Jesus withdraws to Galilee, Israel’s hinterland, when he hears John the Baptist has been arrested. The message Jesus preaches, “Reform your lives! The kingdom of God is at hand,” is the same message John preaches (Matthew 3.2).
Jesus had journeyed south to hear John and receive his baptism. The Spirit who comes upon Jesus at his baptism leads him into the desert for forty days for a testing time in which Jesus chooses to live by God’s word and serve God alone.
Upon John’s arrest Jesus begins his ministry where John left off. Matthew makes a point of telling us that Jesus moves from Nazareth to Capernaum, a fishing village on the northern shore of the Sea of Galilee.
- Ask anyone who has visited the Holy Land to share memories of Galilee.
When the sons of the patriarch Jacob, whom God renamed Israel, moved into Canaan and claimed land, the tribes of Zebulun and Naphtali settled in the northern-most region, west and north of the Sea of Galilee. A thousand years before Jesus, David united the tribes as a kingdom. After the reign of his son Solomon, the kingdom split. Ten tribes formed the northern kingdom called Israel; two tribes formed the southern kingdom called Judah.
The land of Zebulun and Naphtali becomes the area where Jesus preaches. In 721 B.C., Assyrian armies overran this area and the entire northern kingdom, bringing death and destruction upon its people, a fate the kingdom of the south escaped. In quoting Isaiah, Matthew wants us to see Jesus as the light the prophet centuries earlier promised this defeated people.
In Jesus’ time people called this area the Galilee, which means the district. An ancient trade route ran across Galilee between the Mediterranean shore and Damascus in Syria. The road remains visible in the hillsides around Capernaum to this day.
The trade route brought many nonJews into the area, contributing to Galilee’s title as the district of the Gentiles. Jerusalem was the center of Jewish religion in the first century; Galilee lay at the rural fringe of Jewish life at a crossroads of international travel. From the beginning Jesus ministers among the marginalized in his society.
Some say the land of Israel is the fifth gospel. Galilee is a place where Jesus walked the hills from village to village. The hills remain, surrounding the lake. People fish its waters as Jesus’ first disciples once did. Capernaum today is a ruin, but the black basalt foundations of houses from Jesus’ time still stand. A synagogue from the second century rests atop the black stone foundations of the synagogue where Jesus preached.
- What places in your life story does death overshadow? Who has brought light to these places and your life?
- Among what marginalized people in our world might Jesus begin his ministry today?
As his first action in his public ministry, Jesus calls four fishermen to accompany and follow him. From the beginning Jesus gathers companions. In fact, it is for the work of gathering people into community that Jesus calls Peter, Andrew, James, and John.
The four are at their work fishing when Jesus sees them, Peter and Andrew casting out a net, James and John getting their nets in order. All four abandon their nets for a new vocation—the work of reaching out and gathering people into Jesus’ new community.
Many Christians today may wonder why the four so unhesitatingly follow a man who comes walking along the lakeshore and invites them to, “Follow me.” Matthew is telling the story of the first disciples’ call more than 50 years later. Their initial response to following Jesus expresses the full commitment they grow into. They give their lives wholeheartedly to spreading Jesus’ good news after his death and resurrection. Responding to Jesus’ friendship changes their lives. It redirects them from casting nets for fish to gathering people into the Christian community.
From Capernaum, Jesus reaches out to the people of Galilee in their local synagogues. He and his disciples go to them. Jesus teaches that God is near; he brings God near in healing the sick.
- Who has called and empowered you to minister?
- How did you respond? How did your response change your life?