The Rev. Dr. Charles B. Fulghum
St. Martin in the Fields Church
January 23, 2005
Matthew 4:12-23 Epiphany 3A, 2004

Jesus gave us new goals, new light to shine in the darkness of the world, new hope that God is on our side, not an evil potentate ready to get us if we don’t get our sacrifices and rituals perfected.

Repent for the Kingdom of God is at hand. These were Jesus Opening sentences when in Matthew he begins his preaching mission. This is quite different from the Isaiah call for repentance who warns that God will destroy those people, perhaps the whole country, if they do not repent. John the Baptist also threatened the people with destruction unless they repented. Some people come away from the New Testament with the conviction that the wages of sin is death. Repent or die.

I don’t think Jesus ever threatened people with fear of punishment by His Father in Heaven. “The Gospel of Jesus Christ was, This is the day that the Lord hath made, rejoice and be glad in it.” “The Kingdom of God is at hand.”

In Matthew today we read that as Isaiah said, the people who sat in darkness saw a great light, and upon those who sat in the shadow of death light has dawned.” Matthew believed that this great light which enlightened the world was the Messiah promised by the Old Testament prophets. We sing hymns at Christmas time which say that the world in darkness lay until the day that Christ was born.

Isaiah makes it clear that the darkness is shadow of death which hangs over us. If you live in that shadow without a savior then there is nothing but death ahead of us, and it makes no difference whether you repent or not. If you read the history of Israel before the arrival of Jesus Christ, the people should feel rather hopeless. They could never get it right. The history of the Jewish people is a history of their punishment by God. Once or twice they enjoyed Kings like David and Solomon who gave them security, but they blew it and the people believed that the Lord took it all away, and their freedom with them.The opposite of all that despair is the good news, The Gospel of Jesus Christ. “God is not punishing us with foreign occupation, death, famines, plagues, tsunamis, and God is not rewarding us for our virtue.” “God is God and we are his people.” Finally, with the death and resurrection of the incarnate God, we are not living in the shadow of death. We live in the great light which came at Christmas with the birth of our lord. Epiphany means the manifestation, the revealed God. The people could see Jesus and talk to him. He was God made man, a simple man who could be understood and his message was simple, his requirements were simple, any body could be loved by God and God wanted to love everybody. For many that is too simple. Jesus was hardly ascended into Heaven before people were arguing that to be saved from the darkness of sin, you must be circumcised because Christianity was a branch of Judaism, which was replaced by baptism because Jesus was baptized, your sins must be absolved by a priest of the church after you have made a confession of sins, and today there are churches which demand a sinless life and sanctification. No bad people allowed in Heaven.

There is a hymn that says, “What a friend we have in Jesus,” but you would never know he was a friend if you listen the threats of the preachers who sing that song. The people, the church and the preachers seem unwilling to take Jesus at his word that, “Jesus loves us,” and God loves us, “Just as I am.”

Last Thursday, I heard respectable words from a man for whom I have never respected, George W. Bush, The President of The United States. His inaugural address was the most optimistic idealistic speech a president has ever delivered anywhere. He made no mention of terror, fear, retribution, threats or sin and people who expect too much. Jesus must have loved his prospect for America.

All the news programs, I have listened too since then have had two critics talk about the inaugural address. One of the critics heard it as I did, up beat, idealistic, a light to reveal to the world. The other critic said, his speech was completely impractical, with no plans that could be realized and no objectives that could be achieved. Both critics are right. And I have no expectations that The President is going to able to realize any of the lofty goals he listed. But I remind you, neither could Lincoln have achieved any of the lofty goals he listed in his greatest declaration, his second inaugural address in which he begged for charity towards all.

Moreover, Jesus Christ was an unrealistic idealist when he talked about “Love your neighbor as yourself,” and “Love God with all your heart mind and soul.” People can’t do that and Jesus knew people can’t do that. But Jesus was an idealist. His ideas were perfect, not his plans or his programs for achieving “The peace of God that passes all understanding.” Jesus gave us new goals, new light to shine in the darkness of the world, new hope that God is on our side, not an evil potentate ready to get us if we don’t get our sacrifices and rituals perfected.

The skipper of a ship even with the help of the navigator cannot get his ship where he wants it to go. It takes a near perfect ship and crew to get a ship where it’s supposed to get to. But the Captain must have a goal, a plan, a chart and the loyalty of the crew of the ship to go anywhere.

The President’s speech outlined a perfect course for our country, our government, and he repeated over and over again, “under God.” The President did not, as the Republican party did, suggest that we were going to use God to achieve our ends. All the critics said, The President really believes what he says. We are to work toward the peace of God and the resources of this country are to help us bring in the Kingdom of God. A few critics referred to the speech as a sermon. I thought it was a sermon and one of the finest I’ve ever heard. I had already planned to preach today on the optimism of the Christian faith. The President beat me to it on Thursday. I know he can’t achieve the peace he describes, but by God I will pray everyday that he might. He cannot inspire his crew, congress and the people to give up their self centeredness, neither could Moses of Jesus. People remain people. But leaders are those with vision and we are blessed with a leader who knows vision when he sees it.Optimism, idealism is the light which overcomes the darkness. The world needs the light.

Amen.