SERMON, JANUARY 22, 2012-3RD SUNDAY AFTER EPIPHANY
Our first reading for today was from the Old Testament Book of Jonah.
You will find Jonah between Obadiah and Micah.
Jonah lived at the same time as Hosea, and Joel.
Scholars place the date of the writing of this book somewhere between 725 BC and 700 BC.
Jonah was a prophet and thus God gave Jonah a message and that message was that he was to go to the city of Nineveh and tell them that God was going to destroy them in 40 days.
Jonah was reluctant to go because he correctly feared the people of Nineveh would repent and Jonah did not like them to begin with and wanted God to destroy them.
It took 3 days to walk across the city so we know it was big.
At the end of the first day Jonah delivered his message from God.
The people believed the message and everyone fasted and put on sackcloth.
So as a result God did not destroy the city and Jonah would literally throw a fit!
Jonah was angry because Nineveh was an enemy of Israel.
But God will later tell Jonah he has no reason to be upset because 120,000 souls were saved!
Once again, a lesson for all of us of how what man wants and what God wants can often be quite at odds!
Man sees the small picture, God sees the big picture!
Our Gospel reading for today was from Mark.
John the Baptist has been put in prison and soon will be executed.
So Jesus went about proclaiming the good news that the kingdom of God has come near and it was time to repent of sin and hear the good news.
He is also gathering his disciples!
Jesus had already met Andrew earlier and on that occasion Andrew had invited his bother, Peter, to COME AND SEE!
Andrew thus becomes the first missionary!
Andrew and Peter were fishermen and Jesus told them to follow him and they would fish for people instead of fish!
We are told they left at once and followed him!
They would then follow Jesus the rest of their lives!
The call to discipleship is definite and demands a response of total commitment!
So the 3 walk a little more and they see James and John, brothers, and sons of Zebedee.
James and John are also fishermen.
We are told they left their father in the boat with the hired men and followed Jesus.
Andrew had been a disciple of John the Baptist but he recognized Jesus as once as being the Messiah.
We have to wonder just what it was about this Jesus that people would just leave everything behind and follow him!
Peter, of course, would become the leader of the early church!
He is recognized as the first pope.
He became a giant of a leader but on the day Jesus called him he was just an ordinary fisherman.
But God can change people and change them dramatically!
Peter, along with James and John would be present at the Transfiguration.
Paul was bold and often so bold as to try to tell Jesus what to do!
He told Jesus he would never leave him but he denied even knowing Jesus no less than 3 times on the night Jesus was arrested!
It was Peter who would later be the first to enter the empty tomb.
Peter would later be put in prison but rescued by an angel.
We believe, but do not know for a fact, the Emperor Nero had Peter executed.
Scholars think this execution occurred in October of the year 64.
As for James we do know he was executed in the year 44.
This was by the order of Herod and it is the only death of a disciple recorded in the New Testament unless you count Judas.
James and John had such fiery tempers that Jesus called them “sons of thunder!”
John, of course, would write the Gospel which bears his name, 3 letters of the New Testament and the final book of the Bible, Revelation.
Most scholars believe John lived the longest of the disciples and may have been close to age 100 before dying a natural death.
John took care of Mary after the death of Jesus on a cross.
This was at the direction of Jesus himself.
John was first disciple to believe in the resurrected Jesus.
John was present when Jesus brought the daughter of Jairus back to life!
At the Last Supper it was John who was seated next to Jesus.
Truly these first 4 disciples whom Jesus called saw a great deal!
They saw, the believed and they acted!
They won thousands to Christ!
But on the day Jesus called them they were just 4 plain, ordinary, vanilla fishermen!
Nothing special at all!
But God changes lives and God changed their lives forever!
God still changes lives today!
Turn your life over to God and you will see changes!
These men followed God all the days of their lives and we can be absolutely certain that when this earthly life was over, they rejoined Christ in Heaven!
Now we know they drink living water, they eat fruit from the tree of life and they walk streets paved with gold!
These 4 loved to tell the story!
The story of unseen things above!
The story of Jesus and his glory!
The story of Jesus and his love!
They told the story because they knew it was true!
Today these 4 are still telling that old, old story but now they tell it is Heaven!
Why?
Because the saved in Christ love to hear it told over and over!
So let those of us who are saved on earth also be telling that old, old story!
Yes, tell others the story of Jesus and his love!
They 4 disciples knew the story was true because they witnessed it!
We know it is true because they told us through the Holy Bible!
Now let each us be about telling the story to others and inviting others to COME AND SEE!
YES, TRULY, COME AND SEE FOR THE VERY BEST IS YET TO BE!
AMEN
HYMN OF DAY-661 I LOVE TO TELL THE STORY!