Jesus Moves to Galilee, 4:12-17
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.”
If we were to use all four gospels and reconstruct their total picture of the geographical progression of Jesus’ ministry, we would see a pattern familiar from the commission given to the apostles in Acts 1:10—Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and uttermost parts of the earth. We see the data most clearly in John, where after his baptism, Jesus ministers in Judea for some time, and even authorized his disciples to baptize. Then in John ch. 4 he moved northwards to Samaria. Then in Chapters 5 and following his ministry broadened out to a universal audience. And although, as I have explained, Matthew has his own symbolic geography, and Galilee represents Jews living in the darkness of gentile paganism, there are even hints in his narrative that Jesus had an earlier ministry in Judea. There certainly were several years between Jesus’ baptism by John and John’s imprisonment by Herod Antipas, which was the occasion for Jesus going north to Galilee.
As Matthew presents it, Jesus’ ministry parallels that of John the Baptizer. In fact, Matthew uses references to the Baptizer to structure (or “punctuate”) his narrative of Jesus’ ministry.
First Matthew introduces John (Mt 3) and records what he considers the most important emphasis of his message, which includes both an announcement of the Coming One who will introduce the kingdom of God, baptizing the repentant with the Holy Spirit and the unrepentant with the fire of judgment. This introduces the preparation of Jesus for his work by the baptism and the testing in the wilderness. So long as John is at large and free to minister, Matthew is silent about any ministry of Jesus: he is still in the preparation stage. John, on the contrary, tells us a fair amount about Jesus’ early ministry in Judea (Jn 1-3).
As soon as John is imprisoned (Mt 4:12), Matthew begins his report of Jesus’ own ministry in Galilee, the land where God’s people live amid the gentiles and spiritual darkness. It is estimated that in Jesus’ days more than fifty percent of the population of Galilee was non-Jewish.
Matthew implies a contrast here with Judea and Jerusalem, which has a much smaller gentile population and enjoys greater light from the presence of Torah teaching and temple ministry. This doesn’t mean that for Matthew spiritual darkness doesn’t exist in Jerusalem: only that a “head-knowledge” of the scriptures is less in the Galilean north. Jesus goes first to where less is known, but hypocrisy and stubborn resistance to the truth is less widespread.
Then, when word comes that John has been martyred (Mt 14:1-12; 16:21), Matthew reports Jesus’ message as turning more and more to preparation of his disciples for his own death.
So it is clear that for Matthew, John is a forerunner in more than simply announcing Jesus as the messiah before the beginning of Jesus’ activity. He was also a forerunner in the sense that his ministry, rejection and murder anticipated the experiences of our Lord at each stage.
4:12 When Jesus, who was at the time in Judea, heard of John’s arrest, he withdrew from Judea into Galilee. Scholars disagree as to whether the clause, “when Jesus heard …” is merely an incidental temporal note or provides the reason for Jesus move from Judea to Galilee. Since Herod Antipas, who was responsible for John’s arrest, had no authority in Judea, which was under the Roman prefect Pontius Pilate at this time, but only in Galilee, John must have been arrested there. This means that Jesus was not fleeing Antipas now, but moving into his jurisdiction, as if he were determined to take John’s place. Why does he do so?
In two previous occasions in Matthew's gospel Jesus’ location was changed: from Bethlehem to Egypt to escape Herod (2:13-15), and from Egypt to Nazareth (2:19-23). In both cases Matthew mentions the move and then announces it as a fulfillment of OT scripture. And so in verse 15 Matthew cites a scripture (Isa 9:1-2) which this act of our lord filled full of new and ultimate meaning. It describes Jesus as a “great light” that will shine on the region of Galilee, described in terms that fit this situation: in the regions of Zebulun and Naphtali, near the road that connects the north end of the Sea of Galilee with the Mediterranean, a region where the gentile element in the population was much greater than in Judea to the south.
