Fellow-Redeemed in Christ Jesus,
Nothing would stop the work in the kingdom of heaven. Herod Antipas had put John in prison. Herod may have silenced John’s voice but another voice took up the task. His Father had anointed him with the Spirit and power. He had overcome Satan’s temptations in the desert. “From that time on, Jesus began to preach, saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”
Jesus first began to preach in the northern kingdom of Galilee where he set up his home base in Capernaum near the Sea of Galilee. God had originally given this area to Jacob’s sons, Naphtali and Zebulun. Since Galilee was on a major trade route to the sea, many Gentiles settled there among the Jews.
Jesus spent a good deal of time being the “great light” that dawned on the Gentiles who were living in the darkness of unbelief since they did not have the Old Testament promises. Jesus gathered his first disciples from the Galilean Jews who did know about the coming Messiah. Jesus had met and called Andrew and Peter earlier in his ministry. They recognized Jesus was the Messiah. Now, Jesus would gather them, confiscate them we might say, as his first students.
What we have here is the first step in Jesus’ Messianic Confiscation. It comes through the call the Savior extends. It comes with the result of discipleship.
We have no way of knowing what was in the minds of Peter and his brother Andrew, James and his brother John, the sons of Zebedee when Jesus met them as they went about their daily vocation as fishermen. St. Matthew makes one thing clear. When Jesus called them to “Follow me,” they had no choice.
Whatever degree of knowledge they had about Jesus, he had claimed their wills. They saw Jesus as the great light that had dawned on lost sinners. Jesus was the light that brought new life to darkened souls. They knew they must walk in Jesus’ light or die. Jesus was confiscating men for himself and these fishermen were the first. His call shaped them in the mold of repentance. They were not the active agents in their discipleship but the objects of Messianic action.
Jesus’ message began where John’s had left off. Repent for the kingdom of heaven is near. The kingdom of heaven is the manifestation of God’s kindness, which invites us sinners to turn to him. It is the kindness that is meant to lead to repentance as Paul wrote to the Romans in chapter 2, verse 4.
Our turning to Christ, following Christ, comes only through the call the Savior extends. The Savior extends that call to us. That call is the power of God for the salvation of all who believe. In the guilt and shame of the knowledge of our sinfulness we might say with Peter as St. Luke records this meeting, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord,” but Jesus does not depart. Jesus’ Messianic confiscation calls us to follow him as his disciples. Jesus’ messianic confiscation comes with the result of discipleship.
There are three phases to the discipleship of Jesus’ first followers. Jesus called them to know him as the Messiah. Last week’s gospel was St. John’s account of this for Andrew and Simon whom Jesus named Peter. Matthew, Mark and Luke record this incident when Jesus called these disciples to become his full time students. They left their boats and their nets and Zebedee and followed Jesus. In their work, we see the messianic confiscation take place. Jesus called them to be disciples. Using their vocation as a metaphor, the Savior told them, “Follow me and I will make you fishers of men.”
The disciple both receives God’s grace without any action on our parts, and goes forward in Messianic action. For example, we receive mercy and go forth being merciful; we receive peace and go forth as peacemakers. Since the transformation of the gospel has molded in our Savior’s image, we go forth in his name so vigorously and so decisively that the world persecutes us for it as it persecuted our Savior.
The Messiah called these men to be his disciples. Later Jesus would appoint them apostles and send them out with his compassion and his authority and a clearer vision of his kingdom. For what purpose? The progressive confiscation of souls. He would send them with this command, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations.”
This is the continuity of the kingdom of heaven, the light of Christ dawning over the darkness of nations living in the night of sin and unbelief. It is the triumphant progress of the royal grace of God going forth to renew and transfigure the world. It is the answer to our regular prayers, “Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”
We are the fruits, the continuation of the first disciples’ work. Jesus’ messianic confiscation has called us out of the darkness into the light. It has drawn us away from our own wills to follow Jesus and his will. Jesus has called us to discipleship. Discipleship is both our intimate connection with Christ, and our action on his behalf. Discipleship it is both our study and meditation of his Word. It is our application of the Word that illuminates the devil’s lies.
Jesus did not seek and call us because we were what he wants us to be. Rather, Jesus called us and made us what he wants us to be. We are not subjects of the kingdom of heaven because we repent. We repent because Jesus through his Spirit has called us to be subjects of his kingdom.
Unlike the first disciples, you cannot just walk away from your nets and your boats. You can, however, follow Jesus in the context of your daily vocations. You can learn from him and he empowers you as his disciples to be the salt of the earth and the light of the world. You can manifest the kingdom of heaven and invite others for Jesus to “Follow me.” Amen. <SDG>