Matthew 4:12-25
Where You Are
If you ever were lost out in the middle of nowhere, the first thing you would want someone to tell you is how to get back to a place you knew. They could either give you directions, hand you a map, or tell you to follow them there. We’d all understand that the person who found us was trying to help us. Likewise, I’ve never heard of a criminal getting rehabilitated into society be taught how to be a better criminal. The entire point of teaching them is to move them away from their bad habits and tendencies to better skills and habits. We understand that this too is meant to help people, as the criminal is given a second chance and others are kept safe by someone no longer being a criminal. So, tell me then, why do people insist that forgiveness means we get to keep doing the same thing? Wouldn’t that defeat the purpose? For forgiveness is like being lost and having someone show you the way back, or like being let out of prison to have a second chance. The entire point isn’t to leave you where you are, to have you keep doing what you know. Rather, the point is to bring you to a new life… leading you back towards the good and away from the bad. For this is where we need to be careful about common phrases we all say and what we truly mean by them. For so many people like to say that Jesus “meets us where we are” as if him simply showing up is enough. If someone just showed up to you stranded in the desert but never gave you directions, you’d still be lost.
In our Gospel lesson today, we hear Jesus begin his ministry in a big way. He calls his first disciples; he preaches repentance; and he even heals many people. It’s the big show that we all wish we could see first-hand. But let us understand that these things aren’t the point of Jesus’ ministry. Rather, they’re the first step in the right direction. As we will learn today:
JESUS MEETS US WHERE WE ARE IN ORDER TO LEAD US INTO HIS KINGDOM!
I.
I want you to notice that Jesus’ ministry doesn’t quite start off with the fanfare we think it does. The start of his ministry is marked by the arrest of John the Baptist. It’s the Word of God being silenced from one mouth so that it may be taken up by another. For Jesus echoes the very words of John, as we read, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand,” Matthew 4:17. He goes into the crowds; he travels among the people; and he preaches repentance. Don’t equate Jesus’ preaching of repentance with God’s condemnation of sin. Indeed, they aren’t the same. Rather, repentance is the first step of God meeting us where we are. Repentance is a call to all sinners to stop staring at their sins, and rather, turn and look towards the lamb. For consider the very next thing Jesus does. He calls his first disciples. And he does this not by waiting in the town square for the right person to appear, but by going himself to find them where they are. Jesus goes right to the lake to call four different fishermen, not to leave them there, but to have them follow him.
For consider that Jesus’ calling on your life isn’t that much different from his calling of his first disciples. He’s not waiting around for you to find him. He doesn’t wait for your permission to approach either. He comes to call you, first in the preaching of repentance and then in his command to follow, to become a disciple. For Jesus knows right where to find us. We’re stuck deep in the muck and mire of our sins, our sicknesses and diseases, our problems, and quarrels among ourselves. Yes, he must come to us, not the other way around. Jesus meets us where we are, but he doesn’t want us to stay there. Consider the response of the first disciples, “Immediately they left their nets and followed him,” Matthew 4:20. Could you do the same? Could you leave your life behind and follow Jesus with just the clothes on your back? While this may not be what Jesus asks of us all today, he does ask us to leave one big thing behind… our sins. For when Jesus calls us, we’re not supposed to stay in the comfort of our sins.
II.
There’s no doubt then that Jesus meets us where we are. He comes to us because he has to. Yet, when he finds us lost, broken, sinful, and covered in our sins, he doesn’t leave us there. Rather, he cleans us up in baptism. He teaches us repentance to turn away from our sins and walk into his marvelous light. And he leads us out from the desert into the promised land, the very kingdom of God! As we heard the prophecy from Isaiah, “the people dwelling in darkness have seen a great light, and for those dwelling in the region and shadow of death, on them a light has dawned,” Matthew 4:16 (Isaiah 9:2). We’re the ones who have dwelt in a land of darkness, in the shadow of death. But just as happens when you turn a flashlight on in a dark room, so too when Jesus arrives among us. He banishes all darkness, sin, and even death by the light of his righteousness. Thus, Jesus bids us to follow him lest we find ourselves back in the same place he first found us.
This is what we mean when we say that Jesus meets us where we are. It means he comes to us first by his grace, he approaches us in our sin. It means he preaches repentance to us, to turn ourselves away from our sin and toward him by his mercy. It means he grabs us by the hand to pull us onto the road, and then, he slings his arm around our back and says, “Let’s walk this together.” As a friend by our side, Jesus leads us on the road of life, evermore teaching us about the ways of holiness and godliness. He instructs us with his commandments, comforts us by his grace, and then, shows us his cross. Following Jesus means we’ll inevitably come face to face with the price of our sins. We’ll come to see the spotless lamb of God pouring out his blood for us, being nailed to the cross for our sins. We’ll be molded and shaped by the cross so that we learn to bury our own flesh and sinful desires, so that we may take up the righteous deeds of Christ. So, we must follow him all the way through this world until we face death ourselves so that he may meet us on the other side to lead us into life everlasting!
Wherever Jesus leads, may we follow him all of our days. For we desire not to remain lost in our sin, but by the light of Jesus, to be led into the glory of God’s kingdom. So, may we cast aside every weight and sin from our lives, evermore answering the call of Jesus to follow him, now and forevermore. In Jesus’ name. Amen!