Jesus Begins To Preach - Matthew 4:12-17
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.”
Reflection: In Matthew's gospel the next event after Jesus' baptism, is the beginning of His preaching ministry. You can read in John 1-4 of some events that happened in between chronologically, but we see Matthew's purpose was to show that Jesus came first to the Jewish people. But we also see that Jesus also came for the nations. Matthew will sum up the mission Jesus came for and for which He has sent us in the Great Commission (Matthew 28:19-20)
A couple of things to note about his passage. For one, notice Jesus starts his first preaching ministry not in Nazareth, but in Capernaum, which was a sea town on the Sea of Tiberias. He started in Nazareth, but we remember the verse, "He came to his own, and his own received him not." So as we will see Jesus offers the Gospel, as we will define in a minute, but does not dally if the people reject it. He goes on to Capernaum to the land of Zebulun and Naphthali, two of the more obscure Jewish tribes. These were some of the first lands taken in the Assyrian invasion (732 B.C.) and since then had lived in great darkness. Now the light of Christ had come to those living in the valley of death shadows. (psalm 23)
Second, we see the content of Jesus' preaching, which was the exact same as John the Baptist, "Repent for the kingdom of God is at hand." We have talked on many occasions about the importance of these words. And obviously if this was the message for John and Jesus to the people living in great darkness, it is a message for all time. But what does it mean?
Let's keep it simple. Repent comes from the "metanoia", which means to have a change of mind, which leads to a change of behavior. All behavioral change starts with a new mindset. Paul tells us in Philippians 2 to have the same mindset of Christ. And why should they repent? Because the kingdom of heaven has come near. Jesus' presence, the light has opened up the way for God's kingdom or God's reign to come.
So the sum of the Gospel message is realize that Jesus has come to inaugurate God's kingdom, and as we turn from the things we know are wrong and turn to him as the light, He will lead us into God's kingdom, and then teach us how to live according to it. That is living in God's reign not our own. We will have more to say about this later.
So the question is where is God calling you to repent, trust in Jesus, and turn from the things you know are wrong, so you can more fully participate in God's kingdom coming on earth as it is in heaven.
Jesus, help us to turn from things that don't represent Your reign in our life so we can be about things that being light into our dark world. Amen.
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.”
Reflection: In Matthew's gospel the next event after Jesus' baptism, is the beginning of His preaching ministry. You can read in John 1-4 of some events that happened in between chronologically, but we see Matthew's purpose was to show that Jesus came first to the Jewish people. But we also see that Jesus also came for the nations. Matthew will sum up the mission Jesus came for and for which He has sent us in the Great Commission (Matthew 28:19-20)
A couple of things to note about his passage. For one, notice Jesus starts his first preaching ministry not in Nazareth, but in Capernaum, which was a sea town on the Sea of Tiberias. He started in Nazareth, but we remember the verse, "He came to his own, and his own received him not." So as we will see Jesus offers the Gospel, as we will define in a minute, but does not dally if the people reject it. He goes on to Capernaum to the land of Zebulun and Naphthali, two of the more obscure Jewish tribes. These were some of the first lands taken in the Assyrian invasion (732 B.C.) and since then had lived in great darkness. Now the light of Christ had come to those living in the valley of death shadows. (psalm 23)
Second, we see the content of Jesus' preaching, which was the exact same as John the Baptist, "Repent for the kingdom of God is at hand." We have talked on many occasions about the importance of these words. And obviously if this was the message for John and Jesus to the people living in great darkness, it is a message for all time. But what does it mean?
Let's keep it simple. Repent comes from the "metanoia", which means to have a change of mind, which leads to a change of behavior. All behavioral change starts with a new mindset. Paul tells us in Philippians 2 to have the same mindset of Christ. And why should they repent? Because the kingdom of heaven has come near. Jesus' presence, the light has opened up the way for God's kingdom or God's reign to come.
So the sum of the Gospel message is realize that Jesus has come to inaugurate God's kingdom, and as we turn from the things we know are wrong and turn to him as the light, He will lead us into God's kingdom, and then teach us how to live according to it. That is living in God's reign not our own. We will have more to say about this later.
So the question is where is God calling you to repent, trust in Jesus, and turn from the things you know are wrong, so you can more fully participate in God's kingdom coming on earth as it is in heaven.
Jesus, help us to turn from things that don't represent Your reign in our life so we can be about things that being light into our dark world. Amen.
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