On the Road to Ministry
On the Road to Ministry
Matthew 4:12-23
February 22, 2026 Meeting Jesus on the Road Lent 1
Rev. Cynthia Cochran-Carney, First Presbyterian Church of San Rafael, CA
Now when Jesus heard that John had been arrested, he withdrew to Galilee. He left Nazareth and made his home in Capernaum by the sea, in the territory of Zebulun and Naphtali, so that what had been spoken through the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled:
“Land of Zebulun, land of Naphtali, on the road by the sea, across the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles— the people who sat in darkness have seen a great light, and for those who sat in the region and shadow of death light has dawned.”
From that time Jesus began to proclaim, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.”
As he walked 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. And he said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fish for people.” Immediately they left their nets and followed him….
Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and curing every disease and every sickness among the people.
I like the cycles of the church year. Liturgical seasons. The rhythm of hearing different writings of the Bible, focusing on different parts of Jesus’ life and ministry, being opening to different invitations for our spiritual formation.
I like the image and metaphor of journey as a way to think about our spiritual lives as individuals and a church, a community of faith. I remember reading a book while I was in seminary –The Journey is Home by Nelle Morton. She wrote about her journey and transformation as she questioned aspects of her faith and came to a more authentic spiritual life rooted in the Christian story where women and men shared the good news.
This year we are going to focus on ways we meet Christ on our journey, and how gospel stories of Jesus may give us some direction signs along the way. In the book we are reading together, Campell and Fohr remind us how journey and pilgrimages are central to the history of the church and Jesus’s ministry.
As we explore this book during Lent, we may have new ways of thinking about discipleship. Experiences of Christ’s presence of love and light. Times in your life you felt called by God to be open, to forgive, to heal, to take action? As we go, I hope you might think about your life – times of being on a path, changing direction, places of pilgrimage. Places in your life that shaped you. And places you have walked or hiked or explored that have become part of your spiritual geography.
Our text from Matthew opens after Jesus has been in the wilderness, and after John has been arrested. People have seen Jesus, they’ve heard him preach, in this small town, he was likely on their collective radar. Whether they had longed for something to happen to wake them up and plug them in, we are not told.
Jesus’ invitation is direct. Repent! He walks around declaring “The kingdom of God is near!” And then right to Simon Peter and Andrew, they don’t even see it coming, he shouts from the shoreline, Follow me and I will make you fish for people!
That word from John the Baptist is now in the mouth of the one John said was coming. Repent in the Greek means a changed mind, a total change of view, all of it- it affects social, spiritual, psychic, moral – a full shift of perspective that impacts all aspects of life and personhood. Wake up! Notice! Let something essential happen to you! The reign of God has begun!, And Jesus declares, in that “place of deep darkness, on whom the light has now shined.”
What is it to be in deep darkness? When it feels like nothing can reach you, and there is no clarity or perspective at all? When it’s foggy and fearful and you feel desperate for some indication that there is something beyond this moment?
When the light comes to that place, when hope shines in, or love breaks through, when someone reaches you and you know now that you are not alone, when something opens up to indicate there may be a way forward – what is that like? How might that be part of our journeys?
There are moments when there is just enough light to guide us.
Disciples called to follow Jesus – who they were
Notice Simon Peter, Andrew, James, & John were not called into the ministry, whatever that is. They were invited to follow Jesus. They didn’t know where he was going. Maybe back to his hut in Capernaum, maybe wandering around the area to preach and heal. He didn’t tell them up front, he just went – and then he invited them to come with him.
He didn’t say, “Let me get my clipboard and make assignments. Simon Peter, you take crowd control. Andrew, you go ahead of me as my publicity coordinator. James, you serve as my lead usher when the crowds show up. John, you handle the t-shirt sales in the lobby.” But Jesus never said anything like that, so far as we know.
No, the invitation to follow is an invitation into a relationship, to stay with him, to follow him on the road, to listen to what he teaches, to watch what he does, to come close enough to see that God is ruling over heaven and earth, that God is coming close enough to heal and renew. That’s what it means to follow Christ – to stay with him, to take on the habits and practices.
