Lectio Divina, Jesus begins his Mission(Third Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle A)

Third Sunday in Ordinary Time Mt 4:12-23

It would seem that the public ministry of Jesus was sparked off by the execution of John the Baptist. He moved from his native village in Nazareth, not to two large towns such as Sepphoris or Tiberias, but rather to Capernaum, a fishing town on the shores of the Sea of Galilee, which had a population of 1,000 to 2,000 people. It lay along an important trade route, the Via Maris. This would have ensured a greater audience for his ministry in Galilee. Peter and some of the other apostles were from Capernaum. For Matthew the reason for Jesus’ relocation was to fulfill a bible prophecy in Is 9:1-2, “In the past he humbled the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the future, he will honor Galilee of the nations, by the Way of the Sea, beyond the Jordan— The people walking in darkness have seen a great light.” Although Matthew was writing for a mainly Jewish audience, the passage from Isaiah allowed him to connect Jesus to the Gentiles even though he saw his main duty as addressing his message first and foremost to his fellow Jews.

Jesus began his mission with an important message, 'Repent, for the kingdom of Heaven is close at hand.’ What exactly had Jesus in mind when he spoke those words? The word repent had more to do with a change in one’s thinking about God (metanoia in Greek) than a change of behaviour.If one’s thinking changed, a change in behaviour was likely to follow. The phrase kingdom of heaven is much the same as the kingdom of God. It referred to the reign, rule and authority of God. Jewish people recognised that God reigned as king over the world he had created. But while Jewish people acknowledge God’s present rule, most of them expected God to reign in an unchallenged way in the age to come. Many prayed regularly for God’s future kingdom. One familiar prayer that came to be prayed daily was the Kaddish, which in its ancient form began, “Exalted and hallowed be his great name may he cause his kingdom to reign.”

We saw in a previous commentary how Jesus told the messengers of John the Baptist what Jesus was doing, i.e., preaching the good news to the poor and performing signs and wonders as proof that he was indeed the promised Messiah. Together they amounted to compelling evidence that the kingdom of heaven/God was truly present as a as a first instalment of even greater things to come in the future.