Matthew 4:12-17

Introducing the Kingdom

Light of the World 

Matthew 4:12-17     Jesus Begins His Ministry in Galilee

Matthew gave no indication of the length of Jesus’ absence from Galilee nor any idea of what Jesus had been doing after his baptism and temptations. Nor did he give the reason for Jesus’ departure from Judea, other than connect it in some way with John’s arrest.

The arrest, handing over, of the prophet John to Herod Antipas served to give context to Jesus’ ministry. Obviously, prophetic criticism of the status quo was dangerous. To some extent, Jesus’ ministry was always precarious. In the Infancy Narrative, Matthew had already indicated that no Herod, nor son of Herod, would tolerate even the thought of a potential rival king. 

Capernaum, a port on the fresh-water Lake of Galilee, was the centre of a thriving fishing industry and of a quite heavily populated area.

Jesus began his public ministry by moving away from his former home and family. In Israel at that time, family provided the informal social security structure. By abandoning family, Jesus chose marginality. He would stand in solidarity with others marginalised by oppressive circumstances beyond their control.

Contrary to what his synagogue opponents argued, Matthew was careful to insist that Jesus (and Matthew’s Christian community) authentically embodied God’s saving action in Israel. They were the faithful Israel, whatever his Jewish opponents, who persisted in maintaining ‘business as usual’, might claim.

Galilee of the nations

Historically, Galilee had been settled by the tribes of Zebulun and Naphtali. Its mountainous northern area was never successfully colonised. For much of its history, it belonged to the northern Kingdom (Israel). Not long before the year 730 BC, the Assyrian Empire had conquered the area. The local population was removed, and other non-Jewish settlers were brought into the area, which was then divided into a number of Assyrian provinces:

• on the road by the sea,
• across the Jordan.
• and Galilee. 

Centuries later, the area was reconquered by the Hasmonean monarchy (predecessors to the Herodian dynasty), and partly resettled by Jews from the south of the country. In Jesus’ time, Jews in the south regarded it as unreliable and half-Gentile, though the inhabitants saw themselves as fervent believers, and had a deserved reputation for fervent nationalism.

Matthew quoted First Isaiah, who wrote soon after the Assyrian invasion of Israel and Judea in the eighth century B.C. The darkness and its shadow for the hearers of both Isaiah and Jesus meant foreign domination - whether Assyrian for Isaiah, or Roman for Jesus. (Herod Antipas, in Jesus’ day, was simply a Roman puppet). Isaiah’s poem reflected an irrepressible hope that God would somehow bring about redemption. His hopes were pinned on the birth of a new king (the maiden will become pregnant and will give birth to a son [1:23]) for the still free Southern Kingdom: the light has dawned.

Matthew saw Isaiah’s hope in God’s on-going salvific action truly fulfilled by the advent of Jesus onto the Galilean landscape. God is with us, indeed!

Jesus’ proclamation echoed, word for word, the call of the Baptist. Subtly, Matthew reordered the wording of Mark’s Gospel (from which he worked). Human repentance was a major concern of Matthew, and a note of threat was never far from his thoughts. 

Matthew would consistently refer to the kingdom of the heavens in preference to Mark’s kingdom of God. He shared the instinctive Jewish reverence for the name of God, and preferred not to use it.

Next >> Matthew 4:18-25