Made by Christ Jesus / Matthew 4:12-29 / Pr. Ted A. Giese / Sunday January 25th 2026/ Season of Epiphany / Mount Olive Lutheran Church

Mount Olive Lutheran Church / Pr. Ted A. Giese / Sunday January 25th 2026: Season of Epiphany / Matthew 4:12-29 “Made by Christ Jesus”

Now when [Jesus] heard that John had been arrested, He withdrew into Galilee. And leaving Nazareth He went and lived in Capernaum by the sea, in the territory of Zebulun and Naphtali, so that what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled:

 “The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali,

  the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles—

 the people dwelling in darkness

  have seen a great light,

 and for those dwelling in the region and shadow of death,

  on them a light has dawned.”

From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

While walking by the Sea of Galilee, [Jesus] saw two brothers, Simon (who is called Peter) and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. And [Jesus] said to them, “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.” Immediately they left their nets and followed Him. And going on from there He saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets, and He called them. Immediately they left the boat and their father and followed Him.

And [Jesus] went throughout all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction among the people. So His fame spread throughout all Syria, and they brought Him all the sick, those afflicted with various diseases and pains, those oppressed by demons, those having seizures, and paralytics, and he healed them. And great crowds followed Him from Galilee and the Decapolis, and from Jerusalem and Judea, and from beyond the Jordan.

Let us pray: May the words of my mouth and the meditations of all our hearts be acceptable in Your sight O Lord. Amen.

Grace peace and mercy to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Good Christian Friends in our Gospel reading from Saint Matthew we hear how [Jesus] said to Simon (who is called Peter) and Andrew his brother, “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men,” and how they’d left their nets to follow Jesus, along with the other pair of brothers James and John. Now the Gospels provide a lot of information about the life of Saint Peter and these men, more that can be put into a single sermon, so today we’ll focus on one particular aspect of Saint Peter’s calling to Public Ministry: how it started, and what that added up to once it was in full swing.   

We’ll begin with something from around 3 or so years after Simon Peter left his boat with Andrew to follow Jesus when things were in full swing. This incident happened after the resurrection of our Lord following His Good Friday crucifixion, and after Jesus’ ascension into heaven 40 days later (When Jesus commanded His faithful disciples to go forth to preach to, and teach and baptize all nations “in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,”[1] this was also after the day of Pentecost which came but 10 days later, where Peter and the disciples saw the outpouring of the promised Holy Spirit upon them and the baptism of 3,000 souls into Christ:[2] Not long after all of those events Saint Peter was with Saint John, the Son of Zebedee, in the Temple in Jerusalem when they encountered a man lame from birth who would daily lay down at the gate that was called “the Beautiful Gate,” to beg for charity from those who passed into the Temple through the gate. As he lay next to the gate the Book of the Acts of the Apostles tells us that “seeing Peter and John about to go into the Temple, he asked to receive alms. And Peter directed his gaze at [the lame man], as did John, and said, “Look at us.” And [the lame man] fixed his attention on them, expecting to receive something from them. But Peter said, “I have no silver and gold, but what I do have I give to you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk!” And [Peter] took [the lame man] by the right hand and raised him up, and immediately his feet and ankles were made strong. And leaping up, [the man no longer lame] stood and began to walk, and entered the Temple with them, walking and leaping and praising God. And all the people saw him walking and praising God.”[3]

But not all the people were pleased by this. You’d think they’d be happy, but they were not. You see, “as [Saint Peter and Saint John] were speaking to the people [in the Temple], the priests and the captain of the Temple and the Sadducees came upon them, greatly annoyed because they were teaching the people and proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection from the dead. And they arrested them and put them in custody until the next day.”[4] And on the next day Peter and John, these two fishermen who had been called away from their boats, away from their nets, some three years earlier by the now risen and ascended Lord Jesus were about to stand trial before men who had studied the Scriptures their whole lives. These were learned, shrewd men, thinkers, the very men who had either plotted to have Jesus crucified, or had largely agreed to the course of action.

That night locked in their jail cell as they waited for the coming day, did Saint Peter and Saint John recall and think on the words Jesus had said to them and their fellow disciples? When Jesus had said, “Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves. Beware of men, for they will deliver you over to courts and flog you in their synagogues, and you will be dragged before governors and kings for My sake, to bear witness before them and the Gentiles. When they deliver you over, do not be anxious how you are to speak or what you are to say, for what you are to say will be given to you in that hour. For it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.”[5]

As sheep before wolves Saint Peter and Saint John stood and this question was put to them, “By what power or by what name did you do this?” [Essentially they were asking, ‘how did you get this lame man to walk? how did you manage to get this man to walk — who we’ve all walked by, and said hello to, who we’ve all at times given hand outs and charity to as he begged for all these years —? Without one shadow of a doubt we know and believe this man to be truly lame from birth, how did you change this?’ Add to this, ‘how did you do this when we could not?’] Then Saint Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, “Rulers of the people and elders, if we are being examined today concerning a good deed done to a crippled man, [if we are being scrutinized about the] means [by which] this man has been healed, let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel that by the Name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead—by Him this man is standing before you well. This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone. And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other Name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”

Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated, common men, [the Book of the Acts of the Apostles tells us that these men who had put them on trial] were astonished. And they recognized that they had been with Jesus.”[6]

Uneducated, common men ... Oh the horrors! But is this a true assessment? Yes Peter and John hadn’t had the exact same sort of education, in terms of the style of learning that their accusers had received. And yes next to the well heeled men of the Sanhedrin, the Jewish council in Jerusalem, who’d spent their days in the Temple, Saint Peter and Saint John would have looked very common. Men like Annas and Caiaphas who were high priests had likely never mended fishing nets for a living, they were not small business owners, they likely wouldn’t have had fishing boats to tend to, nor would they have experienced long hours of physical back breaking work day in and day out just to make ends meet. Yet looking at Peter and John they saw uncommon confidence and surprising boldness. What Annas and Caiaphas, what the Sanhedrin, saw where not simply fishermen from Galilee, what they saw were Fishers of Men.

