Matthew’s next narrative concerning the life and ministry of
Jesus picks up some time after His ordeal in the wilderness with the
devil. We know from other gospel writers
about some other places Jesus went before this time, but Matthew chooses to
elaborate on Jesus' primary headquarters for ministry in Capernaum by the Sea of
Galilee. Matthew connects Jesus' change
of locale from Judea to Galilee with the arrest of John the Baptist who had also
ministered in Judea. He says Jesus
“withdrew” (ESV) or “departed.” Jesus’
response to John’s arrest is to leave the area.
He would continue to visit Jerusalem for the annual feasts and so also passed
through parts of Judea and Samaria on the way.
We know He also spent some time initially in Decapolis where John the
Baptist had also ministered. But now He
went back to Nazareth—perhaps to pay His family a brief visit—and then moved to
the resort town of Capernaum by the Sea of Galilee.
This new location for Jesus the Messiah seems to be rather
unexpected. Jerusalem in Judea was the
center of religious life. Galilee was way
out on the fringe. This territory had
been colonized by both Jews and Gentiles.
Jesus’ hometown of Nazareth was in the shadow of the great pagan Roman
city of Sephoris. The huge Roman beach resort
of Tiberius was also on the Sea of Galilee and as a result it later became
known as the Sea of Tiberius. But Matthew
points out that Galilee was located at the ancient boundary between Zebulon and
Naphtali. This was another “fulfillment”
or linkage to the prophet Isaiah. So, he
quotes from Isaiah 9 which describes the Messiah bringing spiritual
enlightenment to a sin-darkened place in “Zebulon and Naphtali” and the
“Galilee of the Gentiles.”
So, Jesus is not running from danger, though it is dangerous in
Judea and “it is not His time.” He is
fulfilling the will of His Father prophesied in the Word of God. This is the specific area that he is to
minister and shine “a great light.” So,
it is here that Matthew points us to the place where He began to preach saying,
“Repent, for the kingdom of heaven” is within reach. This is the same message
that John the Baptist had preached. And,
yes, Isaiah and Jeremiah were commissioned to preach repentance as well (Isa.
6) but were told that they would be largely ignored.
But now, Jesus’ preaching, like that of John the Baptist,
drew large crowds, as we shall see. Jesus
frequently went where people were responding—the fringe. Many Judeans felt that being children of
Abraham was enough. They had no need to
repent or change. The leaders who lived
there would become both fearful and hateful toward Him because he did not accept them in their self-righteousness. Jesus
did not come to call ‘good’ people but ‘sinners.’ It was the ‘sick’ who needed a physician, not
those who said they were ok.
While many in Galilee responded to this message many more did not. In the process and because of His location in an
area with many Gentiles, a number of Gentiles and Samaritans also responded to
His message of getting right with God.
As He told the woman at the well in Samaria (this happened during one of
his earlier trips between Jerusalem and Galilee), ‘God is seeking
worshippers.’ And He offered her ‘living
water’ – eternal life.
Notice that Jesus did not locate in His old hometown in
Galilee – Nazareth. Elsewhere we learn
that it was hard for people who had known Him growing up and knew His family to
believe that He was actually the Messiah.
This also proves Jesus had not been doing “magic” tricks as a
child. There had been His miraculous
birth (in Bethlehem) and the amazing visit of the Magi (also in Bethlehem) and
His unexpected facility with the Scriptures demonstrated at His Bar Mitzvah
exam in Jerusalem, but in Nazareth He was known as the son of the building
contractor—that’s what the word often translated “carpenter” means. So, to Capernaum (the well of Nahum), He went.
It is here, while walking along the shore, that He called
the first four disciples who were all fishermen by trade: the brothers Peter
and Andrew and the brothers James and John.
They all “left their nets” and their families and followed Him. Jesus words to them were: “Follow me, and I
will make you fishers of men.” In John’s
gospel we learn that He had actually encountered some of these men earlier
across Jordan where John was baptizing.
Later, Jesus specifically added eight more to their number but these
four were called ‘fishers of men.’ It
would be a mistake to assume that only the Twelve were to minister because later
He specifically sent out a group called the Seventy. Even though He did not have a huge
organization of vocationally dedicated workers he still expected everyone who
claimed to follow Him to live according to His teachings.
Jesus’ ministry in Galilee exploded
with activity according to the last few verses in Matthew 4. He was healing, teaching and preaching the
good news of the Kingdom— all signs of the Messiah—and He became well-known all
over the province of Syria (which Galilee was a part of) and He had crowds of
followers from all over the Jewish homelands—even Judea and Jerusalem. The Messiah had come—with a message—"Repent. The kingdom of heaven is within reach."
© Eric Thimell 2018
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