| English |
中文翻譯 |
| [The First Disciples] |
[第一批門徒] |
| Those first disciples had no idea what they were getting into. |
那些第一批門徒並不知道他們會面臨到什麼。 |
| In Matthew’s account, the story begins with Jesus hearing that John the Baptist, his relative, has been arrested by Herod, the Roman governor of Judea. |
在馬太的敘述中，故事始於耶穌獲知施洗約翰被羅馬猶太總督希律逮捕之時。 |
| John the Baptist was the one who had preached the coming of the Kingdom of God first, and encouraged people to repent and be baptized in order to be ready. |
施洗約翰是首位宣講神之國度的人，並鼓勵人們悔改及受洗，以做好準備。 |
| He had appeared out of the wilderness near Jerusalem, wearing clothing of camel hair and subsisting on a diet of locusts and wild honey. |
他出到耶路撒冷附近的曠野，穿著駱駝毛，並以食用靠蝗蟲和野蜜為生。 |
| No doubt he looked pretty unusual. |
毫無疑問的，他看起來很不尋常。 |
| Most Presbyterian Churches would have looked askance at him. |
大多數長老會都會以懷疑地態度看待他。 |
| But apparently his message was compelling enough that people were coming out in droves to hear him and to be baptized for the forgiveness of their sins. |
但顯然的，他講道的信息總令人信服，以至於人們成群結隊地參與，並以受洗以求罪孽得到赦免。 |
| They were coming from Jerusalem and from all around Judea to the edge of the wilderness to hear him. |
這些聽眾是從是從耶路撒冷，以及猶大各地的曠野邊緣而來的。 |
| Even some Pharisees and Sadducees came out to listen and possibly be baptized! |
甚至有些法利賽人和撒都該人也會來傾聽，並可能接受洗禮！ |
| Then Jesus came down to Judea all the way from Galilee, 90 miles or so away, and asked John to baptize him as well. |
然後，耶穌從約90英里外的加利利一路來到猶太，並請約翰也為他施洗。 |
| As we saw last week, two of John’s disciples left his flock to join Jesus. |
正如我們上週所見，約翰的兩個門徒轉而加入了耶穌。 |
| When John was arrested, Jesus left Judea and went all the back to Capernaum on the Sea of Galilee, about 85 miles. |
當約翰被捕後，耶穌離開猶太地，退到加利利海邊的迦百農，走了約85英里。 |
| Matthew tells us that Jesus beginning his own ministry in Galilee conforms with the location proclaimed by Isaiah for the light of God. |
馬太告訴我們，耶穌正在加利利開始自己的事工，此係符合以賽亞為上帝的光所宣告的位置。 |
| I think we can also see this as escaping a possible current danger for Jesus that he might be arrested as well. |
我認為我們也可把這視為耶穌迴避於當時可能被捕的危險。 |
| It was in Capernaum that Jesus began to preach that everyone should “Repent, for the Kingdom of heaven has come near.” (Matthew 4: 17) |
在迦百農，耶穌開始了他的傳道，並認為每個人都應該“悔改，因為天國快實現了！”（馬太福音4：17） |
| [What Does It Mean to Repent?] |
[悔改意味著什麼？] |
| Sometimes we get a kind of narrow view of repentance. |
有時，我們對悔改有一種狹隘的見解。 |
| Repentance is not so much about stopping committing individual sins as it is about re-orienting our whole lives in a different direction in response to God. |
悔改並不僅僅是停止個人的罪過，它更在於重新導正我們的人生方向以回應上帝。 |
| When we do that, we must be prepared for the unexpected! |
當我們這樣做時，我們必須為意外做好準備！ |
| In Capernaum, Jesus began to build his close circle of disciples. |
在迦百農，耶穌開始建立與祂親近的門徒。 |
| The first call of disciples in Matthew is slightly different than the account in John. |
馬太福音中第一次對門徒的呼召與約翰福音中的敘述係略有不同。 |
| John talked about 2 disciples of John leaving him to follow Jesus, with one of them, Andrew, first going to get his brother Simon (who turned out to be renamed Peter by Jesus.) |
約翰福音中談到了施洗約翰的兩個門徒離開他，去跟隨耶穌；其中一個是安得烈（Andrew），他首先去叫了他的兄弟西門來（後來被耶穌改名為彼得）。 |