Matthew’s quote diverges in one significant detail from the wording of both the Hebrew and the Greek of Isaiah 9:1-2. Instead of the people “walking” in a land of spiritual darkness, as Isaiah has it, Matthew’s quote describes them as “sitting” there. The Greek word can also have the meaning “dwelling”, but is more literally and accurately translated as “sitting.” The implication is that instead of being a witness to God’s revelation where they live among the pagans (“walking” is a favorite metaphor for behavior: see Psalm 1, where the sequence of verbs in v. 1 is walking, standing, and sitting—encompassing every physical posture but lying down), these Galilean Jews were merely co-existing, and perhaps assimilating pagan ways. The Galileans to whom Jesus went were Jews, but imbibing some of the darkness which surrounded them.
Isaiah’s prophecy indicated that the “great light” from God to his people sitting among gentile darkness would “dawn”—i.e., shine for the first time— in Galilee, not in Judea. Although Jesus had an earlier ministry in Judea, which Matthew chose not to describe, it was in Galilee that his light truly burst forth in a blinding manner. Here for the first time he healed, cast out demons, and performed other spectacular miracles that identified him as the Messiah, the Son of God. This spectacular display of God-given "light" was intended primarily for the Jews of that region. But, of course, some gentiles would see that light as well, as we shall see in later chapters. And at the end of Matthew's gospel, in Jesus' commission to his apostles the nations of the world are the targets of their mission.
4:13-16 Once in Galilee again, Jesus changed his base of operations from his parents’ home in Nazareth to Capernaum by the Sea of Galilee. Why did Jesus move to Capernaum? Luke tells us that the people of his home town of Nazareth rejected his message. that might explain why he would leave there, but why Capernaum? Probably because it was in the area from which he would draw his closest associates (Peter, Andrew, James and John) and where he saw the need as well as the opportunities to be the greatest. Matthew’s scripture (Isa 9:1-2) describes Galilee’s darkness as “the shadow of death,” which certainly suggests a dire need. In Jesus’ days the Jews of Galilee were considered by the Pharisees of Jerusalem and Judea less observant of the law of Moses than the Jews of their region. But evidence suggests that what differences that existed were only due to different interpretations of what the law said, not to deliberate leniency. Still, Matthew’s text describes the region as in spiritual darkness, and the stories of Jesus’ ministry there bear out that fact. Wherever Jesus went, he encountered signs of the Devil’s influence: demon possession, and unbelief.
It is significant that he didn't move to the largest city of Galilee, Tiberias on the western side of the Lake of Galilee, where Herod and the ruling classes lived, but to a fishing village on the north end of that lake. He sought proximity and access to the populous centers, but not identification with the ruling powers.
4:17 Matthew uses the phrase “from that time on” as a major marker of decisive turning points in Jesus’ ministry. Here the “that time” may refer to the incarceration of John, which coincided with the move to Galilee and from Nazareth to Capernaum, to begin a new phase of the public ministry.
In verse 17 Jesus’ message is described here in terms that mirror exactly what John preached: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has drawn near.” His use of John’s wording signals to those who had heard John that he (Jesus) is the “Greater One” that John referred to, who would inaugurate the kingdom.
But as we will see in coming weeks, Jesus fills out the meaning of the term “kingdom of heaven/God” in ways that John’s simple message could not. John announced the arrival of the Messiah who would separate the wheat from the chaff and judge the wicked. In a real sense Jesus did do that, but in a way that John himself could not discern. For that reason, he later sent from prison to ask Jesus if perhaps he wasn’t the one John had predicted. The separation of wheat from chaff was described by Jesus in several of his parables as manifesting itself in the different ways in which the word that he preached was received. Remember the parable of the sower and his seed, or the wheat and the weeds/tares. The true wheat would become known by how his audiences reacted to him: whether they would become disciples or not. As for the judgment, that would be delayed until his return to earth in glory. In coming weeks we will explore just how Matthew and the other gospel writers explain Jesus’ own concept of the “kingdom of God/heaven.”
Jesus calls his first disciples, 4:18-22
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.
