Pescadores

Third Sunday after Epiphany
Matthew 4:12-23

"Pescadores"

Mientras caminaba junto al mar de Galilea, Jesús vio a dos hermanos: uno era Simón, llamado Pedro, y el otro Andrés. Estaban echando la red al lago, pues eran pescadores. "Vengan, síganme -les dijo Jesús-, y los haré pescadores de hombres." Al instante dejaron las redes y lo siguieron.

Más adelante vio a otros dos hermanos: Jacobo y Juan, hijos de Zebedeo, que estaban con su padre en una barca remendando las redes. Jesús los llamó, y dejaron en seguida la barca y a su padre, y lo siguieron.

¿Quiénes de ustedes hablan español? If you do, then you know that the text you just read was a section of today's Gospel lesson. Here, in this short section of Matthew's Gospel account, we learn of Jesus' calling of his first disciples. How he, walking along the sea of Galilee, called these two pairs of brothers, fishermen who were about the business of their day-to-day lives, to come and follow - and they did.

If you don't speak Spanish, those first few moments of this message might have left you slightly confused, wondering if you were, in fact, in the right place. Language is a great gift from God that allows us to communicate with other people. We can share our ideas, we can make plans, we can offer comfort, and we can both learn and teach. But language can be a barrier to all these things, too. If someone does not understand the language in which something is communicated, the communication, the sharing of thoughts, is handicapped. Have you ever travelled to a region where English is not the primary language? You might have found yourself at a restaurant or a bakery, trying to place your order for a local specialty - like a "Big Mac" - reduced to pointing at something and grunting or making wild gestures to help the person understand what you're trying to communicate.

At St. John's, we are becoming increasingly aware of the opportunities that God is setting before us to share His gifts with the people around us. For the past several years, our congregation has been starting to explore avenues of ministry with Spanish-speaking peoples. And this year, the Church Council, supported by the people of St. John's, has prioritized this aspect of our mission as God's people here in northern Virginia. As you may know, we have worked for a number of years with several other Franconia-area congregations to offer English-as-Second-Language (ESL) courses so that people from all linguistic backgrounds who need to learn or improve their English could better their ability to communicate. And while ESL classes can be a life-changing opportunity for students, we as Christians can offer something that will transform lives even more radically. A few years ago, St. John's began offering a Spanish-language Bible class, Estudio Bíblico, so that more people might have the opportunity to study God's Word in their native language. And now, in 2008, we are banding together with other congregations in our circuit to identify and call a Spanish-language mission developer who may work with us to build up Lutheran Christian communities among the Hispanic and Latino people of our region.

You might find yourself wondering why we at St. John's need to be active in an intentional, Spanish-language ministry. But that's the wrong question. They need us to be active: the Spanish-speaking people who do not know the love of God in Christ need to hear God's Good News in their "heart language" and in the context of their cultures. Holy Scripture was not originally written down in English - not even in "King James Version" English! In fact, our church body, The Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod, did not primarily use English in worship until after World War I. As people who have an important message to communicate, Christians look to overcome the barriers that would otherwise block that message. All people, regardless of their native language, have sinned. And just as language barriers can separate one person from another, sin separates all of us from God. All people need to hear the call that Jesus proclaimed at the beginning of his earthly ministry, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!" Just like us, Spanish-speaking people need to hear the message of this Epiphany season: that Jesus, God Himself, came to live and die to free us from the guilt of our sin and that He rose from the dead to give us new life. No matter what the burden of guilt you bear or how long you have born it, Christ has freely come to free you. The kingdom of heaven is breaking in to a broken world. This is the message we Christians have been called to bear.

Jesus' call to us has the same authority and power behind it as it did when he called the first of his twelve closest disciples. It evokes a response. Simon, Andrew, James, and John were going about their vocation as fishermen when Jesus called them. They could not have known the consequences of following Christ, nor does the gospel account note that these two pairs of brothers sat down to consider the pros and cons of the call. They simply left what they were doing to follow him. That's an amazing thing, not because of these disciples' faith, but because it points to the authority of the one doing the calling. As we reach out to work with Spanish-speaking people, let us remember that God alone can bring people to faith. We need to pray for the Holy Spirit's work in people's lives, that He would evoke a response as they hear the call to follow Jesus.

As God expands our Spanish-language ministry here at St. John's and in our neighboring congregations, as the Gospel "net" brings more and more people into the "boat," we will be called to welcome people who might not speak English well - if at all - or people from a different cultural or economic background . Change, even good change and development, is rarely easy or comfortable. But Christ did not come into the world to make us comfortable, as those first fishers of men would see. He came to bring comfort to our souls and to bring light to a people that lived in darkness.

When Jesus called his disciples, he said that he would make those fishermen fishers of men. "Pescadores de hombres" is Spanish for "fishers of men." From time to time, you may have heard someone say that this means that we have all been called to be "fishers of men." But that's not what's going on here. We don't all have the same calling, the same role, but we do share the same mission of pointing others to our heavenly Father through Jesus. As one of my seminary professors put it, all Christians are not fishermen: some of us will work on the boat, some will repair the nets, and others will actually cast the nets out into the water to gather the catch. In the boat here at St. John's, not all of us will have the skills or the gifts be about Spanish-language mission ourselves, but we can support those that do: we can pray for our shared ministry; we can cook food for potluck dinners; we can be conversation partners or ESL instructors.

On Sunday afternoon, our congregation will be having an old-fashioned potluck dinner, and I invite you to come. As we wrap-up our January focus on mission opportunities in the world around us, this mission-focused dinner will give you a chance to see how God is going about His work among us. And you'll find that there's a place in the boat just for you.

On Sunday afternoon, our congregation will be having an old-fashioned potluck dinner, and I invite you to come. As we wrap-up our January focus on mission opportunities in the world around us, this mission-focused dinner will give you a chance to see how God is going about His work among us. And you'll find that there's a place in the boat just for you.

Amen.