Follow Jesus

Matthew 4:12-23

January 25. 2026

 

When I was a kid, I went to a Catholic church

and we would read most of the same readings

that we do now, and I remember hearing this

and being very jealous of the disciples.

 

I remember the hearing about those fishermen

who immediately left everything behind and followed Jesus.

I thought that they were so lucky to have

Jesus come to them personally and ask them to follow.

The original disciples had it easy.

 

I thought that if Jesus himself walked up to me

and looked at me and said,

“Follow me and I will make you fish for people.”

I wouldn’t have had any second guess

about leaving everything behind.

I would even have left all my stuffed animals right then.

 

But we didn’t have Jesus.

All we had was Father O’Hearn.

 

He was an elderly priest – although I realize

now he probably not much older than I am.

He would hold his sermon up in front of him and read it,

“Follow me, Jesus says.

And we can still follow today. 

Join the Offering Committee.

See Alma Rodriguez at the back of the narthex

After Mass is over.”

  

Not really a compelling call to discipleship.

And as a 9 year old, I was not joining

the offering committee whatever it was.

 

Yes, I think the disciples had it made.

They had the compelling leadership of Jesus himself.

And besides that, they had a clear call.

Jesus said, “Follow Me”

and they could follow him and

do what he did and what he told them to do.

 

But today, we don’t have that luxury.

We don’t have Jesus here with us

to explain and interpret, even in those

vague and sometimes infuriating parables.

 

We just have each other and

and our own conscience and reason,

and this nebulous Spirit to guide us.

And we also have some smart people

who’s words resonate with us.

 

So what are we called to, as disciples in the

tradition of Peter and Andrew and James and John

and all those who have come after them?

What does it mean to be called in

this very time and place that

we’re being called in?

 

One of those smart people that I look to often

is Martin Luther King Jr.

He was a brilliant mind and had a solid theology,

and he was able to apply it directly to the

situation he was living in.

 

He was also such a prolific writer that we know

at most junctures what he was thinking.

And since we celebrated his birthday

this week, I was thinking about him.

I think he is more relevant now than ever.

 

I think these are very dark times that we’re living in.

And I think that there are lots of similarities

with the times that Dr. King was living in.

Not completely the same, but very similar.

And he is a good guide for us through this time.

 

Right now, the people of Minnesota

feel they are under siege.

Minneapolis Protests 1-24-26

Not from gangs or enemy forces

but from our own government.

ICE agents are going door to door

and in and through neighborhoods.

 

These new, untrained, 

bounty hunters are making

law enforcement, military, and even

more established and trained ICE agents look very bad.

They’ve killed two observers and protesters

and detained countless others in  

many neighborhoods.

 

A pastor in a suburb outside of Minnesota described it like this:

No community is safe from ICE.

Worried parents are keeping kids at home,

especially any who are (or appear to be) immigrants,

regardless of immigration status.

 

Another pastor wrote:

I echo the earlier comments about the pain of ICE presence here.

Many of our immigrant businesses are shutting their doors. 

restaurants if they stay open are transitioning to take out

only so that non-employees cannot easily enter the building,

people are trying to hide out in their homes

and skipping medical appointments.

Non-immigrant members of the community

have been maced for just standing by

and observing. It is a lot and it is exhausting.

 

And another pastor:

Our small rural towns are experiencing

extreme pain from ICE abductions:

children are being orphaned;

immigrant businesses are closed;

people are in hiding.

My heart is breaking now more than it did

during the dark days of the pandemic.

It is all JUST. SO. MUCH.

 

It's frightening and sad and horrifying.

It should not be happening in this country.

But  it’s really unclear what our response

as people of faith should be.

 

We might feel here like it’s none of our business

it’s happening over there so it doesn’t

really affect us here in Hilton Head.

 

But as Martin Luther King wrote

in A Letter From a Birmingham Jail

when he was basically told by pastors,

that what happened in Birmingham was none of his business.

 

“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.

We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality,

tied in a single garment of destiny.

Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.”

We are all tied in a single garment of destiny.

And we are all affected indirectly.

Doubly so as Lutherans.

Minnesota is the epicenter of Lutheranism in the US.

