Matthew 4:12–25

3^rd Sunday after Epiphany

¹²Now when he heard that John had been arrested, he withdrew into Galilee. ¹³And leaving Nazareth he went and lived in Capernaum by the sea, in the territory of Zebulun and Naphtali, ¹⁴so that what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled: ¹⁵"The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles- ¹⁶the 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." ¹⁷From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." ¹⁸While walking by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon (who is called Peter) and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. ¹⁹And he said to them, "Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men." ²⁰Immediately they left their nets and followed him. ²¹And going on from there he saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets, and he called them. ²²Immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him. ²³And he went throughout all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction among the people. ²⁴So his fame spread throughout all Syria, and they brought him all the sick, those afflicted with various diseases and pains, those oppressed by demons, epileptics, and paralytics, and he healed them. ²⁵And great crowds followed him from Galilee and the Decapolis, and from Jerusalem and Judea, and from beyond the Jordan.

What is the difference between a kingdom and a democracy? Which system of government would you rather live in? In a democracy, people rule themselves. Everyone has the opportunity to take part in the rule, in making the laws, and deciding the course of the nation. Each person is considered an equal in the eyes of the law. Each person has an equal voice in the government and even the leaders are subject to the same laws as everyone else. At least in theory.

By comparison, a kingdom, as the name implies, is a monarchy with a king or queen as head of state. The king makes the laws and governs the lives of the people. The people are his subjects and live under the laws which the king himself makes. They have no say in what the king does or how he governs. The king himself decides the laws and is himself not subject to them.

Not every kingdom is by any means good. The terms "good news" and "kingdom" may not always go together. So one may be somewhat skeptical when he hears that a kingdom is coming. Not every kingdom is good news. It often depends on the king whether or not the kingdom is a good thing.

Kings often become corrupted by power. The old adage that power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely seems to be all too true. Kings tend to take advantage of their subjects for their own ends, seeking pleasure or wealth or power. They can use them for their own selfishness interests, even abuse them and sometimes even execute their victims at their own whims. Take for example how King Herod executed John the Baptist.

Even in the best of circumstances having an absolute monarchy restricts the freedom of the people. The kings of Israel would often levy heavy taxes. They conscripted their sons and daughters, they sometime led them astray spiritually and the king's word was always final. The subjects were completely under the control of the king. There was no concept of "liberty" or "freedom" which we have in this country. No concept of "all men being created equal".

But our human nature rebels against absolute authority. We want to be our own kings. The fact is, we don't want even God for a king. We don't want God to provide for us, but want to provide for ourselves. We want to be free from authority. So much so that we erect our own gods; gods that are pleasing to us; who do what we wish them to do; gods that exist only in our own minds and imaginations. Because the God that is; the God who created heaven and earth and who reveals himself to us in Scripture doesn't always do what we want him to do. We want a god who will give us a life of ease and comfort; a pain-free life where everything always works out good in the end. We want a god who takes away all pain and suffering and who gives us prosperity and wealth. But nowhere does God promise these things to us. Nowhere does God say that he will remove all pain and suffering from our lives. Nowhere does he say that life will be easy and that no evil will bother us or sickness afflict us. So we turn from him and want to create our own gods in our imaginations who will take away all sickness and suffering.

But God rather says that we will be afflicted with grief and sickness. He tells us that pain and suffering and sorrow and despair are parts of life that we will have to live with because we are in a fallen, sinful world. We are in a world ruled by the devil and under the curse of sin and death. We do live in a kingdom. It is a kingdom of death. The world is a fallen world where mankind himself chose not to live under the kingship of God. Man himself chose to abandon God and run from him. We have brought sin and death into this world. Wanting to be free from God's authority, man rejected God. Man rebelled against God and this rebellion is evident in our hearts, in our thoughts and words, in our deeds and actions today. By rejecting his Lordship we have come into the kingdom and dominion of Satan. So our lives today are lived in the kingdom of darkness and death. Satan is the prince of this world. His kingdom is a kingdom of despair, darkness and death. And that is precisely why things aren't always the way they should be in our lives. That is why we and our loved ones suffer. That is why sickness and fear and depression and loneliness often afflict us and torment us. It is not that God does not love us nor that he does not have the power to do anything about it, it is because mankind himself has chosen to run from God and has rejected him. And God let us go our own sinful way, right into the kingdom of death.