| In Matthew’s gospel, Jesus called Simon Peter and Andrew directly from the shore of the Sea of Galilee, when they were fishing. |
在馬太福音中，耶穌是直接在加利利海的岸邊呼召，正在捕魚的西門彼得和安得烈。 |
| Jesus simply said, “Follow me, and I will make you fish for people.” (Matthew 4: 19) We read then that they left their nets immediately to follow Jesus. |
耶穌只是說：“來跟從我！我要使你們成為得人的漁夫。”（馬太福音4：19）然後我們讀到，他們立即放下了漁網跟隨耶穌。 |
| A little farther along the shore, Jesus saw two other brothers, James and John, the sons of Zebedee, mending their nets. |
沿著海岸走遠些，耶穌看見了西庇太的兩個兒子：雅各和約翰在正修補漁網。 |
| Jesus called to them and they too immediately left their nets, their boat, and their father, |
耶穌呼召他們，他們也立即放下漁網，離開船、與他們的父親。 |
| [A Call to A New Life] |
[迎接新生活的呼召] |
| These four men were just going about their business in the usual way when they got the call from Jesus. |
當耶穌呼召這四個人的時候，他們正忙於日常的工作。 |
| Fishing was hard work in those days. |
在那些日子裡，捕魚是艱苦的工作。 |
| The type of net they used, from the Greek word used, was a circular, bell-shaped net which was thrown out in a way that made it spread out, then allowed to sink, trapping all the fish below it. |
他們所使用的網（根據希臘文的用詞）是一種環狀的鐘形網，該網被撒開後會下沉，並將下方的魚網住。 |
| Then they dragged it a little, then hopefully hauled it full of large, heavy, wriggling fish, out of the water and back onto their boat. |
他們將它拖行一會兒，然後希望它捕滿又大、又重、又有活力的魚，再從海裡拉回到船上。 |
| Then they had to deal with the live fish to keep them contained till they could get them to market. |
然後，他們必須安置好這些活魚，直到送至市場。 |
| It was a pretty good business, but hard. |
這是一筆不錯的生意，但是很辛苦。 |
| The sea of Galilee was a fresh water lake about 12 ½ miles long and about 7 miles across, but it was full of fish! |
加利利海是一個活水湖，長約12½英里，寬約7英里，但裡面滿是魚！ |
| How many independent businessmen would just drop everything to follow an itinerant preacher, no matter how charismatic! |
有多少獨立生意人會放棄一切去跟隨一個到處巡迴的傳教士！無論他有多有魅力， |
| All 4 seemed to have someone to leave in charge, but that in itself could create problems with the relatives or co-owners you were leaving behind. |
這四個人似乎總該有一個人要留下來負責，但這麼做很可能會與被拋下的親戚或共同所有人產生不少問題。 |
| And of course, Jesus wasn’t offering them paid employment! |
而且，當然，耶穌並不是提供他們有給薪的工作。 |
| So how did they survive while they were on the road with Jesus? |
那麼他們在與耶穌同行的路上如何生活？ |
| How did Jesus for that matter? |
耶穌如何處理這件事？ |
| Jesus had probably been working as a carpenter. |
耶穌可能一直在做木匠。 |
| He might have had some money when he first moved to Capernaum. |
當他第一次搬到迦百農時，他可能已經有了一些錢。 |
| The fishermen might have had a little saved up. |
漁民們可能也已積蓄了一點錢。 |
| Craftsmen and fishermen probably did better than many people in those days. |
在那個年代，工匠和漁民的生活可能比許多人都要好。 |
| But days on the road would quickly use up any capital they started out with. |
但是，旅途開始後的幾天很可能會極快地耗盡他們原有的資金。 |
| They don’t seem to have taken time to count the cost, though. |
不過，他們似乎沒有花時間來計算成本。 |
| The call of Jesus put them at risk. |
耶穌的呼召使他們處於風險之中。 |
| Not just the financial risk, and possible risk for their families or their businesses. |
不僅是財務風險，還可能影響到他們的家庭或事業。 |
| John the Baptist has now been arrested in our current scripture. |
回到我們的經文，我們知道，施洗約翰現已被逮捕。 |
