Jesus begins his ministry in response to John the Baptist being arrested. (The Greek actually says, "offered up," the way Jesus will later be "offered up.") This violent, unjust act is somehow the catalyst for Jesus to speak. In Matthew’s gospel, we’ve been waiting for this. We’ve heard all about his family connections, his birth, the visit of the Magi, his daddy (well, sort of his daddy, Joseph) taking him to Egypt to avoid being murdered; we’ve been introduced to John the Baptist shouting, "Repent, for the kingdom of Heaven has come near!" We watched John baptize Jesus, and then we saw the dove descend on him. Then we went into the desert with him as he faced his own temptations.

It’s been a good story so far, but at this point, we’re sort of saying, "Alright, alright, already, let’s get to it."

Today, he gets to it. He walks by the sea proclaiming, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near."

Oh. Really. Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near? I don’t mean to be rude, Mr. Jesus, but we’ve been waiting to see how you were going to begin, and there has been sort of a suspenseful buildup to this, and, frankly, if you want to impress us, you’re going to have to do better than, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near." John the Baptist said, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near." Have you got anything else, something, original, perhaps?

Well, yes he does. We watch as he walks by the sea. We watch as something amazing unfolds. He sees Peter and Andrew, two brothers, two fishermen, and he says, "Follow me, and I will make you fish for people." And they drop everything, leave everything, their nets, their homes, their families, everything, and follow. Amazing. Then he sees two other brothers, James and John, and he says to them, "Follow me!" and they drop everything, leave everything, and follow. Amazing, just amazing.

Ok, that’s original, and actually, it makes me a little uncomfortable, because I can’t help but ask myself, "If I had been in my boat that day, fishing with my brother, by my father’s side, would I have left everything and followed, or would I have made up some excuse? A good excuse, probably lots of good excuses, I’m sure (I’m good at making up good excuses), but excuses. Would I have followed Jesus that day?’ And that question makes me uncomfortable. "Would I have followed that day?"

But it also makes me think about following. And I realize that the issue isn’t whether I would have followed that day, but whether I would have followed Jesus that day. You see, upon reflecting on this story, I realize that all of us follow something, or lots of things. (The things we follow are the sources of our excuses.) So the question isn’t, "Will we follow?" We follow. The question is, "Will we follow Jesus?"

When we’re standing in our boats, with our nets, making excuses, we reveal to ourselves what we really follow. Sometimes we follow money. Sometimes we follow security. Sometimes we follow a need for recognition or prestige. Sometimes we follow conformity, not wanting to do anything to call attention to ourselves, upset anyone, or rock the boat. Sometimes we follow fear. (When I’m told that we might be subject to another terrorist attack, I’m tempted to follow fear. When I think about my own death, I’m tempted to follow fear). Sometimes we follow a sense of duty, perhaps patriotism.

Take a moment and think of the things you follow in your life.

Now think of Jesus asking you to drop everything, leave everything, and follow him. If you’re like me, something will pop into your mind, maybe a number of things will pop into your mind, and you’ll want to say, "Well, Jesus, not this, not these." It might be physical, like your home, or car, or jewelry, or retirement account, or family pictures, or your family, or your health, or it might be emotional, like your desire for recognition, or security or absence of conflict. It might be a dependence on alcohol or drugs. It might be a need to be a victim, or to be important, or to judge others. Whatever it is, you’ll probably start to make an excuse, to try to reserve it. I do.

In all likelihood, God is not going to ask you to give up everything in your life in order to follow Jesus today. But it’s a funny thing; in order to follow Jesus today, you and I need to be ready to give up everything, be ready to hear "Follow me" and drop everything.

That way, as we go through life with our boats and our nets and all the things, emotional and physical, that are "ours," we know, we constantly know, that they are not really ours. They are God’s, and if they hinder our following, even a bit, we are to drop them, get rid of them, leave them, no matter how hard that might be. And if they help us follow, we are to use them for God’s glory. Period. End of story. Nothing is any longer really mine or really yours. All belongs to God.

That’s pretty hard to do, isn’t it? Drop everything that hinders us from following and use everything that doesn’t to help us follow. If you’re like me, you find yourself wanting to make excuses, you find yourself, sometimes at least, wanting to follow someone or something else.

The word "repent" means to change one’s behavior. The Greek has a directional sense: turn around. When you’re going the wrong way, repent, turn around.

When we ponder the ways we follow so many things that are not Jesus, the directions we take that are not God’s direction, maybe the way Jesus started his ministry is more impressive that we originally gave it credit for. "Repent! For the kingdom of heaven has come near." Only when we can really hear that can we really hear "Follow me." But when we are able to repent, and to follow, we really can do things that are amazing.