Epiphany 3
Preaching
PREACHING MATTHEW'S GOSPEL
A Narrative Approach
This week's Matthew text takes us from Part I to Part II in the outline of Matthew that we proposed in the Preface based on Jack Dean Kingsbury's work. Part I includes Matthew 1:1--4:16 and is titled "The Presentation of Jesus." Part II includes Matthew 4:17--16:20 and is titled "The Ministry of Jesus to Israel and Israel's Repudiation of Jesus."
This movement in Matthew's story is clearly indicated in the text. John's ministry is over. He has been "delivered up" just as Jesus will be "delivered up," 17:22. John's ministry foreshadows that of his more famous cousin! (See Chapter 4 on the many parallelisms in the ministries of John and Jesus.) We are in transition in the story from the days of John the Baptist to the days and the ministry of Jesus Christ.
There is also movement in the geography of Jesus' ministry. John is "delivered up" and, as if on cue, Jesus moves from Nazareth to Capernaum in the territory of Zebulun and Naphtali. Jesus will begin his ministry in Galilee of the Gentiles!
Galilee was no isolated pocket of purely Jewish settlements. It lay astride international trade routes...and had always been open to Damascus and Syria to the north, Egypt to the south, Phoenicia and the Mediterranean to the northwest and west. Jewish and pagan communities dwelled here, side by side, and precisely here in Galilee, not in Jerusalem, Jesus begins his ministry, silently prefiguring the universality he would later openly proclaim (28:19).1
This is all rather astonishing. Shouldn't the Messiah begin and end his work in Jerusalem? Why Capernaum? Why the land of the Gentiles? Matthew seems to know we're going to ask this question, so he gives us a quotation from the prophet Isaiah showing that Jesus goes to "Galilee of the Gentiles" in fulfillment of Scripture. The Scripture he quotes is from Isaiah 9:1-2. (Isaiah 9:1-4 is the Old Testament reading appointed for this week.) This is a people who sat in darkness as the first of those conquered by Tiglath-Pileser III and reorganized as an Assyrian province. Isaiah sees this people enlightened on the day when a child is born, a son given who will assume the role of government and be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9:6-7). Matthew, in turn, sees Jesus as fulfilling this exalted role. He will be the light to the Gentiles. He will be a beacon in the night precisely for the Gentiles. Jesus' ministry, as Matthew sculpts it, has a bias for the Gentiles. That's where Jesus' ministry begins. That's where Jesus' ministry ends: Matthew 20:16-20. This is the language of mission!
Matthew's introduction is now over. Jesus' public ministry is set to begin. We've had a breathtaking introduction to this son born in Bethlehem. As readers we're ready for his ministry to begin; we're now prepared to hear the Sermon on the Mount. "From that time Jesus began to proclaim, 'Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near' " (4:17). The message is the same as that of the Baptist in 3:2. Jesus' ministry has begun!
The closing verse of this week's text refers to the "gospel of the kingdom." See 9:35; 13:19, "word"; 24:14. Kingsbury speaks of the content of the gospel of the kingdom as follows:
The focus of the term "gospel" in the phrase "the gospel of the Kingdom" is on God. Still, because Jesus is the one in whom God draws near with his end-time Rule, the term "Kingdom" may properly be said to have a double focus... it is the news...that is revealed in and through Jesus Messiah, the Son of God, and is proclaimed first to Israel and then to the Gentiles to the effect that in him God has drawn near with his end-time Rule to humankind, thus inaugurating the age of salvation.2
Robert Smith puts it this way:
Matthew insists that Jesus in the splendid entirety of his being is the approach of God, the epiphany of God. That is a central affirmation of Matthew's Gospel (1:23; 18:20; 28:20). In Jesus something new is already here.3
Jesus' ministry begins with the calling of four of his disciples. "Follow me, and I will make you fish for people." Simon, Andrew, James, and John followed!