| This vagabond of a desert preacher seems to have somehow threatened the powers that be, the Romans. |
這位在沙漠流浪的傳教士似乎在某種程度上威脅著羅馬人。 |
| The way Matthew describes these calls to the first disciples, not one of them hesitated for a moment. |
馬太描述這些第一批被呼召的門徒，沒有一個人有一點猶豫。 |
| It’s a little bit different in the gospel of John. |
這點，與約翰福音的描述則有點不同。 |
| John the Baptist introduces them to Jesus and his significance. |
施洗約翰有將他們介紹給耶穌，並說明祂的重要性。 |
| The first two check out where Jesus is living. |
這兩位先是查看耶穌住在哪裡。 |
| They have a chance to think it over. |
他們有機會考慮一下。 |
| Thank goodness we have a God who may want us to give an immediate answer at times, but can also wait and let a sense of calling grow in us over time. |
感謝主！我們的上帝，祂或許期待我們即時的答覆，卻也願意等待，讓祂的呼召在我們裡面，隨著時間而更加明確。 |
| Even when we have a lot of time to prepare, though, we never know what the future holds for us as disciples of Jesus. |
但是，即使我們有很多時間準備，我們永遠不會知道，作為耶穌的門徒的未來會怎樣。 |
| We have to expect the unexpected when we follow Jesus. |
當我們跟隨耶穌時，我們必須準備好面對意料之外的事情。 |
| [The Urgency of the Mission of Jesus] |
[耶穌的使命的急迫性] |
| We don’t know what the disciples thought, but we know how the gospel writer Matthew saw the mission of Jesus. |
我們不知道門徒們的想法，但是我們知道馬太如何看待耶穌的使命。 |
| It was a matter of great urgency. |
這是非常緊迫的一件事。 |
| Jesus came to bring light to those who live in darkness. |
耶穌來是為生活在黑暗中的人們帶來光明。 |
| Part of that darkness was and still is political oppression. |
部分的黑暗，在過去，甚至是現在，還是來自於政治的迫害。 |
| Isaiah talked about darkness caused by the Assyrian domination of the Hebrew people of the past. |
以賽亞談到說，這種黑暗期是由於過往亞述人統治希伯來人所造成的。 |
| In Jesus’ time it was the Romans. |
在耶穌時代裡，則是羅馬人。 |
| There are many people in our time too who live in the darkness of political oppression and hopelessness. |
在我們這個時代，也有許多人生活在政治迫害和絕望的黑暗中。 |
| Some live in the darkness of debilitating illness. |
有些人生活在受疾病折磨的黑暗中。 |
| Still others live in spiritual anguish, in crippling doubt or in a dark night of the soul. |
還有一些人面臨著精神上的痛苦，處在使人癱瘓的疑惑中，或是陷在靈魂的暗黑低潮裡。 |
| Jesus came to bring light into all those kinds of darkness. |
耶穌來將光帶入所有這些黑暗中。 |
| His message was that “the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” It is like a treasure in a field or like the pearl of great price. |
他的信息是“天國近了”。它就像田野裡的寶藏，或者像是價值不菲的珍珠。 |
| It is hard for the rich to enter, but not impossible. |
富人很難進入，但並非不可能。 |
| It is like a landowner paying people who labored for one hour as much as those who labored all day. |
這就好比是一個地主，對工作一小時的人和工作全日的人同等薪資的情況一樣。 |
| It is like a banquet, where people will gather from east and west and south and north. |
就像在宴會裡一般，人們將從東西南北前來聚集。 |
| The kingdom of heaven belongs especially to children. |
天國特別屬於兒童。 |
| It is also like a tiny seed that takes root and grows into a giant bush that provides shelter for many small creatures. |
它也像一個小小的種子，它將紮根，並長成一個巨大的灌木叢，為許多小生物提供庇護。 |
| That all sounds pretty wonderful. |
這一切聽起來都很美妙。 |
| On the other hand, we know that many of the first disciples met a violent end, often at the hands of the Romans, like Jesus himself. |
另一方面，我們知道，第一批門徒中，有許多人都遭遇殘酷的結局。如同耶穌本人一樣落在羅馬人的手中。 |
| But the spilling of that sacred blood seemed to fertilize the ancient world such that Christianity spread rapidly all over the civilized world. |
