The Kingdom of God is Here

Now when Jesus heard that John had been arrested, he withdrew to Galilee. He left Nazareth and made his home in Capernaum by the sea, 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.”

Matthew 4:12–17

IMHO, one of the most critical aspects of Jesus’ ministry that has been overlooked in Christian history is what I call the “Intentionality” of Jesus’ ministry. I believe Jesus carefully planned and executed his ministry. Every move he made had purpose and design. And the episodes that are presented in today’s and tomorrow’s scriptures are no different.

Prior to Jesus’ time, many proclaimed themselves to be The Messiah and ended up paying with their lives and the lives of their followers. They each foolishly followed the same strategy, seemingly never learning from the past. The pattern was to stay away from Jerusalem and spent their time instead in the countryside gathering a following and an armed force of some kind. When they thought they were ready, they marched on Jerusalem to unseat both the Romans and the High Priests. But between the spies employed by both the Temple authorities and those employed by the Romans, both authorities were ready to intervene with their joint resources to put a swift and deadly end to those rebellions.

Against this backdrop, Jesus built a network of reliable and trusted allies. John the Baptist was Jesus’ cousin. Each of their ministries were foretold to their parents, so I have to believe that just ass there was a familial bond between Mary and Elizabeth, their respective mothers, there was a life long bond between Jesus and John the Baptist. That bond produced a plan that fulfilled both their callings by God. John began his ministry in the wilderness while Jesus awaited his “time,” as he called it, in Nazareth.

In our scripture for today, Matthew shows us not Step One but probably Step Ten or Twenty in that plan. John the Baptist and Jesus both knew that their missions would eventually lead to their deaths…John’s by the axe, Jesus’ on the cross. John had stayed out in the wilderness, baptizing and preaching about the one who was to come after him, never even approaching the capitol. Something made him finally go to Jerusalem to confront Herod Antipas on Herod’s own ground. It didn’t take long for John to be arrested, condemned and executed. It was predictable. John had to have known that he was heading toward a life ending event. In my humble opinion, that “something” was word from Jesus, perhaps at his baptism, to move onto the next step in the plan.

John’s death was the trigger for another move forward…Jesus shaking the dust from his feet and leaving Nazareth to go live in Capernaum of Galilee. There he took up the task of proclaiming the coming of the Kingdom of God. He proclaimed it not as a distant hope, but as a powerfully present reality. 

Matthew uses a word that unfortunately loses a great deal in translation. Today, we view a proclamation as something to posted on a bulletin board and left there for passers by to see. But the word Matthew uses is kerussein. In Greek, the act of kerussein is not a passive public service announcement, it is something seen as coming directly from a king, an emperor or master ruler. It was a public act that demanded everyone’s attention. It was more than mere words, they were considered to be the words spoken by a supreme authority. 

We have become numb to the authority and power of these word by time and repetition. Try to hear them with the ears and hearts of Galileans…both Jews and Gentiles. 

“Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.”

The multi-cultural Gentiles in Galilee would have simply responded, “Say WHAT?” Repentance would have been a foreign idea to them. The Roman Empire encouraged and tolerated a very wide variety of religions and religious views. As long as someone acknowledged the Emperor as the supreme authority on earth and paid their taxes, the Romans didn’t really care what other path you might be on or what beliefs you held.  That was the foundation of the “Pax Romana” or the Roman Peace. The Gentiles might have been curious about what Jesus was proclaiming, but probably not much more than that.

In general, the Jews, on the other hand, would have responded quite differently. In the first place, using the word “Repent” would have been offensive to many of the Jews. To “repent” simply and literally means to turn all the way around. We might call it doing a “360”. You are headed the wrong direction. STOP! Turn around and go in this new direction. Jesus told them that this new direction was toward the Kingdom of Heaven, which implied that the direction in which the Jews had been headed was toward a place much less desirable. The Jews, as John the Baptist discovered, didn’t see themselves as in need of any change of direction at all. They were, after all, the “Children of God”…the “Chosen Ones” among humanity. So obviously they were on the “right track” and not heading in a doomed direction.

But the Jews of Galilee were made from a different cloth. Because of the widespread openness to new ideas present in Galilee, they would have been able to look beyond their initial shock and would have been curious as to what this new firebrand was proclaiming. They would have recognized the words of the prophet Isaiah and would have been drawn to what Jesus meant by the Kingdom of Heaven.

Actually living in the area formerly Zebulun and Naphtali, these Jews would have instantly recognized the significance of Isaiah’s words. They would have taken pride in the hope that the “great Light” prophesied by Isaiah was to “dawn” first in Galilee. It would be like going to the campus of the University of Georgia and proclaiming with loudspeakers, “This is the year the Bulldogs will go undefeated and win the NCAA National Championship!” I dare say that I could soon after fill the sanctuary of Athen First UMC with an enthusiastic crowd.

All-in-all, you can see why Jesus chose to begin his ministry in Galilee. We too yearn for the Good News in our lives. Some of us value the Peace that belonging to Christ brings. Others seek certainty of our blessings. Whether it be the strength to face life challenges or the wisdom to answer the complex problems of being human, we all find comfort in the presence of the Kingdom of Heaven in our lives. 

Jesus announced more than an arrival. He was proclaiming God’s very presence with us. Emmanuel! GOD WITH US! Not far way in the clouds. Not an unfathomable Spirit. Not out of reach to mere mortals. But standing beside us, arm-in-arm with us. Willing good for us here and now, not just in some vague future. How contagious a bold speaking of a truth like that would have been for these people living “in darkness,” wondering if something like a loving God was even a possibility. In tomorrow’s devotion, we will continue the story as Jesus, the Carpenter of Nazareth, lays the foundation for the Church rising up from Galilee.

My prayer for all of you, my fellow travelers on the path from Calvary to Gethsemane, is that we keep the wonder and power of Jesus’ teachings and proclamation burning in our hearts. 

Amen and amen!

Rev Dr Jim McGrath