But the good news is that the kingdom of heaven is at hand. The people who sat in darkness have seen a great light. That is truly good news because the kingdom of heaven is not like any human kingdoms on earth. The king of heaven is righteous and just and eternal. The King is fair and loving. He rules with love and grace. The kingdom of heaven is a very good kingdom. Jesus doesn't reign for his pleasure or glory. He does not rule his people for his own selfish interests but for the good of the people and to bless them. He came to bring light to the people who lived in darkness.

The kingdom of heaven is even better than being our own kings. Because the kingdom of heaven is ruled by grace. It is a kingdom of gifts; God giving us what we don't deserve. We fail at being our own kings. Our self rule leads only to empty lives, broken relationships, loneliness and promiscuity. Trying to control our own life is always a dead end street.

Christ ushers in his kingdom by becoming flesh and blood and dwelling in this fallen sinful world as one of us. By becoming one of us, taking our sin upon himself, living subject to the law of God that we could not obey and dying on the cross to remove the stains of sin and guilt from us, his kingdom has come. Jesus fulfilled the law for us and purchased real freedom for us by his death on the cross. Freedom from sin and eternal punishment. By Jesus death on the cross God's wrath and anger is appeased. By his resurrection God declares the world absolved of sin. Your sins are forgiven. Christ has wiped away the sin of the world with his own precious and holy blood. Those who by baptism are made citizens of the kingdom of heaven have eternal life. We have the assurance and joy of knowing that one day we will be taken out of this kingdom of death and darkness of this world and will enter into the kingdom of heaven where all tears will be wiped away and all sin and death vanquished.

The kingdom of heaven is good news. It is good news because the kingdom of heaven overthrows the kingdom of this world. The old kingdom of sin and death is overthrown and the rulers and powers of this world are dethroned. This was the good news that Jesus preached to the people of his day. This good news came near to the people when Jesus spoke. They both heard and saw the word of God. They heard his preaching and they saw his miracles.

We today also see and hear his word. We hear it proclaimed. We see it performed in the miracles of the Bible. It is this very word of God that ushers in the kingdom of heaven. The word of the gospel is the power of God unto salvation to all who believe. The word announces that our sins are forgiven. The Gospel is the power of God to actually make us clean. It gives us the forgiveness of sins. The word tells us about the miracles recorded in the Bible. The greatest miracle of all is the miracle of faith, that even a baby can have his sins removed by the blood of Christ in baptism. The word of God does exactly what it is sent out to do. It has the power to perform what it says. It is through the word that the kingdom of heaven is ushered into the world and the kingdom of Satan is overthrown. In our baptism we are joined to that kingdom and made citizens of the kingdom of heaven.

It is to proclaim the word of the gospel that Jesus called his disciples and said, "I will make you fishers of men." Christ enlightens the world with the light of the gospel. He calls us to be fishers of men and he sends us into all the world to make disciples of all nations by baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. As he called the 12, Christ calls us to rise and shine with the light of the gospel, and follow him. He calls us to forsake our old, familiar ways for new and bold ventures. He calls us to risk our own security and bind our hearts and wills to him in order to find perfect liberty. Certainly it was not easy for the apostles to just get up and leave their business behind and follow Jesus. They did not know where they were going. They did not know how they were going to be provided for without their job, but in spite of their fears and worries, they followed Jesus, trusting him for all things. Trusting that he would sustain their earthly lives and provide for their needs. As Jesus called them to follow, he also calls us to follow.

He was trusting the same Lord Jesus when Missionary James Koerschen left his homeland to become a missionary in Shanghai, China. Trusting in God as he stepped into an unknown land to live among an unknown people. There he eventually became head of the Concordia International School in Shanghai in 2006. Last December 4^th, the fruit of his labors was realized when the Fine Arts Center and a new elementary school building were dedicated and ground was broken for the construction of a new high school. The school itself was opened in 1998 with 22 students and 14 teachers. Today they have over 1200 students from 30 countries and more than 100 teachers. This year they will be celebrating their 7^th graduating class.

Rise and shine! Christ the Lord has entered. He came to us surrounded by death and sin and brought us unbounded grace. His death on the cross sends the powers of evil reeling and brings us freedom, light, life, and healing. He brings forgiveness to all who are driven by guilt and he sends us to all the world to tell the story. To tell how the Father sent his Son to save us. To tell of the Son who gave us life and freedom, and to tell how the Spirit calls people from every nation to be his new creation.

Amen.