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Sermon: The Third Sunday after the Epiphany (A) - 23rd January 2011
St Aidan's Anglican Church West Epping 8:30 am
Readings: Isaiah 9:1-4; Psalm 27:1-10; 1 Corinthians 1:10-18; Matthew 4:12-25
One of the most boring things Australian High School students are asked to do is to study Australian History. This is not because Australian History is boring but it is because so many teachers don’t know how to teach it. And its not as easy history to teach and keep students motivated. There are no invasions – except of course the first one – or civil wars or empires. One moment of excitement is the Eureka Stockade and for too much is made of it. Rather, Australian history is about a peaceful country that has been a social and economic success in a part of the world everyone else seems to forget about, except during the cricket or when Oprah comes to town. No doubt Australia is not perfect, but its pretty good all the same.
But contrast that to the history of Israel, particularly from about 500BC to the time of Christ. That is a dreadful history. It is a history of miser, a history of defeat and failure. And rather than ever getting better, it just gets worse and worse. And to finish it off Rome takes over and sets up a corrupt government under Herod the Great. After 500 years of armed struggle and fighting, Israel was worse off than it ever was. So it is not surprising that the most popular book in Israel was the book of Isaiah. And the reason for that is simple. The book is addressed to the nation of Israel and the message is simple. Though things are terrible and Isaiah doesn’t deny it, how could he, God has not forgotten his people. What is more, its going to get better. Actually, it will be so good it will be beyond your wildest dreams. God will bless his people and bless them and bless them – a super-abundance of blessing It will be so good these blessings will over-flow beyond the boarders of Israel and fill the whole earth. It will be like a whole new creation. Gardens will flourish in the deserts, the lion will lie down with the lamb, the small child will play in safety near the nest of the asp. All the promises of God will be fulfilled, and a descendant of David will arise, a new anointed king, a messiah who will lead this renewed and blessed nation.
So you can imagine how precious was a book like this to a people enduring such misery. It was the book of Isaiah which held the nation together and gave these people hope. So as Matthew begins to tell his story of Jesus, he goes back to Isaiah again and again to remind his readers that this age of blessing had truly begun. Even though we gegin with a baby, even though we learn of a young man living on the very edge of Israel’s world in the back-woods of Galilee, this is where the message of Isaiah begins to be realised. Galilee and Capernaum were not held in high regard in Jerusalem. But Matthew points out that Isaiah supports his claim, this is where the story will begin.
Notice how Isaiah describes Israel. They are the people who sit in darkness. This was true in Isaiah’s day as it was true in Jesus’ day hundreds of years later. But as Isaiah says, “Light has dawned on those who sit in the land of the shadow of death.” What a frightening description. But it gives us an insight into both the horror or their lives and the wonderful news that new light has dawned. This claim would alert Israel that what they had hoped for was coming at last. And notice how Jesus preaches. He preaches about the Kingdom of Heaven. Of course in the other gospels it is the Kingdom of God but they mean the same thing. But Israel had suffered from Bad kingdom after bad kingdom. That had been their problem. They had always been the victim of the world power of the day. And in Jesus’ time they suffered under the exploitation of Rome and the corruption of Herod.
So you can imagine the impact when Jesus began to preach about a new Kingdom, the best Kingdom, the Kingdom of Heaven. No doubt, people saw political implications in what Jesus said and it is only as the gospel progresses do we get a fuller understanding of the nature of this new kingdom. But you can imagine that preaching a message about a new kingdom, a kingdom of God or Heaven, in a society so angry with their own government was likely to get the attention first of the crowds and later of the authorities and those in power.
Perhaps this helps to explain what happens next. Jesus was walking by Lake Galilee and saw Peter and Andrew who were fishermen. Jesus told them to follow him and he would make them fishers of men. We are told they left their nets and followed Jesus immediately. We may be surprised that Peter and Andrew left a good business so easily. But just possibly they had longed for a day like this one as their ancestors had. They had longed for the redemption of Israel. They had longed for a new kingdom and Jesus seemed to be offering it. But these men weren’t fools. They knew what they were doing. At a later time we know that Peter argued with Jesus and said he had given up everything to follow Jesus. So – was it worth it or was it all for nothing? This was a real sacrifice for Peter and Andrew. But they knew something must be done.
Then Jesus met James and John and again he called, and they followed, maybe for the same reasons. But this is a picture of the church through all history. This is how the church grows, this how the church survives. In the ones and twos we meet day by day and encouraging them to see in Christ what we have seen, encouraging them to trust Christ as we have believed, to share the hope in Christ that we all enjoy, knowing that whatever tomorrow brings, our hope, our security, our comfort is in him.
But Matthew goes on. For people living under such oppression, the message of a kingdom of heaven would be very popular. It is easy for Matthew to describe it as either the Kingdom of Heaven or as good news. Good news that God has not forgotten Israel, good news that God will keep his promises, good news that God will bless his creation. So Jesus travelled through towns and villages and spent time in the synagogues preaching the good news.
This alone would have made him exceptionally popular. But there was still more. People came with their diseases and sicknesses. If you ever get the opportunity to visit a really poor country, one of the first things you notice is the prevalence of chronic illness in nearly everyone you meet – skin diseases, eye diseases, crippled people, the blind. That is what the world is like without good health care and most of the world is still like that.
This was what Jesus faced. But the big difference was that Jesus healed them all. We are told of various diseases – severe pain, demon-possessed, people with seizures, or paralysed and Jesus healing them all.
And its here we get our first insight into Jesus’ understanding of the kingdom of Heaven. As far as Jesus is concerned God already is in power, ruling earth from heaven. But now all the world will be transformed, and this is what it will look like, all sickness and disease will be no more. Death will be gone. It is just as Isaiah had promised. All of creation will be renewed. The healings are a picture of the coming kingdom. When we get to the next chapter will learn how we are to live in that wonderful kingdom. where there will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, where all the old things have passed away and the new has come. This is the Kingdom of Heaven. This is the good news.