These are ELCA pastors and congregants who are

experiencing these things.

Many of the immigrants in Minnesota have been resettled

through Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Services.

We are close in that network of mutuality.

 

So in the least, we are called not to

turn away and ignore the cries of the people.

And more than that, we are called to

have compassion for those who are hurting.

 

I think when things like this happen,

the initial instinct of nice middle-class church people

is to get kind of sentimental and quickly call for peace and unity,

and say, “can’t we all just get along?” I understand that.

It’s wrenching and painful and we want it to stop.

 

But I don’t think that these times are calling

us to do that. Not right at this time.

I think we do pray that the situation would alleviate so

peace can be possible, I think we should pray that

ICE would leave Minnesota.

But we shouldn’t just pray for peace and unity

when part of the people are still under threat.

 

The chaplain on the Minnesota Timberwolves

prophetically said this weekend :

“Peace isn’t what you ask for

when the boot is already on someone’s neck.

Peace is what the powerful ask for

when they don’t want to be interrupted.”

So I don’t think we’re called to ask

or pray for cheap peace and unity.

We should be asking for justice to be done

and for the threat to be removed.

 

As Martin Luther King wrote

"True peace is not merely the absence of tension.

it is the presence of justice."

 

So I believe the church is called right now

to ask for Justice before it calls for peace.

 

So we’re called not to be indifferent,

and not to just ask for unity and peace.

But what is the church called to do?

 

In his book, A Knock at Midnight,

Martin Luther King writes:

“The church must be reminded that it is not the master or the servant of the state, but rather the conscience of the state. It must be the guide and the critic of the state, and never its tool. If the church does not recapture its prophetic zeal, it will become an irrelevant social club without moral or spiritual authority.”

 

We are not called to take control of the

government like Christian Nationalists want to.

And neither are we supposed to just fall in line

with the mandates of the government,

like other people, and count everything they’re doing as righteous.

 

And we are not supposed to avoid what’s happening,

and flippantly say, “Separation of Church and State”

so we can ignore what’s happening in the world.

We are called to be the guide and critic to the state.

 

This week, many pastors and congregants 

from many different churches and religions 

went into the streets to protest this week. 

They were among  more than 50,000 people there.

 

My friend, who is a pastor in New Hampshire,

went to Minnesota just to protest and to be a clergy witness.

He was out in the negative 20 degrees weather.

This was a call he felt to follow Jesus and live out his faith.

 

Some people are following that call by

protesting here and in their own cities.

Some are doing it here today, 4-5:30 in front of Parkers.

 

Some people are putting themselves

in harms way to protect their immigrant neighbors.

And some have paid a great sacrifice for that,

like Renee Good who was murdered two

weeks ago and Alex Pretti yesterday.

 

Protests are a perfectly acceptable way of effecting social change. 

It’s a method that is protected by our constitution by the first amendment. 

Tyrants and dictators hate protests because it does effect change in our world.

It’s the voice of the people.

 

The purposely non-violent protests and walks

that were part of the civil rights movement in the 60’s

are now heralded as moving and stellar moments

in our country’s history.

 

But in Martin Luther King’s time,

Those same peaceful marches were called riots.

He wasn’t seen by the majority of the public

as a hero and the cultural icon he is now.

He was blamed for stirring people up.

he was called a “rebel-rouser” and an “outside agitator”

and a “radical”.  He was harassed repeatedly by

law enforcement. He was arrested 29 times.

Once for going 30 in a 25 mile and hour zone.

 

Protests make people feel uncomfortable.

That’s what they’re supposed to do.

It is one way that normal people can make a difference.

And some of us are called to do that.

 

And some people that aren’t called to protest in

Minnesota are feeling called to deliver food to

immigrants and Latino people so they don’t

have to leave their homes and risk being detained.

 

They’re being told not to put addresses of

the people they’re delivering to in phones because

ICE agents can take their phones and look up immigrants location.

 

They’re being told to write it on a piece of paper

and if they’re stopped by ICE, they should swallow the paper.

Regular church people are called to do this.

 

Martin Luther King believed in service

In his book “The Strength to Love”

he wrote “Life’s most persistent and urgent question is,

'What are you doing for others?”

