Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand

 

 Now when Jesus heard that John had been put in prison, He departed to Galilee.  And leaving Nazareth, He came and dwelt in Capernaum, which is by the sea, in the regions of Zebulun and Naphtali, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying:

    "The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali,

    By the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan,

    Galilee of the Gentiles:

    The people who sat in darkness have seen a great light,

    And upon those who sat in the region and shadow of death

    Light has dawned."

From that time Jesus began to preach and to say, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand."

 

- Matthew 4:12-17 

 

Yesterday we read that, after His baptism, Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.  And when He had fasted forty days and forty nights, afterward He was hungry.  Now when the tempter came to Him, he said, "If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread."  But He answered and said, "It is written, 'Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.'"  Then the devil took Him up into the holy city, set Him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to Him, "If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down.  For it is written: 'He shall give His angels charge over you,' and,'In their hands they shall bear you up, lest you dash your foot against a stone.'"  Jesus said, to him, "It is written again, 'You shall not tempt the LORD your God.'"  Again, the devil took Him up on an exceedingly high mountain, and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory.  And he said to Him, "All these things I will give You if You will fall down and worship me."  Then Jesus said to him, "Away with you, Satan!  For it is written, 'You shall worship the LORD your God, and Him only you shall serve.'"  Then the devil left Him, and behold, angels came and ministered to Him. 

 

Now when Jesus heard that John had been put in prison, He departed to Galilee.  And leaving Nazareth, He came and dwelt in Capernaum, which is by the sea, in the regions of Zebulun and Naphtali, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying:  "The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, by the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles: . . . "   My study Bible comments here that the term Galilee of the Gentiles is an indication that many non-Jews lived in the region.  As it had a mixed population, Galilee was not considered to be a genuinely Jewish land, although many Gentile residents had converted to Judaism during the Maccabean period.  Since many of the Jews there had been influenced by Greek (Hellenistic) culture and customs, they were generally considered second-class citizens by the Jews of Judea.  

"The people who sat in darkness have seen a great light, and upon those who sat in the region and shadow of death light has dawned."  My study Bible explains here that darkness means ungodliness.  Here it is meant to represent the Gentiles' unawareness of God and the Jews being under the shadow of the Old Covenant.  To sit in darkness means to be overcome by spiritual ignorance.  The great light is the gospel of Jesus Christ.  

From that time Jesus began to preach and to say, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand."  Like that of John the Baptist (see this reading), Christ's first word is to "Repent."   To call to "repent" is a call back to communion with God, a reorientation of one's life toward God, and a future which bears spiritual fruits worthy of such.  But in this case, the call comes from Christ, with whom the kingdom of heaven is always present, wherever He is.

Here is the beginning of Jesus' public ministry.   Each of our readings so far has included quotations from Old Testament Scripture, as if to make us surely understand how the New is the fulfillment of the Old.  Here the text begins Christ's ministry with a quotation from Isaiah 9:1-2.  And there is another important sense of "handing off" here that starts right from the beginning.  Jesus begins His ministry, according to Matthew, when He heard that John had been put in prison.  John is the last in line (and considered to be the greatest) of the Old Testament prophets, and Jesus begins His own public ministry when He knows that John has been put in prison by Herod Antipas.  Herod Antipas is the "king" or tetrarch of Galilee, and it is also here where Jesus has chosen to begin His ministry.  The sense of this place, called "Galilee of the Gentiles" by Isaiah, is important, as Jesus has grown up in Galilee, despite ancestral ties to Bethlehem of Judea.  Galilee is also the place where John the Baptist will meet his martyrdom (Matthew 14:1-12).  There is clearly an important tie here between old and new in the sense that while David the king came from Christ's ancestral home of Bethlehem (in which Jesus was born), now Christ, the "son of David," comes from "Galilee of the Gentiles" -- and the New Covenant will go out to the entire Greek-speaking world (the international language of its time), taking this lineage with it to all the world, even in fulfillment of God's promise to Abraham that "in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed" (see Genesis 12:1-3).  St. Paul explains, "For the promise that he would be the heir of the world was not to Abraham or to his seed through the law, but through the righteousness of faith" (Romans 4:13).  So Christ's call to repentance is an echo of all the prophets that have always come throughout the history in the Scriptures, God's call from the beginning to wayward human beings.  But this call is also new, in the sense that it comes in a new fulfillment of what has come before, that it is a call to the righteousness of faith for all people, and will only be fulfilled as such.  Christ's call to repentance is an expansion and renewal of covenant for a new people in which, as St. Paul so memorably has written, "There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus" (Galatians 3:28), for "Christ is all and in all" (Colossians 3:11).  Today that call to repentance, the about-face in which we "remember God" and seek to do so at all times, that continually calls us to the righteousness of faith, is being sent into all the world in all kinds of ways, even through the new media available.  But we have to ask ourselves at the same time how different the world is from the time of Christ's birth.  We still have empires and wars and material might that grows greater and bigger still.  And yet, we still have small peoples -- and maybe in particular those of Christian faith, even descendants of those who were the first peoples in the world to embrace Christianity -- who are being targeted for their faith, even victims of genocidal policies who are set apart by that faith.  Today, despite worldwide attention in the previous century to problems of warfare and attacks upon civilians, the establishment of legal conventions against such violence and even formally against genocide, we have ongoing persecution and new martyrs of the Christian faith.  Even today, under cover of broader and greater wars, violence against the innocent rages and other interests take the stage before actual prevention.  Ultimately, it is our righteousness of faith upon which we must depend, Christ's words to us that call us to repentance, a constant turning to God, to reliance upon God, to facing our Lord -- for where He is, there is the kingdom of heaven.  So we turn to Him, and we heed His call, which is always new and renewing for all of us, for all of our lives, for at each moment we need what He has to give us.  The struggle which figured as great example for us in yesterday's reading (above) remains the same.  It's still a battle "against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places," as St. Paul said (Ephesians 6:12).  Only the names and faces change, but so much remains the same.  Christ has warned us that our age would be one of wars and rumors of wars, of upheavals and shocking sights until His return, through which we must endure in our faith.  There is still the shadow of darkness and death, and there is still the light.  Let us always remember our struggle for faith, and that He calls us always to repentance, to Himself, today and always, for He is all and in all.