come and follow

stepping into the light of Jesus

summary

There is a darkness inherent in the human condition, which the light of Jesus dispels and into which brings a joy worthy of change.

introduction

There have been many events and developments in recent history which have caused an increase in uncertainty: the terrorist attacks of 11 September 2003; the Indian ocean earthquake and tsunami on Boxing Day 2004 which decimated the Indonesian island of Aceh; the effects of global warming on weather patterns; the prevalence of cancer; the introduction of new species into vulnerable habitats, new dangerous viruses causing pandemics; the possible adverse health effects of genetically-modified foods; the persistence of con men and fraudulent financial advisors; etc.

Such modern uncertainty is not at all uncommon to the human condition. In fact, there have been times throughout human history, recorded even in the Bible, when God’s people felt similarly uncertain.

For instance, due to some rather poor political decisions and spiritual apathy, the tribal lands of Zebulun and Naphtali were the first Israelite territories to be annexed by the Assyrian emperor Tiglath-Pileser III in 732 bc, with 27 000 of its inhabitants exiled, a full ten years before the capture of the rest of the northern kingdom of Israel. However, the prophet Isaiah had declared that the first territories to feel God’s wrath of exile would also be the first to receive news of the promised Messiah (Isaiah 9:1–7). So, despite the obvious uncertainty that would have resulted from this invasion and subsequent exile, God spoke through his prophets and promised the people their ultimate deliverance.

The epiphany of our Lord, according to Matthew, then marked the fulfilment of that promise. So let us take another look at some of the events that followed Jesus’ baptism and epiphany so as to better understand the imagery of a light shining in dark places which is applied to Jesus and for which even modern humanity waits expectantly.

exegesis

¹² Now when Jesus heard that John had been arrested, he withdrew to Galilee. ¹³He left Nazareth and made his home in Capernaum by the sea, in the territory of Zebulun and Naphtali, ¹⁴so that what had been spoken through the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled:

¹⁵“Land of Zebulun, land of Naphtali,
on the road by the sea, across the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles —
¹⁶the 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.”

¹⁷From that time Jesus began to proclaim, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.”

¹⁸As 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 sea — for they were fishermen. ¹⁹And he said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fish for people.” ²⁰Immediately they left their nets and followed him. ²¹As 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. ²²Immediately they left the boat and their father, and followed him.

²³Jesus 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. (Matthew 4:12-23)

a series of events, with some missing?

During the liturgical season of Epiphany, Christians read from the Bible and reflect on the stories associated with Jesus’ baptism, his identification as the promised Messiah of God, and through to the inauguration of his ministry.

It is interesting to note which events are and which are not covered by each of the gospel writers, as a way of better appreciating their particular spiritual focus.

For instance, as we noted last week, Matthew highlighted the divine intervention at Jesus’ baptism, as a symbolic affirmation of Jesus’ identity as the prophesied Messiah. Yet, John leaves out those details in favour of highlighting the human response to Jesus. John also chose not to highlight Jesus’ identity as the Messiah as much as Jesus’ identity as the scapegoat (i.e. “the Lamb of God”), whose death would redeem the faithful. This is not to suggest that John did not consider Jesus to be the Messiah, but simply that at this point John’s intended focus was slightly different from Matthew’s, probably because he was familiar with Matthew’s account — having written his later — and chose to contribute to the story further, rather than simply to rehash the same details.

In reference to today’s reading from Matthew, it is worth noting that Matthew does not make any reference to Jesus’ first disciples (John 1:35-51), his first miracle (2:1-11), his first cleansing of the Temple (2:13-22), the interview with Nicodemus (2:23-3:21), nor to the Baptist’s declaration of loyalty to Jesus (3:22-36). While Matthew does indicate that Jesus left Judea because of the Baptist’s arrest (Mt 4:12), he then skips over Jesus’ conversation with the Samaritan woman at the well (Jn 4:5-42) in order to go straight to demonstrating that Jesus fulfilled very important prophecies regarding the Messiah. Matthew is clearly concerned with prophecy and “tracing the fulfilment of old hopes”, thus he explains the geography of Jesus’ travels at this point more so than the other gospel writers.

As I’ve stated before, these differences are simply a reflection of the different writers and become then an opportunity for discovering more about Jesus than can be contained in just one book (Jn 21:25).

the story thus far?

What is described by Matthew in the passage that I’ve chosen to focus on today?

In verse 12 we read that Jesus heard of the arrest of the Baptist by Herod and thus returned to Galilee. As an extension of Jesus’ spiritual life, he travelled to Jerusalem, capital of the province of Judea, when he was around 30 years of age.

While there, Jesus was baptised in the Jordan River by John the Baptist (Mt 3:13-17). After some weeks, the Baptist was arrested by Herod Antipas, a lesser governor over that region (Luke 3:19-20). This was a most unfortunate turn of events which eventuated in his beheading (Mt 14:6-12). Herod was intrigued by the Baptist’s message, but did not like being condemned for marrying his half-brother’s wife under questionable circumstances.

