December 3, 2023
It’s been said that life is not measured by time. Life is measured in moments. Because when you think about it, you rarely remember a whole year, or even a whole day. But you do remember special moments: the moment a friend was there for you in a low moment, or when you heard your kid was in an accident: but they’re ok!
Life is measured in moments. We’re starting a message series called, “Divine Moments” where we’re gonna look at moments when God calls us to more. Today we’re looking at a moment when Joseph almost did the wrong thing, but God moved him and in a divine moment, Joseph obeyed. Joseph had no idea what God would do through that one moment of obedience.
Matthew 1:18, says, “18 This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit.”. Now Mary and Joseph are VERY engaged. It was very unusual to break off the engagement back then. It wasn’t just a proposal for an Instagram moment, hashtag ring before spring, hashtag blessed, hashtag I’m married and you’re not! No, it was a legal agreement. Joseph and Mary weren’t supposed to sleep together until the wedding. But somehow Mary is pregnant, and Joseph thinks Mary is involved with another man! He loves Mary, he’s been looking forward to a life with her. But now Joseph thinks she has disgraced him, disobeyed God, and dishonored her family.
The Scripture says Joseph was a righteous man. He could have had her killed by stoning for adultery. But he was righteous, he wasn’t mean. He could have publicly shamed her, but he didn’t want to ruin her life. He thought, I will just quietly divorce her. He didn’t realize at his lowest moment; it could become a divine moment that would change his life in an extraordinary way!
Before we get to that, we’re going to go forward now 30 years, to when Jesus was 30 and starting his ministry. We’ll look at two versions of the story about how Jesus called his disciples, and we’ll learn more about how in that divine moment, they obeyed.
There are four accounts of Jesus’ life. They are called the gospels, the four books in the New Testament called Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. In Matthew when Jesus calls his disciples, he sees Peter and Andrew, casting their nets to catch fish. Jesus says, “Come follow me.” And they left their nets and followed Jesus. WHAT?! Next Jesus sees James and John, preparing their nets, in a boat with their father, Zebedee. Jesus calls them and they immediately leave the boat and their father and follow Jesus. Bye Dad, good luck fishing! That sounds incredible, amazing, but it also sounds so wrong, irresponsible!
Now when you read the other story in Luke chapter 5, you see a very different story. It starts with Jesus teaching on the lakeshore. People are crowding Jesus, trying to get close to him. Peter is nearby, cleaning his nets after fishing. The story doesn’t start with Jesus saying, “Drop your livelihood and follow me.” No, it starts with Jesus teaching, and Peter cleans his nets nearby, listening. This is how following Jesus starts, it begins with information, Jesus is teaching, and Peter is listening. Peter is finding out what Jesus is all about.
Next, since people are crowding Jesus, he gets into Peter’s boat and asks him to put the boat out a little from shore. Then Jesus sits down and teaches the crowd more. Again, Jesus isn’t saying: “Peter, drop everything and follow me!” Instead, he is asking Peter to take a small, inconvenient step. Stop what you’re doing and move this boat out on the lake. Which Peter does.
When Jesus finishes teaching the crowd, he says to Peter, “Put out into deep water, and let down the nets for a catch.” This is a bigger ask. Again, Jesus didn’t say, drop everything and follow me. Jesus is asking Peter to do something he’d done a million times. But in the wrong way; at the wrong time, from Peter’s point of view. Peter went fishing at night, because the fish rose to the top of the lake then, and fishing went better. Jesus was obviously not a fisherman! He didn’t know when you’re supposed to fish. Peter says, “Master, we’ve worked hard all night and haven’t caught anything.” It was a nice way of saying, you’re crazy! Jesus wants to see if Peter thinks he could trust Jesus. Peter says, “because you say so, I will let down the nets.” Peter doesn’t see how this could work. But he has some respect for Jesus. Peter decides to do it, to fish in a different way than he has ever done it. Peter has no idea what Jesus will do through his one moment of obedience.
When they had let their nets down to fish, Peter, James, and John caught so many fish their nets began to break. They brought another boat over to help, and they filled both boats so full of fish that they started to sink.
Peter falls to his knees and says, “Go away, I am a sinful man.” He recognizes Jesus is much more than he imagined! Jesus says, “Don’t be afraid. From now on you will fish for people.” Here Jesus finally asks Peter to follow. And he, James and John drop everything and follow!”
This story shows Jesus asking Peter to obey one next step. First, listen to me. Next, do something for me. Then, do a crazy thing I ask! And finally, follow me by surrendering your life to me! Peter wasn’t crazy: he didn’t drop everything to follow Jesus the first moment he saw him. He grew in obedience as his faith grew. He took steps and ended up on the adventure of a lifetime!
The point isn’t for you to take a huge step of obedience. It’s to take the next step for where you are in faith.
Think of Joseph. The Scripture says he is a righteous man. He has faith in God. He wants to follow God’s law and divorce Mary. But he doesn’t want to disgrace her. So, he is thinking he should just quietly divorce her. Joseph isn’t new to following God. He is trying to do what God asks. Joseph has enough faith that God can make a big ask. God speaks to him in a dream, with this big ask: “Don’t divorce Mary, marry her! Name the baby Jesus. He’s going to save people from their sins.” Marrying Mary was the opposite of what Joseph was planning to do. God makes a big ask. Joseph listens to God. He stays with Mary. He has no idea what God will do through this one step of obedience! He became Jesus’ father on earth.
My challenge for you this week is in the bulletin Talk it over: of the four stages of following Jesus: listening & learning, taking a small inconvenient step, allowing Jesus to do something unusual in one area of your life, and surrendering all aspects of your life to him, which stage best describes where you are right now? If you’re new to faith, your step might be just come back next Sunday. If you have been following a long time, your step might be to give God your whole life.
We can be thankful that Joseph obeyed when called. We don’t know much about him, except that in one moment, he obeyed God! Joseph did the opposite of what he had planned. God calls us all. You have no idea what God can do through one moment of obedience. Whether in something small, or monumental, your next step toward God changes everything for the better! Amen.
Maureen Duffy-Guy's blog 