For three years Jesus had fashioned them, formed them, moulded them like a potter with clay in His hands, producing the very thing He’d promised when He’d said to Peter and Andrew, “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.” Note that the promise isn’t ‘Follow Me, and I will teach you how to be fishers of men.’ No what Jesus says, is “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.” ... 

Why did Peter Immediately leave the nets, leave the boat and follow Jesus? Saint John the son of Zebedee gives some insight into this. At the very end of last week’s Gospel from Saint John we’d heard how Saint Andrew, Peter’s brother, who was one of John the Baptiser’s disciples, was with John the Baptiser when the Baptiser pointed at Jesus and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God!” Andrew then followed after Jesus spent the day with Him and then first things first Andrew went and “found his own brother Simon and said to him, “We have found the Messiah” (which means Christ). He brought [Simon] to Jesus.” Saint John continues, “Jesus looked at him and said, “You are Simon the son of John. You shall be called Cephas” (which means Peter).”

So when Peter and Andrew looked out and saw this man on the beach, when they heard His voice calling out to them, “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.” Peter and Andrew knew that this was the Christ, the Messiah, so they followed Jesus. Now at that time it was common for men who wanted to be the disciples, the student of a Rabbi, the followers of a teacher, to pick their teacher for themselves, Jesus turns this all on its head. Jesus is the one who chooses His Twelve Disciples, and in the same way it is Jesus who chooses you, by the time you say “I will follow this Jesus,” the Holy Spirit has already been at work in your heart, He’s already been calling and gathering you to Jesus before you put down your nets and step out of your boat. 

There’s another detail that will help you see how this was at work, how the Holy Spirit was at work calling, gathering and enlightening Peter and his brother Andrew. Why was Andrew down at the Jordan River near Jericho in the first place when Andrew was a fisherman from Galilee? And why would his brother Simon (who we now know as Peter) have been so close at hand? Saint Matthew’s Gospel tells us that people were coming from a great distance to hear John the Baptiser preach and to be baptised by him. Matthew records that, “Jerusalem and all Judea and all the region about the Jordan were going out to [John the Baptiser], and they were baptised by him in the River Jordan, confessing their sins.”[7] So Saint Peter and Saint Andrew also would have come to hear this John preach, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”[8] They would have come to confess their sins and be baptised. This is why Peter would have been close by, this is why Andrew was there with John the Baptiser to hear him say of Jesus, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the World”[9]  Repentance, a turning to God away from your sinful self and your sinful condition, is a gift from God: A gift that Peter and Andrew had received by the working of the Holy Spirit.

The moment they dropped the nets and came to shore to follow Jesus who’d called to them was but one more moment when the Holy Spirit was at work, where Christ was at work. Clay pots don’t make themselves. Isaiah says, “O LORD, You are our Father; we are the clay, and You are our potter; we are all the work of Your Hand.”[10] Jesus says, “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.” <more details about making ceramics> 

And so we must consider, when we are left to our own devices, what do we make of ourselves? What does Christ Jesus make of us when we are in His hands? You are not here today by accident, you are not here today by your own willing, your ears are not opened today to hear these words by your own accord. It is the Holy Spirit who has brought you here today, it is Christ who speaks to you today by His word, you are in the hand of your heavenly Father and God is making of you what He desires. Jesus in the Gospel of John says, “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.”[11] When Peter and Andrew, when James and John left their nets, when they left their boats they’d heard Jesus’ voice and they followed Him. They’d later come to know that they’d already been in Jesus’ hand before they’d even dropped their nets to be made by Him into fishers of men.

Dear ones, hear these words from the Book of Hebrews and take them to heart, “Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the Great Shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, equip you with everything good that you may do His will, working in us that which is pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.”[12]

... and what happened to Saint Peter and Saint John and the man they’d healed in the Temple? The man remained healed; the book of Acts tells us, that the Sanhedrin “called [Peter and John back in before the court after they had conferred, they] charged them not to speak or teach at all in the Name of Jesus. But Peter and John answered them, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge, for we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard.” And when they had further threatened them, they let them go, finding no way to punish [Peter and John], because of the people, for all were praising God for what had happened.”[13] Now there’s a bit more to the account, so I encourage you to take some time to read the rest of the account from the Acts of the Apostles starting up again in Act 5 verse 21. Amen.

Lord have mercy on us, Christ have mercy on us, Lord have mercy on us, “take our minds and think through them, take our lips and speak through them, take our hearts and set them on fire; for the sake of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, Amen.

[1] Matthew 28:19
[2] Acts 2:41
[3] Acts 3:2-9
[4] Acts 4:1-3
[5] Matthew 10:16-20
[6] Acts 4:7-13
[7] Matthew 3:5-6
[8] Matthew 3:2
[9] John 1:29
[10] Isaiah 64:8
[11] John 10:27-30
[12] Hebrews 13:20-21
[13] Acts 4:18-21

Photo Credits: Main Poto man in boat casting net at sunset from pexels.