Jack McKinney
Pullen Memorial Baptist Church
January 27, 2008 – Third Sunday after Epiphany
Text: Matthew 4:12-17
Finding Our Place
If you include the two different dormitories I lived in during college, I have called fifteen places “home” in my life. Six apartments, four parsonages, the aforementioned two dormitory rooms, one rent house, my parents’ home, and the house KaKi and I own now. Yes, it was not until the fifteenth residence that I could say I owned the place. Well, actually, some mortgage company in New York City owns our house, but they let us live in it from month to month.
The thing that jumps out at me about having lived in fifteen places is that there have been at least fourteen moves. Which surprises me because after every move I have made I uttered the words, “I will never do this again.” It’s funny how repeatedly wrong I can be about the same thing.
A couple of those moves stand out in my memory. When I was in high school my mom and I moved to Austin, which was about a 400-mile trip from our little town. We arrived at the end of our destination late at night, with a rental truck that was due to be turned in the next morning, and it suddenly dawned on me that mom had rented an apartment on the third floor. Mom, twenty-five years later, I think I have finally recovered from that night.
Some years ago, when KaKi and I were leaving a small rural congregation I served so I could start doctoral studies at Baylor, a church member graciously offered to move all of our earthly belongings for no charge. In his cattle trailer. I don’t think our couch ever smelled quite right after that.
Most of you have your own hilarious or heart-wrenching stories about moves you have made. Whether it was a move to better your educational or economic opportunities, or a move driven by the realization that you could not spend one more day where you were, there is no denying we live in a mobile society. People are on the go for all kinds of reasons. We may not realize, however, that it has been this way for a very long time.
In Matthew 4 we hear this rather innocuous statement about Jesus: “Now when Jesus heard that John had been arrested, he withdrew to Galilee. He left Nazareth and made his home in Capernaum by the lake, in the territory of Zebulun and Naphtali…(Matt. 4:12-13) Having been with John the Baptist in Judea, which was south of Galilee, upon John’s arrest and imprisonment Jesus heads back north to his home region. Only he doesn’t settle in his hometown of Nazareth. The first thing he does as he begins his public ministry is to move to Capernaum. Why did he choose this larger, more diverse town to call home? It’s hard to say, but one thing we do know, this wasn’t the first big move of Jesus’ life.
It is interesting, given how little biographical information we have about Jesus’ first thirty years, how much of that information involves the movement of his family. He is born in Bethlehem because a government census forced his parents to travel to the town. When Jesus is still an infant, and the maniacal King Herod threatens his life, the family flees to Egypt for safety. After Herod’s death, they return from Egypt, but because Herod’s son, Archelaus, was as violent as his father they head north to Galilee and settle in Nazareth. Do you see the pattern in each of these moves? Forces beyond their control, cruel and violent forces at that, drove Jesus’ family to seek safety over and over again.
For Americans, who enjoy the freedom to reside where we choose in this land, we would do well to pay attention to the dynamics of Jesus’ young life. Those same dynamics are still at play all around the world. People move not because they choose to, but because they have to. Nancy and I saw it last year in the Republic of Georgia. Thousands of refugees living in an abandoned Soviet military base because they had been driven from their homes by the conflict between Russia and Georgia. Those of us who have been to Zimbabwe have seen the same situation. The cruel government of President Robert Mugabe has so shattered the Zimbabwean economy that thousands are moving to South Africa and other neighboring countries looking for work. Do they want to leave their homes? Of course not. But they have no choice.
All of which makes me wonder about the immigration debate in this country. There is a tremendous uproar about undocumented people and what we should do about them. But what I don’t hear in this so-called Christian nation is much discussion about the forces that drive people to leave their homes, risk their lives to travel to an unknown country, so that they can work jobs that few of us would be willing to do. I hear a lot about the threat of terrorism, and how unfair it might be if we let a few of these people into our community colleges. But I don’t hear many of our moral watchdogs talking about what drives people to risk so much to come here. And that disturbs me. Because as Christians we follow the life and teachings of Jesus, a man who had to move multiple times, including to another country, because of forces beyond his control. So, the next time someone talks about immigrants as though they are a plague on our society, remember that Jesus was an immigrant, too.
