Description
Imagining the Lectionary: Making God Real (Epiphany 3A)
Reflection accompanying image Making God Real – a new kind of fisherman
"Immediately they left their nets and followed him...Immediately they left the boat and their father, and followed him..." (Matt.4:20,22)
Jesus made God real. Why else would a bunch of blokes be willing to follow him? That reality is critical today because making God real presents the same difficult challenge it always has. The first thing Jesus did was to catch the imagination of the fishermen and hook their attention with the prospect of an immense haul. He confronted them with a task and a goal that was truly man-sized in the outrageous nature of its scope and intent: nothing less than changing the world and themselves, starting right now, right here. And starting with the presence and power of God which so manifestly filled Jesus and his single-minded focus on the Kingdom of Heaven. What else could possibly have persuaded men like these to drop everything and get stuck in to discipleship "immediately"? In the poor, ground-down communities of Galilee such a message and such a transforming presence had the power to energise and direct all who longed for the justice and liberation of an alternative social and economic reality, one in which people like them were valued and set free.
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