Fishing for people meant bringing them to justice by dragging them out of their hiding places and setting them before the judge at the end of the world (cf. 13:47).... (Jesus) sets fishing at the head of (his) ministry as a kind of theme. That means that his words and deeds and sufferings have to do with the final judgment or the teaching of ultimate wisdom.4
The verb form translated as make you fish for people implies that with Jesus' word of call there comes the power to carry out that call. Those who are called are not left up to their own resources to "follow." Jesus energizes and transforms those whom he calls.
This first act of Jesus' ministry, calling disciples (4:18-22), serves as a bookend for the last act of Jesus' ministry, sending disciples to all the nations (28:16-20).
Calling and sending are the alpha and omega of Jesus' public ministry.
Homiletical Directions
A first narrative sermon possibility on this text is a sermon rooted in Galilee and focused on mission.
Mission is Epiphany's theme after all! Begin this sermon by narrating the setting of Isaiah 9:1-4. We indicated above that this land was the first to fall to Tiglath-Pileser. This took place sometime between 737-732 B.C.E. How dark it must have seemed to these first of the people to experience life in their own place as life in exile! There is little Old Testament material to use for this story. Perhaps we could create a tale of a family and what it was like for them with the coming of the enemy. The transition from light to darkness is a hard transition, indeed.
Isaiah prophesied to these people of Zebulun and Naphtali that the day of their freedom would come.
A light will shine in your darkness, Isaiah proclaimed. It would be well to take the Isaiah text on through vv. 6-7 where we hear about the Son who will be born! Isaiah's words mean there is hope for Zebulun and Naphtali; there is hope for the Gentiles.
Our second story can be the story of Matthew's genealogy where he plants four women--at least three of whom are Gentiles!--as a foretaste of the universal salvation that will come forth when "God is with us." (See Chapter 1 for a discussion of the women in the genealogy.) The genealogy means that the light of Christ will shine on all peoples including the Gentiles; including those who sit in darkness.
Thirdly, we can narrate today's text vv. 12-15. Jesus is ready to begin his ministry. To put this in story form we will have to back up a bit and highlight some of the events (birth, baptism, temptation) that lead up to this day. The preparation is over. The Gentiles await. God has a bias toward the Gentiles. God has a bias for the people who dwell in darkness.
Finally, narrate the Great Commission in 28:16-20. Note the location. The eleven disciples went to Galilee. They are commissioned to take God's light to the nations. And so are we.
A closing proclamation might go like this. "What God in Jesus Christ is saying to us today through these stories is: 'I am the light of the world! I am the light to Gentiles. I am the light to all who sit in darkness and dwell in the shadow of death. I have a bias for the Gentiles. I have a bias for the lost. I have a bias for you. Let my light be the light of your life.' " Amen. A prayer following a proclamation like this would include the hearer as one of those on whom the light has shined and to whom has been given the commission to spread the light to all nations.
A second narrative sermon possibility can be based on Jesus' call to "follow me." Tell the textual story first. Emphasize in the telling that Jesus has the power to make us fish for people.
Tell next the story of Jesus' conversation with the scribe and others who wished to follow him: 8:18-22. (This text is not included in the Matthew lectionary year.) Jesus' call brooks no excuses!
Thirdly, tell the story that follows the confession of Peter in 16:24-28. To follow Jesus is to lose one's life and to find one's life.
Finally, tell the story of the Rich Young Ruler: 19:16-30. This story is also omitted from the year of Matthew. It is a story, incredibly, that is about the impossibility of following. BUT! with God all things are possible. "I will make you fish for people." God can do with us what we cannot do of our own power!
A closing proclamation possibility. Jesus is saying to us today: "Follow me. I will make you fish for people.
Follow me. Make no excuses. Follow me. Lose your life that you may find it. Follow me. I know that's impossible for you. The good news is: I can make it possible. I make it possible for you, now, in just this moment of time, to follow me." Amen.