Historically, it was necessary for Jesus to train a core group of disciples to form the nucleus of the post-resurrection messianic community, what we would call the “Church.” But literarily, the situation again allows Matthew to hint at similarities between Jesus and David. For after David’s anointing (= Jesus’ baptism) and his victory over Goliath (= Jesus’ victory over the Tempter), David served as a commander of men in the army of Saul. And once Saul began to hunt him down, some of these men became part of the small group of his companions fleeing Saul and simultaneously defending Israelite communities against Philistine attacks. In a way, David trained loyal disciples while fleeing from Saul. During the period when, although persecuted and falsely accused of treason by Saul, David was “going about doing good” he was also teaching his core group. This can be seen in those episodes where his men urged him to kill Saul, and David explained why he could not.
All four men were in the fishing business, which was a family business. Both Mark and Matthew stress the complete leap of faith taken by the four young men, since Jesus appears to be a total stranger to them, and all that he promises them if they follow him is that he will make them “fishers of men.” And yet, they “immediately” leave their boats and fishing equipment and follow Jesus.
Luke lets us know that in fact there was more to the encounter, but we must again remind ourselves that, if Mark and Matthew had wanted to include the rest of the story, they could have, but chose not to. So the force of their presentation was that those who will be Jesus’ disciples and fish for men with his help must be willing to do so without being given all the details at the outset.
This is the picture of faith that Matthew draws also in the story of the Roman centurion, who doesn’t need to have Jesus come all the way to his house or explain how he will heal his servant. “Just give the command,” he tells Jesus (Mt 8:8-13). Another incident also explains Jesus’ view of the requirements of accepting a call to discipleship:
The phrase “first let me go and bury my father” does not mean that the man’s father has just died. It was a set phrase meaning,” let me wait until my father dies and I have discharged all my duties to him.” This could have taken years. The fact that in Matthew 4 James and John left their father Zebedee in the boat (4:22) shows that they did not let family obligations block the prior calling of Jesus to discipleship. It is of course possible that, although Matthew deliberately omits to tell us, Zebedee told his sons to accept Jesus’ call. From a story that Matthew tells later (Mt 20:20-28) we know that their mother had high hopes for them, once Jesus’ kingdom was established. Perhaps Zebedee himself already shared these ambitions for his two sons.
Jesus ministers to the crowds, 4:23-25
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.
Matthew 4:23 is a summary verse, including in a single verse Jesus’ activities over the three year period after his baptism by John.
He taught in their synagogues, in the sense that he was asked to comment on the weekly readings from the Torah and the prophetic commentaries (haftarôt) on the Torah. As he did in Nazareth, he probably used these occasions to explain how scripture anticipated his coming.
Proclaiming the good news of the kingdom was slightly different from his teaching. The teaching consisted of a good deal of what is in the Sermon on the Mount and the parables of chapter 13, whereas the good news of the kingdom was demonstrated by his actions more than by mere verbalization.
Healing all kinds of diseases and maladies among the people is self-explanatory. The healings were not something divorced from the kingdom message. They were an essential part of an acted out message. Illnesses were part of the consequences of the fall of man. When his disciples once asked him about a man born blind whether this disability was due to a sin of the man or of his parents, Jesus replied that it was in order for God’s works to be shown in the restoration of his sight (John 9:2-3). That was true in that one case. And certainly the specific disability of this one man was not due to some special sinfulness of his family. But that all disease and death itself is a consequence of mankind’s rebellion against God is a clear teaching of scripture. For Jesus to eliminate diseases and disabilities case by case, expel demon after demon, and even raise the dead on more than one occasion, was a sign that the “kingdom of God has overtaken you,” as Jesus told his Pharisee critics (Matt 12:27-28). When the Baptizer later had doubts about Jesus, the Lord sent word to him, saying, “Jesus answered them, ‘Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have good news brought to them. And blessed is anyone who takes no offense at me’” (Matthew 11:4-6 NRSV).
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.”