但是那灑下的神聖寶血似乎滋養了早期的社會，使得基督教的信仰，快速地散播在文明的世界。 |
| Many of those first disciples dropped everything to follow Jesus. |
最初的第一批門徒都放棄了一切跟隨耶穌。 |
| How many of us would do that today? |
今天我們當中有多少人會這樣做？ |
| I answered a new call to leave my counseling ministry to go into Interim Ministry within congregations, but it took me about 5 years of planning before I actually did it. |
我回應呼召，從心理諮商的事工，轉向到服務會眾的臨時牧師；這讓我花了五年的時間作計畫，直到真正實現。 |
| There are those who do answer the call and drop everything, even now, however. |
但是，有些人確實放下一切，回應呼召，即使是現在。 |
| I think you might have several from this church who answered an urgent call of Christ and dropped everything to answer it. |
我想我們教會裡有不少人，在接到了基督的緊急呼召後，就捨棄了一切來回應。 |
| I would say that those who have answered the call to serve as officers of this church would qualify too. |
我必須說，那些回應呼召，而在教會裡服事的長執，也是一樣。 |
| Being an officer in this church is a demanding role. |
在這個教會裡擔任長執，是很需要專注力的工作。 |
| I hope it is usually rewarding as well, but it is certainly demanding, both in terms of time and in terms of focus and energy taken away from other, more personal concerns. |
我希望這樣的服事也常常帶來益處。只是這確實是很需要專注力，不管是在時間上、注意力、與精力，都佔用了他們在個人的事務上的需要。 |
| [Who Does God Choose?] |
[上帝會揀選誰？] |
| There have been many people who have answered the call throughout history, often in surprising ways. |
在歷史上，有很多人以令人驚訝的方式接受了呼召。 |
| God often seems to pick the least likely people. |
上帝似乎常常選擇最不可能的人。 |
| Paul the Apostle is a good example of that. |
使徒保羅就是一個很好的例子。 |
| We first meet him in the book of Acts as Saul, who is standing by holding the coats for people who are stoning the young Christian Stephen to death. |
我們首先在使徒行傳中以掃羅的身分認識了他，他為那些，拿石頭打死年輕的基督徒司提反，的人拿外套。 |
| Then Jesus Christ calls him pretty dramatically on the road to Damascus, and Paul becomes one of our most famous missionaries as well as powerful writer and theologian. |
然後，耶穌基督在通往大馬士革的路上戲劇性地呼召他，之後保羅遂成為我們最著名的傳教士之一，並同時作為有影響力的作家和神學家。 |
| Francis of Assisi came from a wealthy family but renounced it all to live a life of poverty and service to others. |
聖法蘭西斯（Francis of Assisi）來自一個富裕的家庭，但他放棄了一切，過著貧窮的生活，並為他人服務。 |
| Dorothea Dix spearheaded the movement for the establishment of hospitals for the mentally ill, in the 19th century, taking them out of the prisons where they were being held at the time. |
在19世紀，多蘿西婭·迪克斯（Dorothea Dix）率先發起了為精神病患者建立醫院的運動，並將他們從當時被關押的監獄中帶出。 |
| There have been some pastors and priests in recent years who felt called out of formal service as pastors to serve in a lay capacity. |
近年來，有一些牧師和神父因感到呼召退出了正式服事的行列，以榮譽職服事。 |
| Jesus told us that the kingdom of heaven is at hand. |
耶穌告訴我們天國近了。 |
| It is NOW. |
就是現在。 |
| We enter it here and now by responding to the call of Jesus in this very moment, with an opportunity to respond immediately, just as the disciples did. |
我們此時此刻進到裡面，就在我們一有機會立即回應神的呼召，好比從前的使徒一樣。 |
| And in every moment thereafter, for the rest of our lives. |
也在此後我們餘生的每一刻。 |
| There is a great joke that I love: If you really want to make God laugh, tell him YOUR plans! |
我很喜歡一個有趣的笑話：如果您真的想讓上帝發笑，請告訴他你的計畫！ |
| God chooses YOU! |
上帝選擇你！ |
| Thanks be to God. |
感謝上帝。 |