But back to our story for today. What distinguishes the move Jesus makes to Capernaum in Matthew 4 from the moves in his younger days is that he freely chooses this one. Why does he do it? Maybe it was simply time to leave the provincial home place and go somewhere he would be taken seriously. Or perhaps he wants to make a statement by living in Capernaum. After all, Capernaum was located on a major highway of the day and was a racially and ethnically-diverse place. There were many Gentiles as well as Jews there. Maybe Jesus wants to demonstrate the universal nature of his message and ministry by setting up shop in such a town. Who knows?
One thing is certain, however. The moves we make freely in life say something about us. The first big move many people make is when they leave home for college. Where we go to school and what we choose to study make a statement about what is important to us. Later, career moves also reveal something about our needs and desires. We might move far from our original home to chase a job opportunity that is right for us. Or, we might sacrifice money and prestige to go to a place that fits the needs of our family better. The reasons we choose to go somewhere differ for each of us, but in each move we are making a statement.
This is not just true in terms of physically relocating ourselves. Some of our biggest moves in life are spiritual not physical. Many of us found this church as a result of spiritual shifts taking place in us. Maybe the old-time religion was good enough for most people, but you needed something different so you went looking for a different kind of church.
One of the more intriguing spiritual developments in recent years is the re-emergence of pilgrimages amongst Protestants. Since the Reformation era Protestants have largely viewed the practice of making pilgrimage to spiritual sites as a “Catholic thing.” But more and more Protestants are discovering the need to embody the spiritual changes taking place in them by literally going somewhere spiritual. Trips to holy sites that involve walking and hiking are a wonderful way to seek and express truths that are deep within us.
And the common thread I see running through all of these moves or changes is that we are usually seeking safety and comfort. We select a school based on whether it feels like the right fit for us. We might move a thousand miles for a job that provides a more comfortable lifestyle for our family. Or we might move to a new church because it feels like the right spiritual home for us. Human beings have a fundamental need to find places that feel right, that feel safe, and we will go to great lengths to discover those places.
When I was in seminary, KaKi and I would drive 25 minutes to church. Every time we went across town we would pass church after church that was much closer to our apartment. Finally, we thought it was silly to be going so far to church and decided to try one of the congregations much closer to home. So we went to the church down the street. Once. The next week we were on the road again back to our old church. Why? Because the new church wasn’t the right fit for us. We didn’t feel comfortable or safe. It just wasn’t what we needed. So, we gladly got up earlier to make the trek to church.
Regardless of why Jesus moves to Capernaum to launch his public ministry, one thing is clear. He is not going there for safety or comfort. The text we have read this morning tells us that it was after John the Baptist was arrested that Jesus made this move. And what was the message that got John arrested in the first place? Well, he was preaching a message of repentance to everyone who would listen, including the corrupt king. And because of John’s bold message he is executed. So, what does Jesus do once he sets up residence in Capernaum? He starts preaching “repent for the kingdom of heaven is near.” Do you see what he does there? He picks up John’s message and keeps preaching it. There is nothing safe or comfortable about that.
And that, my friends, is the final move we are all called to make in life. We make some moves or changes because forces beyond our control make us seek survival in a new place. And we make many moves or changes in life because we need to find the safety and comfort of the right place. But the final move, the highest move we can make, is the one that we make after our survival and safety needs have been met. The final move calls us to risk rejection so as to do what we believe is right. It calls us to push beyond our normal comfort zone to do what is just. It calls us to choose a path that others might deem foolish in order to create what is fair. What am I talking about when I describe this final, ultimate move in life? I’m talking about LBJ signing civil rights legislation even though he knew it would cost his party the south for a generation or more. I’m talking about the kid in school who risks his social status by befriending the outcast. I’m talking about refusing to go along with the majority when the majority says we have no choice but to fight this war, or when the majority says our national security requires Guantanamo and warrentless wiretapping, or when the majority says we can do whatever we feel is right because we are the strongest nation on earth. The final move God calls us to make in life is to care and not care at the same time. To care so much about the needs of the outcast, to care so much about justice in our world that we don’t care what others say or think about us. And that move, my friends, that final move is so difficult few people attempt it more than once or twice.
Jesus moved to Capernaum and picked up John’s message: “Repent for the kingdom of heaven is near.” And eventually it got him killed him, too. There are no guarantees when we make the final, ultimate move toward what is just, and right, and fair. Well, maybe just one guarantee. We will earn the smile of God.