If we were to use all four gospels and reconstruct their total picture of the geographical progression of Jesus’ ministry, we would see a pattern familiar from the commission given to the apostles in Acts 1:10—Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and uttermost parts of the earth. We see the data most clearly in John, where after his baptism, Jesus ministers in Judea for some time, and even authorized his disciples to baptize. Then in John ch. 4 he moved northwards to Samaria. Then in Chapters 5 and following his ministry broadened out to a universal audience. And although, as I have explained, Matthew has his own symbolic geography, and Galilee represents Jews living in the darkness of gentile paganism, there are even hints in his narrative that Jesus had an earlier ministry in Judea. There certainly were several years between Jesus’ baptism by John and John’s imprisonment by Herod Antipas, which was the occasion for Jesus going north to Galilee.
As Matthew presents it, Jesus’ ministry parallels that of John the Baptizer. In fact, Matthew uses references to the Baptizer to structure (or “punctuate”) his narrative of Jesus’ ministry.
First Matthew introduces John (Mt 3) and records what he considers the most important emphasis of his message, which includes both an announcement of the Coming One who will introduce the kingdom of God, baptizing the repentant with the Holy Spirit and the unrepentant with the fire of judgment. This introduces the preparation of Jesus for his work by the baptism and the testing in the wilderness. So long as John is at large and free to minister, Matthew is silent about any ministry of Jesus: he is still in the preparation stage. John, on the contrary, tells us a fair amount about Jesus’ early ministry in Judea (Jn 1-3).
As soon as John is imprisoned (Mt 4:12), Matthew begins his report of Jesus’ own ministry in Galilee, the land where God’s people live amid the gentiles and spiritual darkness. It is estimated that in Jesus’ days more than fifty percent of the population of Galilee was non-Jewish.
Matthew implies a contrast here with Judea and Jerusalem, which has a much smaller gentile population and enjoys greater light from the presence of Torah teaching and temple ministry. This doesn’t mean that for Matthew spiritual darkness doesn’t exist in Jerusalem: only that a “head-knowledge” of the scriptures is less in the Galilean north. Jesus goes first to where less is known, but hypocrisy and stubborn resistance to the truth is less widespread.
Then, when word comes that John has been martyred (Mt 14:1-12; 16:21), Matthew reports Jesus’ message as turning more and more to preparation of his disciples for his own death.
So it is clear that for Matthew, John is a forerunner in more than simply announcing Jesus as the messiah before the beginning of Jesus’ activity. He was also a forerunner in the sense that his ministry, rejection and murder anticipated the experiences of our Lord at each stage.
4:12 When Jesus, who was at the time in Judea, heard of John’s arrest, he withdrew from Judea into Galilee. Scholars disagree as to whether the clause, “when Jesus heard …” is merely an incidental temporal note or provides the reason for Jesus move from Judea to Galilee. Since Herod Antipas, who was responsible for John’s arrest, had no authority in Judea, which was under the Roman prefect Pontius Pilate at this time, but only in Galilee, John must have been arrested there. This means that Jesus was not fleeing Antipas now, but moving into his jurisdiction, as if he were determined to take John’s place. Why does he do so?
In two previous occasions in Matthew's gospel Jesus’ location was changed: from Bethlehem to Egypt to escape Herod (2:13-15), and from Egypt to Nazareth (2:19-23). In both cases Matthew mentions the move and then announces it as a fulfillment of OT scripture. And so in verse 15 Matthew cites a scripture (Isa 9:1-2) which this act of our lord filled full of new and ultimate meaning. It describes Jesus as a “great light” that will shine on the region of Galilee, described in terms that fit this situation: in the regions of Zebulun and Naphtali, near the road that connects the north end of the Sea of Galilee with the Mediterranean, a region where the gentile element in the population was much greater than in Judea to the south.