____________
1. Robert H. Smith, Matthew: Augsburg Commentary on the New Testament (Minneapolis: Augsburg Press, 1989), pp. 68-69.
2. Jack Dean Kingsbury, Matthew As Story (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1988), p. 62.
3. Smith, op. cit., p. 70.
4. Ibid., p. 72.
This movement in Matthew's story is clearly indicated in the text. John's ministry is over. He has been "delivered up" just as Jesus will be "delivered up," 17:22. John's ministry foreshadows that of his more famous cousin! (See Chapter 4 on the many parallelisms in the ministries of John and Jesus.) We are in transition in the story from the days of John the Baptist to the days and the ministry of Jesus Christ.
There is also movement in the geography of Jesus' ministry. John is "delivered up" and, as if on cue, Jesus moves from Nazareth to Capernaum in the territory of Zebulun and Naphtali. Jesus will begin his ministry in Galilee of the Gentiles!
Galilee was no isolated pocket of purely Jewish settlements. It lay astride international trade routes...and had always been open to Damascus and Syria to the north, Egypt to the south, Phoenicia and the Mediterranean to the northwest and west. Jewish and pagan communities dwelled here, side by side, and precisely here in Galilee, not in Jerusalem, Jesus begins his ministry, silently prefiguring the universality he would later openly proclaim (28:19).1
This is all rather astonishing. Shouldn't the Messiah begin and end his work in Jerusalem? Why Capernaum? Why the land of the Gentiles? Matthew seems to know we're going to ask this question, so he gives us a quotation from the prophet Isaiah showing that Jesus goes to "Galilee of the Gentiles" in fulfillment of Scripture. The Scripture he quotes is from Isaiah 9:1-2. (Isaiah 9:1-4 is the Old Testament reading appointed for this week.) This is a people who sat in darkness as the first of those conquered by Tiglath-Pileser III and reorganized as an Assyrian province. Isaiah sees this people enlightened on the day when a child is born, a son given who will assume the role of government and be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9:6-7). Matthew, in turn, sees Jesus as fulfilling this exalted role. He will be the light to the Gentiles. He will be a beacon in the night precisely for the Gentiles. Jesus' ministry, as Matthew sculpts it, has a bias for the Gentiles. That's where Jesus' ministry begins. That's where Jesus' ministry ends: Matthew 20:16-20. This is the language of mission!
Matthew's introduction is now over. Jesus' public ministry is set to begin. We've had a breathtaking introduction to this son born in Bethlehem. As readers we're ready for his ministry to begin; we're now prepared to hear the Sermon on the Mount. "From that time Jesus began to proclaim, 'Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near' " (4:17). The message is the same as that of the Baptist in 3:2. Jesus' ministry has begun!
The closing verse of this week's text refers to the "gospel of the kingdom." See 9:35; 13:19, "word"; 24:14. Kingsbury speaks of the content of the gospel of the kingdom as follows:
The focus of the term "gospel" in the phrase "the gospel of the Kingdom" is on God. Still, because Jesus is the one in whom God draws near with his end-time Rule, the term "Kingdom" may properly be said to have a double focus... it is the news...that is revealed in and through Jesus Messiah, the Son of God, and is proclaimed first to Israel and then to the Gentiles to the effect that in him God has drawn near with his end-time Rule to humankind, thus inaugurating the age of salvation.2
Robert Smith puts it this way:
Matthew insists that Jesus in the splendid entirety of his being is the approach of God, the epiphany of God. That is a central affirmation of Matthew's Gospel (1:23; 18:20; 28:20). In Jesus something new is already here.3
Jesus' ministry begins with the calling of four of his disciples. "Follow me, and I will make you fish for people." Simon, Andrew, James, and John followed!
Fishing for people meant bringing them to justice by dragging them out of their hiding places and setting them before the judge at the end of the world (cf. 13:47).... (Jesus) sets fishing at the head of (his) ministry as a kind of theme. That means that his words and deeds and sufferings have to do with the final judgment or the teaching of ultimate wisdom.4
The verb form translated as make you fish for people implies that with Jesus' word of call there comes the power to carry out that call. Those who are called are not left up to their own resources to "follow." Jesus energizes and transforms those whom he calls.
