesus telling these folks on the fringes that when the Kingdom of Heaven comes near, the Kingdom of Heaven, by it’s very nature, will turn everyone’s life around and change the world!  

And what those four fisherman nobodies from the edge of nowhere realized very quickly, is that whenever and wherever Jesus showed up, the Kingdom of Heaven came near… RIGHT THERE and RIGHT THEN.  Everywhere Jesus went, all throughout Galilee… THERE was the Kingdom of Heaven as well, healing and feeding and bringing new life…. so, in the blink of an eye, people’s lives were changed and headed off in a radically new and different direction.  And remember, this didn’t happen in the center of everything, among the movers and shakers of the world.  Jesus showed up at edge of nowhere, dredging up a handful of nobodies who joined his revolution, changing the world from the outside in and from the bottom up.  

And here’s the overwhelming, intimidating, scary part for you and me… Jesus is still leading that same revolution... Jesus is still showing up… every single week, RIGHT HERE, in this place… which, if we’re honest, is only about a three hour drive from the edge of nowhere and he’s still dredging up the likes of me and you, who, if we’re honest are a lot closer to Down East deck hands than we are to billionaires who play with would-be Emperors.  When Jesus shows up here in that bread and that wine, just as real, just as tangible, just as fully present as he was on that beach in Galilee… When Jesus shows up here… Jesus… Immanuel… God with us… the King of Kings… when he shows up with the Kingdom of Heaven in tow, it changes our lives too!  Light shines in OUR darkness.  We find ourselves turned around, living in a dramatically different, revolutionary angle, changing the world, caught up in the revolution.  Jesus shows up with the Kingdom of Heaven in tow, the light dawns and we are changed… transformed into the Body of Christ.  

It takes real faith.  It takes real determination.  It takes real courage… REAL courage to come here week after week to the place where Jesus shows up with the Kingdom of Heaven in tow.  Because when the Kingdom of Heaven comes near, you KNOW we’ll be changed… that we’ll keep getting called to change direction… to keep being revolutionaries toppling the Caesars of the world.  You know we'll keep getting called to head out in new ways to bring healing to our neighbors, to fish for people, to shine light into the dark places, to speak truth to power and continue to live out this revolution.  So, thank you for your courage.  Thank you for your revolutionary act of showing up here each week!  Thank you for turning in revolutionary new directions as the Kingdom of Heaven draws near and thanks be to God for the light of Christ that always shines in the darkness and shows us the way, the truth and the life.  Amen.