From the Daily Lectionary for Friday and Saturday in the Third Week of Easter
Matthew 4:12-25
Now when Jesus heard that John had been arrested, he withdrew to Galilee. He left Nazareth and made his home in Capernaum by the lake, in the territory of Zebulun and Naphtali, so that what had been spoken through the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled:
‘Land of Zebulun, land of Naphtali,
on the road by the sea, across the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles—
the people who sat in darkness
have seen a great light,
and for those who sat in the region and shadow of death
light has dawned.’
From that time Jesus began to proclaim, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.’ As he walked by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the lake—for they were fishermen. And he said to them, ‘Follow me, and I will make you fish for people.’ Immediately they left their nets and followed him. As he went from there, he saw two other brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John, in the boat with their father Zebedee, mending their nets, and he called them. Immediately they left the boat and their father, and followed him. Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and curing every disease and every sickness among the people. So his fame spread throughout all Syria, and they brought to him all the sick, those who were afflicted with various diseases and pains, demoniacs, epileptics, and paralytics, and he cured them. And great crowds followed him from Galilee, the Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea, and from beyond the Jordan.
Jesus has been baptized, initiated into the cause of God, which is, as we have seen, for the ‘fulfillment of justice’ in the world. This is classical Judaism. You’ll remember that the Covenant with Abraham was to love and worship the one God, and God would make Abraham’s progeny a great nation, so that they would be ‘a light to the nations.’ Clearly, according to Hebrew scripture, that light is the light of justice. It is justice that makes a sustainable society; just as it is injustice that destroys it. The Law of Moses, Torah, is the means by which God’s people live together justly. Matthew is again relying on typology. He evokes a passage from First Isaiah in which the prophet is encouraging the deportees in Babylon to keep the faith; that the fortunes of Israel will be restored in God’s time; that the disparate nation will be reunited, again, so that they may be a light to the world; that God’s kingdom, a kingdom of justice, will be made manifest… the very consummation of God’s project of Creation. According to Matthew, Jesus is the anointed one to bring about such a restoration.
But here’s the thing: The first act of Jesus after his baptism is to get help. He wastes no time in calling his disciples. Ministry is at its heart a collaborative process. It takes place in community. It can’t be done alone, even if you are The Messiah, the Son of God. In the institutional church, we have so ‘idolized’ the figure of Jesus that we have, I think, abdicated our responsibilities as disciples, collaborators in a public, and populist movement. In the name of Jesus, it is for us to heal the sick; it is for us to restore the outcast; it is for us to welcome the stranger; it is for us to take care of our poor, the widow, the orphan… and it is for us to call out injustice, to “speak truth to power.” Our faith is not private; it is radically public.
Repentance is the watchword here: ‘turning one’s mind toward reasonableness.’ That is the root definition. Repentance is not so much about feeling sorry for one’s hardness of heart, one’s sins; as it is about turning from illusion and indifference towards an orientation to the truth. Gratitude, humility, honesty, compassion, and courage are marks of repentance. Those are choices, and it takes a community to empower us to make such choices. I’m sure that was true for the itinerant preacher from Nazareth named Jesus. May we choose, dear pilgrims, the ‘good road.’ There are so very many who sit in darkness, waiting for the light.
Prayer for the Parish (BCP p. 817)
Almighty and everliving God, ruler of all things in heaven and earth, hear our prayers for this parish family. Strengthen the faithful, arouse the careless, and restore the penitent. Grant us all things necessary for our common life, and bring us all to be of one heart and mind within your holy Church; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