 

At all times, but especially in difficult times

we are called to serve our community with 

and at this dark time in our nation’s history, 

just giving poor people food seems to be a controversial subject. 

I’m glad that we can offer our neighbors

a safe place to come and get food.

 

We all have different roles and different callings

like Paul said, we’re members of

the whole body, but we have different

duties and responsibilities.

 

Some are called to protest, some are called to write letters,

some are called to run for office, some are called to

preach, some are called to feed people, and give medical care

“What are you doing for others?”

 

We are all called to pray,

And I’m called to preach to you, and I feel called today to tell you

what I’m hearing from my colleagues in Minnesota.

That’s why I’m telling you this now.

But we’re all part of the same body.

 

And as Pastor Mary said last week,

that body as a whole, as the church, is called

to be the ones pointing to Christ.

Revealing Christ to the world

 

And our call as the body of Christ is

very vital in our current situation.

Because some segments of Christianity are using

Jesus name for the power it brings,

but not using his words or teachings.

 

Actually they use the opposite of his teachings.

They say the name of Jesus and then

try to use that as a basis for their

authoritarianism, and hate, and cruelty,

they try to use Jesus as a justification for their

condemnation of other people.

  

That’s why our clear witness to the

real Jesus that we find in scripture

is so important right now.

 

We’re all called to point to the Jesus

that fed the hungry, and ate with the outcast.

The one who urged us to love one another,

and to serve others.

 

The one that challenged the authorities and

The one that reminded us that God so loved

this world that he gave his life for everyone.

Each one of us is called to bear witness to

that Jesus that we know.

 

And we are all called to act on that and

be try to see everyone as a child of God.

Our neighbor and our friend of course,

but every stranger too.

 

And we’re called to see people of

every color and race and religion, gender,

and immigration status, and sexuality

and gender identity as a child of God.

 

Everyone. As disciples, we’re all called

to embrace diversity. I don’t think this is optional.

We all have our shortcomings and judgmental thoughts.

But let me be clear, there is no place in Jesus’

church for white supremacy, or bigotry,

or intolerance, or segregation, or hatred.

 

We are called to see everyone as a child of God.

And that includes those who are doing wrong.

 

Jesus we know calls us to love our enemy

As Martin Luther King reminded the his congregation at the

Dexter Avenue Baptist Church,

“it’s significant that Jesus does not say, “Like your enemy.”

 

We are not called to like everyone

or approve of what everyone does,  or coddle them,

or ignore what their doing, and forgive them instantly

because we’re being good Christians.

 

But we are called to love every one.

That is to see the humanity in each person,

as misled and wrong as we might think they are.

As Jesus followers, we are called to even see the

humanity of ICE agents and those the deploy them.

 

And this really is the crux of our call.

Whatever we are called to do,

we are called to do it in Christ’s way.

We’re not supposed to shy away from

difficult subjects and pointing out injustice,

but whatever we do, we are called to do it like Jesus would do it.

In the process of dealing with the hate in this world,

we should not become hateful ourselves.

 

As Martin Luther King said,

“Darkness cannot drive out darkness:

only light can do that.

Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that”

We should be always pointing to Christ

and Christ’s way in everything we do.

  

And finally, even though these days are dark,

we are called not give into fatalism.

Good people cannot give up

just because things look dark right now.

As Martin Luther King said,

“only when it is dark enough, can you see the stars.”

 

We have one distinct advantage over

those disciples that Jesus called away from

their fishing boats that day:

We know how Jesus’ story ends.

Andrew and Peter and James and John,

they all thought that Friday was the end

of their ministry and their efforts.

They had no idea what Sunday

had in store for them. But we do.

 

King said in order to do the what Jesus calls us to:

“the answer lies in developing the capacity

to accept the finite disappointment

and yet cling to the infinite hope.”

 

Clinging to infinite hope.

That is what the disciples were called to then.

That’s what made them drop their nets.

 

And that’s what we’re called to now.

We are called to follow Jesus to ventures

of which we cannot see the ending,

by paths as yet untrodden, through perils unknown.

 

Jesus, give us faith to follow your call

and take that first step

even when we can’t see the whole staircase.