Matthew’s quote diverges in one significant detail from the wording of both the Hebrew and the Greek of Isaiah 9:1-2. Instead of the people “walking” in a land of spiritual darkness, as Isaiah has it, Matthew’s quote describes them as “sitting” there. The Greek word can also have the meaning “dwelling”, but is more literally and accurately translated as “sitting.” The implication is that instead of being a witness to God’s revelation where they live among the pagans (“walking” is a favorite metaphor for behavior: see Psalm 1, where the sequence of verbs in v. 1 is walking, standing, and sitting—encompassing every physical posture but lying down), these Galilean Jews were merely co-existing, and perhaps assimilating pagan ways. The Galileans to whom Jesus went were Jews, but imbibing some of the darkness which surrounded them.
Isaiah’s prophecy indicated that the “great light” from God to his people sitting among gentile darkness would “dawn”—i.e., shine for the first time— in Galilee, not in Judea. Although Jesus had an earlier ministry in Judea, which Matthew chose not to describe, it was in Galilee that his light truly burst forth in a blinding manner. Here for the first time he healed, cast out demons, and performed other spectacular miracles that identified him as the Messiah, the Son of God. This spectacular display of God-given "light" was intended primarily for the Jews of that region. But, of course, some gentiles would see that light as well, as we shall see in later chapters. And at the end of Matthew's gospel, in Jesus' commission to his apostles the nations of the world are the targets of their mission.
4:13-16 Once in Galilee again, Jesus changed his base of operations from his parents’ home in Nazareth to Capernaum by the Sea of Galilee. Why did Jesus move to Capernaum? Luke tells us that the people of his home town of Nazareth rejected his message. that might explain why he would leave there, but why Capernaum? Probably because it was in the area from which he would draw his closest associates (Peter, Andrew, James and John) and where he saw the need as well as the opportunities to be the greatest. Matthew’s scripture (Isa 9:1-2) describes Galilee’s darkness as “the shadow of death,” which certainly suggests a dire need. In Jesus’ days the Jews of Galilee were considered by the Pharisees of Jerusalem and Judea less observant of the law of Moses than the Jews of their region. But evidence suggests that what differences that existed were only due to different interpretations of what the law said, not to deliberate leniency. Still, Matthew’s text describes the region as in spiritual darkness, and the stories of Jesus’ ministry there bear out that fact. Wherever Jesus went, he encountered signs of the Devil’s influence: demon possession, and unbelief.
It is significant that he didn't move to the largest city of Galilee, Tiberias on the western side of the Lake of Galilee, where Herod and the ruling classes lived, but to a fishing village on the north end of that lake. He sought proximity and access to the populous centers, but not identification with the ruling powers.
4:17 Matthew uses the phrase “from that time on” as a major marker of decisive turning points in Jesus’ ministry. Here the “that time” may refer to the incarceration of John, which coincided with the move to Galilee and from Nazareth to Capernaum, to begin a new phase of the public ministry.
In verse 17 Jesus’ message is described here in terms that mirror exactly what John preached: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has drawn near.” His use of John’s wording signals to those who had heard John that he (Jesus) is the “Greater One” that John referred to, who would inaugurate the kingdom.
But as we will see in coming weeks, Jesus fills out the meaning of the term “kingdom of heaven/God” in ways that John’s simple message could not. John announced the arrival of the Messiah who would separate the wheat from the chaff and judge the wicked. In a real sense Jesus did do that, but in a way that John himself could not discern. For that reason, he later sent from prison to ask Jesus if perhaps he wasn’t the one John had predicted. The separation of wheat from chaff was described by Jesus in several of his parables as manifesting itself in the different ways in which the word that he preached was received. Remember the parable of the sower and his seed, or the wheat and the weeds/tares. The true wheat would become known by how his audiences reacted to him: whether they would become disciples or not. As for the judgment, that would be delayed until his return to earth in glory. In coming weeks we will explore just how Matthew and the other gospel writers explain Jesus’ own concept of the “kingdom of God/heaven.”
Jesus calls his first disciples, 4:18-22
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.