This first act of Jesus' ministry, calling disciples (4:18-22), serves as a bookend for the last act of Jesus' ministry, sending disciples to all the nations (28:16-20).
Calling and sending are the alpha and omega of Jesus' public ministry.
Homiletical Directions
A first narrative sermon possibility on this text is a sermon rooted in Galilee and focused on mission.
Mission is Epiphany's theme after all! Begin this sermon by narrating the setting of Isaiah 9:1-4. We indicated above that this land was the first to fall to Tiglath-Pileser. This took place sometime between 737-732 B.C.E. How dark it must have seemed to these first of the people to experience life in their own place as life in exile! There is little Old Testament material to use for this story. Perhaps we could create a tale of a family and what it was like for them with the coming of the enemy. The transition from light to darkness is a hard transition, indeed.
Isaiah prophesied to these people of Zebulun and Naphtali that the day of their freedom would come.
A light will shine in your darkness, Isaiah proclaimed. It would be well to take the Isaiah text on through vv. 6-7 where we hear about the Son who will be born! Isaiah's words mean there is hope for Zebulun and Naphtali; there is hope for the Gentiles.
Our second story can be the story of Matthew's genealogy where he plants four women--at least three of whom are Gentiles!--as a foretaste of the universal salvation that will come forth when "God is with us." (See Chapter 1 for a discussion of the women in the genealogy.) The genealogy means that the light of Christ will shine on all peoples including the Gentiles; including those who sit in darkness.
Thirdly, we can narrate today's text vv. 12-15. Jesus is ready to begin his ministry. To put this in story form we will have to back up a bit and highlight some of the events (birth, baptism, temptation) that lead up to this day. The preparation is over. The Gentiles await. God has a bias toward the Gentiles. God has a bias for the people who dwell in darkness.
Finally, narrate the Great Commission in 28:16-20. Note the location. The eleven disciples went to Galilee. They are commissioned to take God's light to the nations. And so are we.
A closing proclamation might go like this. "What God in Jesus Christ is saying to us today through these stories is: 'I am the light of the world! I am the light to Gentiles. I am the light to all who sit in darkness and dwell in the shadow of death. I have a bias for the Gentiles. I have a bias for the lost. I have a bias for you. Let my light be the light of your life.' " Amen. A prayer following a proclamation like this would include the hearer as one of those on whom the light has shined and to whom has been given the commission to spread the light to all nations.
A second narrative sermon possibility can be based on Jesus' call to "follow me." Tell the textual story first. Emphasize in the telling that Jesus has the power to make us fish for people.
Tell next the story of Jesus' conversation with the scribe and others who wished to follow him: 8:18-22. (This text is not included in the Matthew lectionary year.) Jesus' call brooks no excuses!
Thirdly, tell the story that follows the confession of Peter in 16:24-28. To follow Jesus is to lose one's life and to find one's life.
Finally, tell the story of the Rich Young Ruler: 19:16-30. This story is also omitted from the year of Matthew. It is a story, incredibly, that is about the impossibility of following. BUT! with God all things are possible. "I will make you fish for people." God can do with us what we cannot do of our own power!
A closing proclamation possibility. Jesus is saying to us today: "Follow me. I will make you fish for people.
Follow me. Make no excuses. Follow me. Lose your life that you may find it. Follow me. I know that's impossible for you. The good news is: I can make it possible. I make it possible for you, now, in just this moment of time, to follow me." Amen.
____________
1. Robert H. Smith, Matthew: Augsburg Commentary on the New Testament (Minneapolis: Augsburg Press, 1989), pp. 68-69.
2. Jack Dean Kingsbury, Matthew As Story (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1988), p. 62.
3. Smith, op. cit., p. 70.
4. Ibid., p. 72.
