Fellow Followers

Matthew 4:12-23 & 1 Corinthians 1:10-19
3rd Sunday in Ordinary Time

When I was in my early twenties, I remember sitting my father down for a talk.  I didn’t feel I needed his permission, but I certainly wanted his blessing.  I wanted him to know the person I was becoming and I wanted his support in becoming that person.  I sat my father down and told him… that I thought God wanted me to be a pastor.  

As I look back on it, I don’t remember expecting any specific reaction from him; I didn’t think he’d be mad or even especially surprised.  After all, this was partly his fault: he had raised me in the church and taught me by his example how to follow where Christ calls.  Plus, it's not as thought I wasn't already showing certain “tendencies:” I was actively involved in church programs and worship; I was a Sunday school teacher and a youth leader; I was even employed by our church and by a Christian camp during the summers.  The signs were all there so I didn’t expect this to be a big shocker to him.  

But what he said to me did kind of catch me off guard; so much so that it's stuck with me some thirty-something years later.  He said that he was proud of me and that he’d support me in whatever I felt called to do, but then he said, “Just remember: don’t expect church people to be better than any other people.”  Which surprised me at the time, mostly because of the context.  Of course he was right: church people are still people, after all.  We’ve all got our quirks and weaknesses and that’s what usually makes us interesting.  

But on the other hand, why not expect something better from the followers of Jesus?  Even though we might feel let down sometimes, why should we stop expecting kindness and mercy from one another; why should we stop expecting one other to care more, listen longer, and love less conditionally than the rest of the world might?  

I think we should expect all of this because I think we are supposed to be different.  We are different, not just because we follow different sets of rules than the world does, but because we follow a different ruler.  Because we all follow the same Savior, I think we should be able to expect more from one another than we do from the rest of the world; and the rest of the world ought to expect more of us.  At the very least, I think we should expect one another to try.  

Last Sunday we heard the Gospel of John’s version of how Jesus called his first disciples and this week we hear Matthew’s version.  And I think the first thing we notice is how these stories are not exactly the same: in John, the first disciples are following John the Baptist when Jesus calls them to “come and see,” where Jesus is going.  But in Matthew the first disciples are fishermen when they hear Jesus’ call to “follow me.”  Now although these differences between the gospels might make for an interesting conversation, they are not huge; certainly they could have been fishermen and disciples of John the Baptist at the same time.  And certainly the results of these two stories are the same: Jesus calls them and they go.  

So in a sense, this morning’s message again begins where last week’s left off.  Again, we remember that those of us who have been called by Jesus have been called in exactly the same way that his disciples have always been called to him: we are called to follow.  We are called to walk with him, to know him, to learn from him, and to carry on the same ministry through our lives that he lived out in his.  Today we remember again that every one of us has been called by our Savior to lay aside all else and follow him.  

Unfortunately, today we also remember that this call has been extended to a whole bunch of other people too; Christ also calls people who are not always as nice as we are; people who are not as far along in their faith-journey to know any better; people who really ought to be grateful that we are as tolerant and understanding as we are!  Unfortunately, today we remember that Christ doesn’t just call us as individuals, but as communities; as congregations.  Sometimes the hardest part about walking with Jesus… is walking along side some of those “other” people he calls.  

I think I’ve pointed out before that, if Paul wrote you a letter, chances are you had messed up somehow.  With the exception of a few of Paul’s letters, if he was writing to your church… your church was in trouble.  And this was certainly true in his letters to the Corinthians.  They were in trouble.  They were in trouble because, in spite of the way they had received the Gospel, in spite of their spiritual gifts, they were a divided church.  They didn’t just disagree with one another – there’s nothing wrong with disagreeing with each other.  I think disagreements are a normal and healthy way to help one another grow in Christ.  Their problem was that they were divided.  Their problem was that in their disagreements, they were starting to take sides.  They were forming up camps and that is what Paul is, in part, writing to address.  It’s strangely comforting to me to hear that this kind of behavior isn’t just common among churches today; it’s always been common in the church.  But that doesn’t make it right.

Notice that when Paul talks about their factions, he doesn’t leave his so-called followers out of the scolding: he starts with those who say “I follow Paul.”  Because the problem wasn’t who was right and who was wrong; the problem was they had forgotten that they weren’t even called to be right.  They weren’t called to have all the answers and to point out who didn’t.  In fact, what they had been called to was foolishness from a worldly view.  They had been called to follow Christ and Christ alone.  They had been called to follow with him, even to the cross.  And from a worldly perspective, there’s nothing “right” about the cross.  

And simply put, that is where Jesus calls to.  He calls us to die with him that we might live with him.  And he calls us live out that same self-giving love every day of our lives so that others might live with him as well.  And there is nothing right about that.  His life was characterized by self-denial, so those who would follow him ought to be known for that as well.  Whenever we claim that we are right and another follower is wrong, we do in fact, deny the cross.  

I once heard a choir director say, "If you can't hear the voices beside you you're singing too loudly."  And isn’t that true for us more often than when we’re singing?  Isn’t this faith of ours proclaimed so much more beautifully when we’re all contributing our parts?  The proclamation of the Good News was never supposed to be a solo act.  So that means, for us to perform it right, we need to listen to each other.  We need to follow one leader and sing the wondrous song that he has given us to sing… together.  

In Corinth, no one was listening. They were not listening because each person was fully convinced in his or her mind that he or she was correct.  They were each convinced that they alone had the whole picture, the right picture.  They were so convinced that their view was the right view that anyone else might not really be a part of the body of Christ.  And in fact, not only had the members of the church in Corinth stopped listening to each other, almost everyone was shouting.  And in their shouting about their right views and their philosophies, they had forgotten that their calling was about foolishness, not about being right.  

And the sad truth is that we all get like that sometimes; sometimes we are no better than the world outside our doors.  But the truth is also that I think we’re supposed to be.  And Paul reminds them of who they are supposed to be… by reminding them of the calling they received through their baptism.  

This is the third week in a row that I’ve brought up calling.  That might not be an accident; it might just be a common theme in Scripture.  This time it’s Paul using baptism to remind us that it is only in Christ that we have received our calling.  It is through Christ that we have received our salvation and it is only through Christ that we are united with one another.  And in the light of our common calling in Christ, the only one we should care about being right is Jesus.  

So let us proclaim how right he is in the ways we treat one another.  Let us listen to one another; let us appreciate each others gifts; let us forgive one another, and in so doing, let us proclaim our Savior to the world in the seemingly foolish ways we live our lives.