Historically, it was necessary for Jesus to train a core group of disciples to form the nucleus of the post-resurrection messianic community, what we would call the “Church.” But literarily, the situation again allows Matthew to hint at similarities between Jesus and David. For after David’s anointing (= Jesus’ baptism) and his victory over Goliath (= Jesus’ victory over the Tempter), David served as a commander of men in the army of Saul. And once Saul began to hunt him down, some of these men became part of the small group of his companions fleeing Saul and simultaneously defending Israelite communities against Philistine attacks. In a way, David trained loyal disciples while fleeing from Saul. During the period when, although persecuted and falsely accused of treason by Saul, David was “going about doing good” he was also teaching his core group. This can be seen in those episodes where his men urged him to kill Saul, and David explained why he could not.
The master-disciple relationship between Jesus and his disciples that is portrayed in Matthew is markedly different from that relationship as it is reflected, for example, in Rabbinic literature. In Rabbinic literature, a disciple was to choose his own master (Mishna 'Abot 1:6); and his first commitment was to the law [i.e., the tôrâ]. Consequently, he could transfer from one master to another to acquire more knowledge of the law. By contrast, Jesus does not wait for volunteers but selects his own disciples and confronts them with an unconditional demand. He requires absolute allegiance to himself, not merely respectful service. He does not call them to be his apprentices in the intellectual probing of Torah or to rehearse venerable religious traditions. He calls fishermen to a new kind of fishing: they are "to fish for people."
Since many of the Twelve were not fishermen by trade, it is unlikely that Jesus used this metaphor as a kind of methodological template for the mission of the Twelve. They were not expected to use methods that mirrored in some way the techniques of fishing. Rather, Jesus seems to allude to a mission prophesied in the Old Testament.
The idea that God would send agents to “fish” for his wandering and sinful people is expressed in one of Jeremiah’s prophecies:
Therefore, the days are surely coming, says the LORD, when it shall no longer be said, “As the LORD lives who brought the people of Israel up out of the land of Egypt,” 15 but “As the LORD lives who brought the people of Israel up out of the land of the north and out of all the lands where he had driven them.” For I will bring them back to their own land that I gave to their ancestors. 16 I am now sending for many fishermen, says the LORD, and they shall catch them; and afterward I will send for many hunters, and they shall hunt them from every mountain and every hill, and out of the clefts of the rocks. 17 For my eyes are on all their ways; they are not hidden from my presence, nor is their iniquity concealed from my sight. 18 And I will doubly repay their iniquity and their sin, because they have polluted my land with the carcasses of their detestable idols, and have filled my inheritance with their abominations. (Jeremiah 16:14-18 NRSV)
In this respect, the parallel with David’s men breaks down, since while David was on the run, men who were debtors and had to be on the run joined themselves to him on their own initiative. He did not go in search of the men that he particularly wanted as Jesus did. Still, the fact that David welcomed to his band the “sinners”, those not in good standing with the powers that be, is similar to the tax-collectors, prostitutes and other “sinners” whom the Pharisees rejected, but Jesus received.
Matthew 4:18-22 and 4:23-25 illustrate two ways a rabbi or a philosopher acquired disciples. And if in this section Jesus models the ways in which the Great Commission of ch. 28 is to be carried out by his followers, then we see here two ways: (1) by a direct and personal invitation (18-22) and (2) by fame (i.e., reputation) arising from good deeds performed on others (23-25). Although contemporary Greek philosophers used both methods, it was only the second method that was common among Jewish rabbis of Palestine in Jesus’ day.
Matthew’s version of the first method—personal invitation—follows Mark quite closely, so that we do not need to stress Matthew’s distinctives when examining the details of the call. Jesus called two sets of brothers: Peter and Andrew, and James and John. Three of these—Peter, James and John—will form the innermost circle of the Twelve apostles. The names of these four always begin the list of the Twelve (Mt 10:2).
All four men were in the fishing business, which was a family business. Both Mark and Matthew stress the complete leap of faith taken by the four young men, since Jesus appears to be a total stranger to them, and all that he promises them if they follow him is that he will make them “fishers of men.” And yet, they “immediately” leave their boats and fishing equipment and follow Jesus.
