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Matthew 4:12-25
Jesus Begins to Preach
12 When Jesus heard that John had been put in prison, he withdrew to Galilee. 13 Leaving Nazareth, he went and lived in Capernaum, which was by the lake in the area of Zebulun and Naphtali— 14 to fulfill what was said through the prophet Isaiah:
15 “Land of Zebulun and land of Naphtali,
the Way of the Sea, beyond the Jordan,
Galilee of the Gentiles—
16 the people living in darkness
have seen a great light;
on those living in the land of the shadow of death
a light has dawned.”
17 From that time on Jesus began to preach, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.”
Jesus Calls His First Disciples
18 As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. 19 “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will send you out to fish for people.” 20 At once they left their nets and followed him.
21 Going on from there, he saw two other brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John. They were in a boat with their father Zebedee, preparing their nets. Jesus called them, 22 and immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him.
Jesus Heals the Sick
23 Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people. 24 News about him spread all over Syria, and people brought to him all who were ill with various diseases, those suffering severe pain, the demon-possessed, those having seizures, and the paralyzed; and he healed them. 25 Large crowds from Galilee, the Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea and the region across the Jordan followed him.
This reading actually combines two days’ listed readings from the lectionary, but we’re looking at them together because it seems to me that they establish a number of the major themes of what will come later in Matthew’s account of the life and ministry of Jesus.
The first part tells us that after the arrest of John the Baptist, Jesus moved from the town of Nazareth, where he had been raised, to the town of Capernaum, where the New Testament scholars say he lived the rest of his adult life. This may have been to avoid conflict with Herod Antipas, who ruled over part of the region, and who had been the one to have John the Baptist imprisoned.
It’s also significant that by moving into the area where Capernaum is found, Jesus fulfilled a prophesy from the Book of Isaiah that the people in that area would “see a great light.” It’s a major theme in the Gospel of Matthew that Jesus was the fulfillment of a lot of ancient prophesies, and this is one example.
Matthew tells us that Jesus began his ministry with a message that is translated as, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” And that call by Jesus merits more attention that we usually give it. For one thing, the word that’s translated “repent” is the Greek word metanoia, and that word literally means “get a new mind.” So although we hear the word ‘repent’ and think of it as a call to stop doing sinful things, it might be more accurate to think of it as a call to change your mind. It seems to me that Jesus wanted people to adopt a whole new way of thinking about their relationship with God. As we said recently in another Reflection, this new way of thinking about God had less to do with obeying religious rules and observing rituals, and more to do with loving and serving God and other people.
And it seems that by saying “the kingdom of heaven has come near,” Jesus meant that God’s reign over this world had started to be established. Now, we hear the word ‘kingdom, and we think of a geographic area ruled over by a king. But the Greek word in the text – basilea – is better translated ‘reign’ than ‘kingdom.’ So the point is that God had now begun to establish his reign in this world. So if you put the ideas of ‘getting a new mind’ and God’s new reign together, it seems that for us to participate in bringing that reign to fulfillment, we need to understand it differently.
Then Jesus begins calling disciples to join him in his ministry. He calls two pairs of brothers – Simon and Andrew and James and John – to walk away from their livelihood as fishermen and follow him into a life of ‘fishing for people.’ Notice that the first ones called into the service of the kingdom are ordinary, working-class people – not nobility or religious scholars. Service and leadership in Jesus’ kingdom were never meant to be reserved for the “better people.” Many if not most of the most faithful and productive leaders in the history of the church have been people from modest backgrounds.
And by the way, I can’t help thinking that it’s significant that Jesus chose fishermen as his first disciples. The kind of fishing Simon Peter and the others were used to was hard work, and sometimes required great persistence – just like the work of drawing people into lives of discipleship.
It seems to me that we’re a little ambivalent about the fishermen immediately leaving behind their boats and nets to follow Jesus. Walking away from their worldly responsibilities strikes us as bordering on irresponsibility. But it’s consistent with a hard truth that Jesus warns us about: that faithful discipleship can mean turning our backs on every worldly priority for the sake of serving God’s reign.
In the last part of our reading for today, Matthew tells us that as he travels along announcing the good news about the reign of God, Jesus was performing healings and casting out demons. You might remember that we’ve said in the past that our understanding is that the miracles Jesus performed are meant to serve as ‘previews’ of the reign of God when it’s brought to fulfillment. Under that reign, the sick will be healed, the blind will see, the paralyzed will leap and dance, the hungry will be fed, even those whose joy is running out will find that joy renewed. And this series of previews begins in this passage.
Finally, we read that people from all over the region come looking for Jesus, bringing friends and loved ones who are in need of healing. Looking back over a two thousand year period during which the Jesus movement has grown to two billion people, we can see in those crowds limping toward Jesus the birth of the worldwide movement of which each of us is a part.
As we continue to read and think about the Gospel of Matthew, several of the themes from this early reading will show up again and again – so it’s important to take note of them at the beginning.
Let’s pray. Lord, we thank you for coming in the form of Jesus to announce that you have begun to establish your reign “on earth, as it is in heaven.” By your Spirit, move us and empower us to play a part in the great project of bringing that reign to fulfillment. Amen.
Grace and Peace,
Henry
(The other readings listed for today are Psalms 1 and 2; I Kings 21:17-29; and I Corinthians 1:20-31. Our readings come from the NIV Bible, as posted on Biblica.com, the website of the International Bible Society.)
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