Third Sunday after the Epiphany
January 27, 2008
Isaiah 9:1-4
Psalm 27:1, 5-13
I Corinthians 1:1018
Matthew 4:12-23
Location. Location. Location. Just ask any realtor what it takes to sell a home. The location of a home matters to the person who buys it. It matters where that home is located in relation to a person’s work or a child’s school. It matters that a home is located in a community compatible with a person’s economic and social status. What matters most, however, is whether or not people can see that home being located in their heart.
We know that location didn’t matter very much to Jesus, however, at least not in terms of where he would make his home. Jesus never stayed in one place long enough to have a dwelling place, and yet he occasionally enjoyed staying in the homes of his friends, especially the home of his dear friends, Mary and Martha in Bethany. Jesus was not interested in location for the sake of making a home. But Jesus was very interested in location for his purpose of spreading the gospel. We remember from scripture how important location is for Jesus when he sends his disciples into communities and homes with the advice not to stay if they, or their message, is not received with hospitality. He tells them they are to leave those locations and shake the dust from their feet as they go. So we are not surprised that being in the right location to begin his ministry seems to be the most important decision Jesus makes in today’s gospel.
What is obvious to Jesus is that he is not in the right location to begin his ministry when he hears that John the baptizer had been arrested. Our gospel account tells us that Jesus “withdrew to Galilee. He left Nazareth and made his home in Capernaum by the sea, in the territory of Zebulun and Naphtali,” and we have to ask why Matthew thinks it so important to give us a geography lesson. Why he is so particular and precise about the place Jesus goes to begin his ministry. We almost wonder if Matthew is giving us too much information. Unnecessary information. Then, again, anyone who knows Matthew knows that he always has a precise reason and a clear purpose for everything he conveys to us in his gospel, and it is not difficult for us to figure out his reason and purpose for this geographical emphasis. Once again Matthew wants us to know that Jesus has come into the world to fulfill the prophecies and promises of Hebrew scripture.
In today’s gospel, Jesus goes directly to the place Isaiah tells us God’s coming Messiah will go to begin his ministry. “He will make glorious the way of the sea,” Isaiah tells us. “The land beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the nations.” “The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali.” And the fact that Jesus goes to locations which intersect with each other by the Sea of Galilee tells us much about what Matthew believes to be the purpose of Jesus’ mission and ministry. It is something we already know; something we have heard in his scripture passages and in my sermons since we began the new lectionary year with the story of the wise men in Matthew’s gospel. Matthew makes it clear that God has sent Jesus into the world for the purpose of redeeming all of humankind. Jesus’ mission and ministry will not be exclusive to Jews; it will include all people, everywhere. Throughout his gospel Matthew will continue to show the inclusiveness of Jesus’ message by the places he goes and the people he encounters in his ministry. And he will end his gospel with his clearest and most direct statement of location and inclusiveness. In chapter 28, verse 19 Jesus tells his disciples, “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” And they do.
This “great commission,” as we call it has its roots in today’s gospel account with Jesus’ decision to begin his ministry at the crossroads of a place where many kinds of people from several nations engage in commerce with each other daily. Near the Sea of Galilee, where a productive body of water produces abundant catch for their fishing industries. Jesus could have stayed in Nazareth. But it is likely that John’s arrest was a sign to Jesus that Nazareth would be too dangerous to initiate his ministry. Jesus could have taken up John’s message of repentance and gone back into the desert to continue baptizing Jews who came to him as they did with John. But that was not going to happen. Jesus’ message of repentance was quite different from John’s. The most likely place, it seems to me, where Jesus might have gone to begin his ministry is Jerusalem. But Jerusalem was a city where so many people were claiming to be the Messiah; a place where Jesus’ message would not likely be heard amid the cacophony of religious and political noise. Besides, our gospels make it clear that Jesus saw Jerusalem as a place where his mission and ministry on this earth were likely to end, not begin.
There is good reason why I continue to go on in this sermon emphasizing the importance of location and social geography to Jesus’ mission and ministry? Because location really is everything. Location is everything to Jesus’ mission and ministry and location is everything for us in the spiritual journey we take with Jesus for over our lifetime. But location takes on a new meaning for us in Matthew’s gospel. We are located in a different time and place from Jesus’ world. So, location has a much broader meaning than the literal and concrete one defined by geography and place. Jesus’ ministry does, indeed, take him to many of the real locations which bear out prophesies of Hebrew scripture. But it is important for us to remember that Jesus never stays in one location. Jesus never chooses to dwell in a place an call it his home. He never settles down and make lasting friends with people in a small well-knit community living the good news in relative obscurity from the rest of the world, because staying in one location would have defeated God’s purpose for Jesus coming to this earth. Because Jesus came into the world for all of humankind. He came to be a presence for all people and nations so that they might come to know him and follow him.