Luke lets us know that in fact there was more to the encounter, but we must again remind ourselves that, if Mark and Matthew had wanted to include the rest of the story, they could have, but chose not to. So the force of their presentation was that those who will be Jesus’ disciples and fish for men with his help must be willing to do so without being given all the details at the outset.
This is the picture of faith that Matthew draws also in the story of the Roman centurion, who doesn’t need to have Jesus come all the way to his house or explain how he will heal his servant. “Just give the command,” he tells Jesus (Mt 8:8-13). Another incident also explains Jesus’ view of the requirements of accepting a call to discipleship:
- Now when Jesus saw great crowds around him, he gave orders to go over to the other side. 19 A scribe then approached and said, “Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.” 20 And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.” 21 Another of his disciples said to him, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.” 22 But Jesus said to him, “Follow me, and let the dead bury their own dead.” (Matthew 8:18-22 NRSV)
The phrase “first let me go and bury my father” does not mean that the man’s father has just died. It was a set phrase meaning,” let me wait until my father dies and I have discharged all my duties to him.” This could have taken years. The fact that in Matthew 4 James and John left their father Zebedee in the boat (4:22) shows that they did not let family obligations block the prior calling of Jesus to discipleship. It is of course possible that, although Matthew deliberately omits to tell us, Zebedee told his sons to accept Jesus’ call. From a story that Matthew tells later (Mt 20:20-28) we know that their mother had high hopes for them, once Jesus’ kingdom was established. Perhaps Zebedee himself already shared these ambitions for his two sons.
Jesus ministers to the crowds, 4:23-25
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.
Matthew 4:23 is a summary verse, including in a single verse Jesus’ activities over the three year period after his baptism by John.
He taught in their synagogues, in the sense that he was asked to comment on the weekly readings from the Torah and the prophetic commentaries (haftarôt) on the Torah. As he did in Nazareth, he probably used these occasions to explain how scripture anticipated his coming.
Proclaiming the good news of the kingdom was slightly different from his teaching. The teaching consisted of a good deal of what is in the Sermon on the Mount and the parables of chapter 13, whereas the good news of the kingdom was demonstrated by his actions more than by mere verbalization.
Healing all kinds of diseases and maladies among the people is self-explanatory. The healings were not something divorced from the kingdom message. They were an essential part of an acted out message. Illnesses were part of the consequences of the fall of man. When his disciples once asked him about a man born blind whether this disability was due to a sin of the man or of his parents, Jesus replied that it was in order for God’s works to be shown in the restoration of his sight (John 9:2-3). That was true in that one case. And certainly the specific disability of this one man was not due to some special sinfulness of his family. But that all disease and death itself is a consequence of mankind’s rebellion against God is a clear teaching of scripture. For Jesus to eliminate diseases and disabilities case by case, expel demon after demon, and even raise the dead on more than one occasion, was a sign that the “kingdom of God has overtaken you,” as Jesus told his Pharisee critics (Matt 12:27-28). When the Baptizer later had doubts about Jesus, the Lord sent word to him, saying, “Jesus answered them, ‘Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have good news brought to them. And blessed is anyone who takes no offense at me’” (Matthew 11:4-6 NRSV).
The healing of the demon-possessed, the moon-struck (epileptics), and the paralyzed are highlighted in Matthew 4:24 because they were widespread, not helped by medical therapy, and associated with demonic powers. They represent the desperate human situation that can be overcome by God alone.
Why is it that we have more sympathy for victims of cancer or heart disease than we do for drug addition? We think, “these people brought their problems on themselves,” not realizing that for that very reason they are more needy.
These same crowds whose sick are healed comprise the audience from Israel that Jesus challenges in what follows ([Mt] 7:28-29). … The summary of their healing is therefore vital as the prelude to the Sermon on the Mount. Before the people can obey his radical demands, they must be healed. One can easily get the impression that this Gospel emphasizes works almost to the exclusion of grace (see 7:21; 16:27; 21:28-32), but the narrative sequence conveys a doctrine of grace that lies behind these moral demands.
No comments:
Post a Comment