Matthew 4,12-23.
Today’s passage from Matthew’s gospel follows immediately after the account of Jesus’ temptations in the desert. John the Baptist has been imprisoned and Jesus leaves Judea and goes back to Galilee, not to Nazareth his hometown, but to Capernaum, by the Sea of Galilee. He is still in the territory of Herod Antipas who has just imprisoned John. The tribes of Zebulun and Naphthali lived there before the exile but at this stage it is occupied predominantly by Gentiles. Jesus will be a light to the Gentiles living in Galilee and thus fulfils the prophecy of Isaiah 8,23f., quoted in today’s gospel passage.
Jesus begins to preach there with the message to repent because the kingdom of heaven is close at hand. The content of his message is the same as John’s. To repent is to turn from their selfish, sinful ways and come back to God’s ways and values. The phrase “Kingdom of heaven” rather than kingdom of God shows Matthew’s respect for Jewish sensibilities and their care to avoid using the sacred name of God. Matthew’s gospel is directed primarily to a Jewish audience.
As Jesus walks along the Sea of Galilee he calls two sets of brothers, Simon Peter and Andrew who were fishermen and fishing at the time of their call, and James and John who were in their boat mending their nets with their father Zebedee. The call was clear and business-like, couched in language and imagery very familiar to them. Both pairs left what they were doing and followed Jesus immediately. Zebedee is left alone in his boat, no doubt, surprised and shocked at the sudden departure of his two sons.
In the summary which follows we see how busy Jesus becomes immediately afterwards; teaching, preaching, and curing people of all kinds of diseases and sickness.
He began his ministry in Galilee of the Gentiles – so called because of its long and chequered history, familiar with invasions of Gentiles: the Assyrians in the 8th cent. BC; Babylonians in the 6th Cent. BC; Persians in the 6th cent. BC; Greeks in the 4th cent BC; and their own homemade revolution – the Maccabean revolt in the 2nd. Cent. BC. Galileans were open, broad-minded, and tolerant people, and receptive to new ideas. Galilee was a good place for Jesus to start preaching fresh ideas about God and our relationship with him.
The disciples became “fishers of men.” Fishing was hard work, sometimes in difficult conditions, and often during unsociable hours, and frequently at night- time. The disciples need to be as adaptable and flexible as the fish they were trying to catch. Sometimes a bait is used to catch fish, at other times, different sorts of nets, depending on the type of fish.
Fishermen need patience and perseverance. They must not give up when the fish are not biting. They are ever hopeful that their luck will change, and it often does if they wait long enough.
God works through many different situations and m different kinds of people to spread the good news of His love for all people. We are all part of his plan, with our own unique contribution to make to the spread of His kingdom, using our own unique gifts.
Jesus went about teaching, preaching, and healing all kinds of disease among the peoples. Do we emphasize enough the healing dimension of Jesus’ ministry today?
Father Geoff O’Grady