Hearing of this situation — as I’m sure everyone did— Jesus takes the Baptist’s arrest as an indication that it was a good time to leave and to begin his ministry elsewhere. This does not, of course, suggest that Jesus had anything to fear from Herod — except, perhaps, for the fact that this ruler seemed quite unstable — but, he was led by the Spirit to leave, so he hid (Lk 4:14).

You may remember that Jesus grew up in the town of Nazareth (Lk 2:39; cf. :51-52 ), yet when he returned to the region of Galilee, he chose not the comfort of his hometown of Nazareth, but settled instead in Capernaum. This choice was made easy by the poor reception from the people of his hometown when he preached a great sermon in their synagogue (Lk 4:16-31).

Matthew, alone among the gospel writers, points out that Jesus’ choice of region from which to base his mission satisfies a prophecy of Isaiah: “The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who lived in a land of deep darkness — on them light has shined” (Is 9:2; Mt 4:16). That prophecy is not just fulfilled by his choice of geography, but also by his message: in Galilee, Jesus preached, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near” (:17). Both the person and his message are identified by Matthew as being “light”.

Why am I running through this story? Not just to explain the various events, but to also give you a sense of the timing, which clears up some misconceptions that may arise from the accounts.

From Jesus’ baptism through to his return to Galilee represents possibly as much as a year of his life, a year in which his ministry remained relatively obscure. In that year, Jesus made his first disciples — namely, Andrew, Simon Peter, Philip, and Nathaniel (Jn 1:35-51) — but, when they returned together to Galilee, it seems that some returned to their occupation of fishing (:18). It is from this context that Jesus encourages them to step with him into the next level of his ministry.

Jesus invites these first disciples, in the midst of their normal vocational activities, to become “fishers of men” (:19, NIV). They had followed Jesus from Judea to Galilee — because he was the fulfilment of all their dreams, the realisation of their faith — but now he was inviting them to participate in his ministry. There is a big difference between listening to a teacher and being taught by the teacher to become a teacher!

Now, at this point in the story, both Jesus and his disciples are stepping into a new phase of his ministry as the Messiah: his fame as a teacher and healer now spread beyond Capernaum, beyond Galilee, beyond Judea, and even into the surrounding territories of the Roman empire.

exposition

reject the light?

Jesus’ fame spread because, with him, the Kingdom of God had drawn near. Heaven was now touching Earth and life, for those in the vicinity of Jesus, was no longer the same.

Jesus, the promised Messiah, was now present among them. While present, he taught the people about God, things that they did not really understand or appreciate from the scriptures (Mt 5:17), despite their history of teaching from the scriptures. In Jesus, the supernatural aspect of reality was now unleashed in its fullest sense: the sick were cured, the lame restored, the possessed freed, and those “who hunger and thirst for righteousness” were illuminated and filled (Mt 5:6; cf. 2 Corinthians 4:6). The light of Jesus shone brightly into their darkness!

The problem is, for many then as now, that they do not appreciate the light shining in their darkness (Jn 3:19). While they may be uncomfortable with the uncertainty of life, they prefer ‘the devil you know’. They do not realise that the coming of the Kingdom is not an event of judgment (Jn 3:16-20), but of joy!

Despite the potential negative and eternal consequences, they do not want to be challenged by an alternative explanation of reality, whether it is the correct one or not. They do not want to be challenged because they know that to accept that God is real, and that Jesus is his perfect revelation, will require them to apologise to God for what they have done wrong in life and to adopt a new lifestyle of humility and love and possibly even self-sacrifice.

Nevertheless, those of us who have seen and enjoy the light that has shone in our darkness, must follow the path marked out by that light and must proclaim the warmth of its presence. How else will those “sitting in darkness” see the light of Jesus unless we point them towards it and tell them about how wonderful is the light of Jesus? (Romans 10:14-17)

To those first disciples, Jesus’ “come and see” became “come, follow me”. He invited them to share life with him, and while he taught them many things, they also witnessed many things. Now, equipped with a fuller view of the world as it is, the disciples were charged by Jesus to now take up his ministry, to become lights shining in the darkness (Mt 5:16).

conclusion & response

As we read from the scriptures, at this or any time of the year, we are reading the story of Jesus, the story of his revelation as the Messiah of God, the Saviour, the light that shines in the darkness. And if we read this story with open and expectant hearts, then we can even ‘enter into’ the story, and if we do we will hear the voice of Jesus say to us, “Come, follow me”.

For those whose uncertainty at the meaning and purpose of life and the events of the world feel much like a darkness, then the voice of Jesus will be received as a light that will both illuminate and dispel that darkness, because he himself makes sense of the world around us and demonstrates in his own life — not to mention his teaching — a better way to live, a way to live with joy!

To come and see Jesus is to be impressed, but to follow him is to embark on a joyful adventure! That adventure does not avoid difficulties, particularly as our beliefs and lifestyle will inevitably change, but it does promise abundant and eternal rewards.

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