SPEAKER_00: There is something deeply intentional about where Jesus begins.
SPEAKER_00: Not Jerusalem, not in the temple, not in the centers of power, of learning, or religious prestige.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus begins in Galilee, in Capernaum, on the edges, in a place with a memory of loss, a land once conquered, humiliated, deported, a people who knew what it meant to be overlooked, broken, and forgotten.
SPEAKER_00: Isaiah names it without effewism.
SPEAKER_00: A people who walked in darkness, a land overshadowed by death.
SPEAKER_00: And it is there, precisely there, that Jesus begins to preach.
SPEAKER_00: This matters more than we think.
SPEAKER_00: Because Jesus does not wait for things to be cleaned up before he arrives.
SPEAKER_00: He does not wait for the light before he shows up.
SPEAKER_00: He does not wait for strength, clarity, or readiness.
SPEAKER_00: He enters darkness on purpose.
SPEAKER_00: And not just the darkness of history, but the darkness of the human heart.
SPEAKER_00: Every one of us knows something about Galilee.
SPEAKER_00: The places in our lives we avoid, the seasons we survive but never healed from, the sins we are convinced that define us, the doubts we keep quiet, the grief that still shapes how we love and live.
SPEAKER_00: The parts of ourselves we assume God keeps his distance from.
SPEAKER_00: And yet the gospel says something different.
SPEAKER_00: This is exactly where Jesus begins.
SPEAKER_00: The people who sat in darkness have seen a great light.
SPEAKER_00: Not because a darkness disappeared, but because light walked into it.
SPEAKER_00: This is the first proclamation of Jesus' ministry.
SPEAKER_00: He says, repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
SPEAKER_00: The word repent is so often misunderstood.
SPEAKER_00: It does not mean be ashamed.
SPEAKER_00: It does not mean, hey, get your act together.
SPEAKER_00: It means something far more hopeful, far more demanding.
SPEAKER_00: It means change your direction.
SPEAKER_00: Because God is closer than you think.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus does not shout from a distance.
SPEAKER_00: He speaks while walking beside the apostles, beside the people.
SPEAKER_00: And then something even more astonishing happens.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus keeps walking and he calls.
SPEAKER_00: He sees Simon and Andrew, James and John, working men, ordinary men, men with routines, responsibilities, unfinished business.
SPEAKER_00: And he does not offer them a strategy, he does not offer them an off-ramp.
SPEAKER_00: Come follow after me.
SPEAKER_00: Forget about all those things you need to take care of.
SPEAKER_00: He doesn't explain it.
SPEAKER_00: He doesn't explain the cost.
SPEAKER_00: He doesn't give them any guarantees.
SPEAKER_00: He gives them himself.
SPEAKER_00: Come after me.
SPEAKER_00: That's it.
SPEAKER_00: Follow me.
SPEAKER_00: No resume required, no spiritual resume requested, no clarification offered.
SPEAKER_00: Just an invitation into a relationship.
SPEAKER_00: And here's the detail we often miss.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus does not call them away from who they are, he calls them through who they are.
SPEAKER_00: Fishermen become fishers of men.
SPEAKER_00: Their daily work becomes the language of their vocation.
SPEAKER_00: Grace does not erase nature, it elevates it.
SPEAKER_00: And they leave.
SPEAKER_00: Not because they fully understand, not because they feel prepared, but because something in his voice, something in his presence, his gaze tells them, This is the one.
SPEAKER_00: This is the one worth trusting.
SPEAKER_00: That's discipleship.
SPEAKER_00: Not certainty, but surrender.
SPEAKER_00: Not clarity, but courage.
SPEAKER_00: Not having all the answers, but choosing a direction.
SPEAKER_00: And here's the uncomfortable question this gospel puts before us.
SPEAKER_00: Have we reduced Jesus to someone who we admire?
SPEAKER_00: Or are we still willing to follow him?
SPEAKER_00: Because it is possible to be close to Jesus without moving.
SPEAKER_00: It's possible to listen with admiration and love without leaving.
SPEAKER_00: It's possible to remain fascinated without really truly being transformed.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus does not ask for admiration, he asks for allegiance.
SPEAKER_00: And he still calls you today.
SPEAKER_00: Not only the young, not only the undecided, not only those figuring things out, he calls even those who are secure.
SPEAKER_00: The settled, the faithful, the longtime believers.
SPEAKER_00: He says to you, come after me more deeply.
SPEAKER_00: Into forgiveness that you've been avoiding, into that trust where you prefer to be always in control, into that healing where you've learned to cope instead of giving it over to God's mercy.
SPEAKER_00: Into mission where comfort feels safer.
SPEAKER_00: And just as he did in Galilee, Jesus begins not in our strengths, but in our shadows, in our weaknesses.
SPEAKER_00: Because light does not, light does its greatest work where darkness once ruled.
SPEAKER_00: If you're listening closely today, you may realize something unsettling and beautiful.
SPEAKER_00: Christ is not merely being proclaimed, he is passing by.
SPEAKER_00: The nets of routine that numb us, the nets of our fear that tell us it's too late to change, the nets of success and admiration and resent and distraction that promise security but quietly drain all of our joy.
SPEAKER_00: Because those fishermen on the shore did not leave evil things behind.
SPEAKER_00: They left good things behind.
SPEAKER_00: They left what made sense.
SPEAKER_00: They left security, those things that they were able to pay their bills with.
SPEAKER_00: They left what they could manage on their own.
SPEAKER_00: And that is where the gospel becomes dangerous.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus does not ask for part of your life.
SPEAKER_00: He asks for the very center of your life.
SPEAKER_00: He does not come to improve your plans, he comes to replace them with something far greater.
SPEAKER_00: And he does not follow you, and he does not follow you where you are comfortable.
SPEAKER_00: He invites you into a life you could never imagine, but could never save yourself.
SPEAKER_00: So, my brothers and sisters, this is the moment of truth.
SPEAKER_00: To follow him means letting go.
SPEAKER_00: It means trusting that the one who calls you by name loves you enough not to leave you as you are.
SPEAKER_00: It means believing, perhaps for the very first time, that your life is meant to be more than just survival, more than just success, more than just settling.
SPEAKER_00: The question is whether we will keep standing on the shore, clutching the nets that cannot save us, or whether today, today, very our very self will finally drop them and stop and step forward and follow him into the only life that truly satisfies the life he alone can give us.
SPEAKER_00: The people who dwelt in darkness have seen a great light, and that light has a name, and he's walking towards you today.
SPEAKER_00: Will you follow?
SPEAKER_00: Amen.