So, then, what about people like us who never had the opportunity to meet Jesus when he traveled this earth? And what about the people who lived in locations Jesus never traveled to as he made his journey through this life? And how about the people who did engage with Jesus; how was it possible for Jesus to continue to dwell with them even after he left them to go on to another location? The answer to those questions comes to us when we consider a new way of understanding location. A new kind of location for Jesus to dwell in. A place which is accessible to him at all time and in all places; a place which provides a permanent dwelling for him.
Matthew presumes we know where that place is located. But it is not located the places we often believe that Jesus’ dwells in. Jesus’ presence is not located in a religious institutions like churches or a monasteries or convents or a shrines; his presence is not located in a places which require us to take a pilgrimage. Jesus’ presence is no longer located in any of the places of public commerce or private dwelling he occupied on this earth. No, you won’t find Jesus located in any of these places; the place where Jesus dwells is in our heart. Jesus dwells in our heart because our heart is the best location for his mission and ministry. Our heart is in a fixed location. It is with us wherever we are and it goes with us wherever we go. Our heart is the place we can always locate Jesus. Our heart is the place we engage him in worship. Our heart is the only place we can really know who Jesus is without having to explain him. Our heart is the only place where we can experience the passion of Jesus’ love for us. Our heart is the only place which can generate the kind of love and passion we need to follow him and serve him in a world which denies him or resists his message.
No matter how, or where we make the discovery, when we find that Jesus is located in our heart, we are able to see more clearly where Jesus is located in each other. We are able to see the ways Jesus is present to us in our churches and schools, in our places of work and in our places of play. When Jesus is located in our heart it becomes possible for us to be Jesus to others. People begin to recognize the difference Jesus makes in our life and the difference that makes for good in the lives of others. And when people recognize that difference we can take it as a sure sign that Jesus’ presence has taken deep root in us. The kind of presence which also gets us through the difficulties we encounter by believing in his message and following in his ways. When Jesus abides so deeply in us, we are able to take the unpopular stand. We are able to love in the midst of hate, we are able to exhibit courage in the face of fear, we are able to take action to free others from oppression, bring justice to the unjust and to those who are treated unjustly. When Jesus locates himself so deeply in our heart, the signs become public; they are clear and obvious to those who witness them. The experience of Jesus’ indwelling presence becomes more and more real to us until Jesus’ presence becomes our reality and we become a presence for Jesus in the world.
This is the larger meaning we can take from Matthew’s meticulous explanation of location in today’s gospel. And yet, his immediate meaning is not lost on us. Matthew wants us to know that from the beginning of his ministry to its end, Jesus chooses to locate himself in places where his mission and ministry will take root. But the fact that Jesus leaves those locations to go on to others, the fact that Jesus eventually leaves this earth to relocate his life with God tells us that Jesus’ had a different location in mind for establishing his mission and ministry in this world. His intent was to locate himself in our heart where his mission and ministry would take root and become fixed and permanent.
Our heart is the best location for Jesus to make his dwelling. When our heart becomes a home for Jesus, we know he belongs to us and we belong to him. And just like every important relationship which makes its home in our heart we want to do all we can to attend to its needs; to nurture it so that our relationship becomes grows deep and strong. For Christians who desire to nurture and strengthen their relationship with Jesus, worship and religious practices become increasingly important because worship and religious practices provide our heart with the opportunity to engage with Jesus, so that he can take his place more deeply and completely in us. We need to bring our heart to worship, because like all of our loves, Jesus resides there. We need to bring our heart—along with our body and our mind, our check book and our agendas, our work ethic and our social conscience along with the baggage we carry with us wherever we go.
We must bring our heart to worship because our heart is the place we will find Jesus. We don’t have to go looking for him in our hymns or prayers or sermons or creeds, all we need do is respond to his presence in them. We must bring our heart to worship because our love for Jesus will help us put all other loves aside, not to mention our agendas, our neediness and the many things that distract us. We must bring our heart to worship because it is our heart that hears the words of our scripture; it is our heart that sings and prays; it is our heart that communes with God and with each other. We must bring our heart so that we can make it the best location it can be, spacious enough and worthy enough for our Lord to dwell in.