As Jesus invited the first four fishermen to come, they chose to leave their nets behind.
Why did Simon, Andrew, James, and John drop everything? Why did they stop what they were doing and draw closer to Christ? Because they were ready. Whatever was going on in them - or around them – was sufficient to prepare them. When Jesus came and said, “Follow me,” they went. They left their nets, they came back to their nets, and they were never the same.
For as they drew near to follow and spend time with Jesus, they saw with their hearts this holy love coming in a person. To show them that they too were God’s beloved. All people, all creation. He came to them, where they lived. Time and place.
Following the ways of Jesus, Christ presence, this mystery, is lifelong and deep. I have been reading some writings by Dietrich Bonhoeffer recently. His book The Cost of Discipleship is challenging. Writing as a pastor in Germany as Hitler and the Nazis came to power, he writes that Christian discipleships is a call to radical Christian living, urging believers to embrace the sacrificial nature of faith rather than treating it as a convenient, comfortable, or cultural label. He uses The Sermon on the Mount as a guide for daily Christian life, highlighting humility, non-violence, life in community, and a radical, loving lifestyle that stands apart from the world. He lived in a particular time and place. This shaped his journey and he invited others.
Jesus ministered in Galilee, a place on the margins. He traveled there and invited people to join him in this living, a vision of the reign, kingdom of God.
Church historian Diana Butler Bass has done research on what early Christians thought it meant to follow Jesus:
Throughout the first five centuries people understood Christianity primarily as a way of life in the present, not as a doctrinal system, esoteric belief, or promise of eternal salvation. By followers enacting Jesus’s teachings, Christianity changed and improved the lives of its adherents and served as a practical spiritual pathway. This way—and earliest Christians were called “the people of the Way”—bettered existence for countless ancient believers. . .
Christian defenders, such as Justin Martyr (ca. 100–ca. 165), used the example of Christian practice to make the case that Jesus’s way “mended lives”:
We who formerly . . . valued above all things the acquisition of wealth and possessions, now bring what we have into a common stock, and communicate to everyone in need; we who hated and destroyed one another, and on account of their different manners would not live with men of a different tribe, now, since the coming of Christ, live familiarly with them, and pray for our enemies . . . .
To Justin, the old ways had passed; a new way opened in Jesus. … Christianity was an inclusive faith that might bring diverse peoples together. However one interpreted the effects of the new faith, both enemies and defenders of Christianity understood that the new religion transformed people, giving even women, peasants, and slaves a meaningful ability to reorder their lives.
The way was based on Jesus’s teaching recorded in Mark 12:28-34. …“’You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ The second is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ …do this, and you will live” (Luke 10:28). . . .
Jesus’s followers took these words seriously. In many cases …the process of becoming a Christian took several years, an extended time of teaching spiritual inquirers the way on which they were embarking. Christianity was considered a deliberate choice with serious consequences, a process of spiritual formation and discipline that took time, a way of life that had to be learned in community. . . .
It takes time. Let’s take time between now and Easter to look at our current path and where we have been and how we are called in this time in our lives. Faith is a spiritual pathway, a life built on transformative practices of love. May we be open to traveling with open hearts as we find our way. Amen.
Resources
Diana Butler Bass, “People of the Way,” January 21, 2019 Center for Action & Contemplation blog https://cac.org/daily-meditations/people-of-the-way-2019-01-21/
Cynthia M. Campbell and Christine Coy Fohr. Meeting Jesus on the Road: A Lenten Study. Westminster John Knox Press, 2026. Introduction and Chapter 1
Rev. William Carter, “Leaving Boats, Nets and Dad,” January 26, 2020 https://billcartersermons.blogspot.com/2020/01/leaving-boats-nets-and-dad.html
Rev. Kara Root, “Something Essential is Happening,” January 26, 2014 https://kara-root.blogspot.com/2014/01/something-essential-is-happening.html