Matthew 4:12–23

Jesus Begins His Ministry
¹² Now when he heard that John had been arrested, he withdrew into Galilee. ¹³ And leaving Nazareth he went and lived in Capernaum by the sea, in the territory of Zebulun and Naphtali,¹⁴ so that what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled:
¹⁵ “The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali,
    the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles—
¹⁶ the people dwelling in darkness
    have seen a great light,
and for those dwelling in the region and shadow of death,
    on them a light has dawned.”
¹⁷ From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”
Jesus Calls the First Disciples
¹⁸ While walking 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. ¹⁹ And he said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” ²⁰ Immediately they left their nets and followed him. ²¹ And going on from there he saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets, and he called them. ²² Immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him.
Jesus Ministers to Great Crowds
23 And he went throughout all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction among the people.

Matthew 4:12–23 ESV – Bible Gateway

This Sunday’s Gospel kicks off our journey through the Gospel of Matthew for Year A of the Lectionary Cycle. This journey starts with what Matthew identifies as the beginning of Jesus’ public ministry.

After the news had reached them of the arrest of John the Baptist, they withdraw to Galilee. This reminds me both of the prudence of Jesus, but also of Joseph. When Joseph received word from an Angel that Herod had died, he was all set to return to Bethlehem with Mary and Jesus. When he learns that Herod Archelaus had succeeded his father in Judea, he goes to Nazareth in Galilee instead. In both cases, we see a decision made to avoid what was possibly a dangerous place too close to the political and religious authorities.

From the Ignatius Catholic Study Bible:

Jesus returns to his hometown of Nazareth in lower Galilee but stays only long enough to say his good-byes. He has decided to resettle in Capernaum, a town on the northwest shore of the Sea of Galilee. This was a place of some importance in the first century, quite a bit larger than the tiny village of Nazareth. Capernaum thrived on its fishing industry and was close to a Roman road called the Via Maris, which served as a commercial route connecting Galilee with Syria to the north. Jesus chooses this busy town as the base of operations for his Galilean ministry.[1]

Matthew interprets the move to Capernaum as a fulfillment of prophecy.[2] He quotes from Isaiah, which was our first reading today. Dr. Brant Pitre elaborates:

Now guess what were the first two tribes to go into exile in the Assyrian exile. It was the tribes of Zebulun and Naphtali. In other words, the territory of Galilee is where that exile began, where the overthrow of the 12 tribes started, and that’s where Jesus is going to begin his public ministry. Precisely where the exile began is where Jesus is going to start undoing the effects of the exile. Precisely where the 12 tribes were decimated and broken into pieces and scattered to the four winds is where Jesus is going to begin calling his 12 disciples in order to gather around himself a new Israel and in order to establish a new king. That’s why he’s doing it. This is very very deliberate on Jesus’ part. He knows exactly what he’s doing here.[3]

The Ignatius Catholic Study Bible adds:

4:15–16 The land of Zebulun … dawned: A citation from Is 9:1–2 concerning the land allotments of two Israelite tribes, Zebulun and Naphtali. Since these Galilean regions were the first to be ravaged by Assyrian invasions from 733 to 732 b.c. (2 Kings 15:29), Jesus targets Galilee as the place to begin reversing the tragedies of Israel’s history by restoring the 12 tribes in the New Covenant (cf. 15:24; 19:28; Rev 7:4–8).
Isaiah foresees a “latter time” (Is 9:1), when God will restore hope to Galilee. Matthew links this with Jesus’ residence in “Capernaum” (4:13), a town north of the Sea of Galilee where the tribal territories of Zebulun and Naphtali intersect. Matthew’s sustained interest in the Davidic kingship of Jesus suggests that the fuller context of this oracle is also significant. Isaiah 9:1–2 prefaces an Immanuel prophecy of the birth of a new king who will sit “upon the throne of David” (Is 9:7) and restore this light of hope to Galilee (cf. Lk 1:32–33). [4]

Jesus starts with a message that continues on the preaching of John the Baptist and would also have been very familiar to John’s disciples.

St. Thomas Aquinas, in his commentary on the Gospel of Matthew, writes:

From that time Jesus began to preach. Having set forth the place where Christ first began to preach, here is set forth the manner of preaching. From that time, namely, after the conquering of gluttony, vainglory and ambition, or avarice, He began to preach: for suchlike men can suitably preach. And in this way is fulfilled that passage of Acts 1, 1: “Jesus began to do and to teach.” Or, from that time, that is, after John’s imprisonment, He began to preach publicly: for previously He preached secretly and to certain men (Jn. 1, 38 ff.), namely, to Peter, Andrew, Philip, and Nathaniel, but here publicly. Now He did not at first wish to preach publicly, to give place to John’s preaching: otherwise it would have been of no avail, just as the light of the stars is obscured by the light of the sun. Now it is signified by this that when the figures of the Law had ceased, Christ’s preaching began; “But when that which is perfect is come, that which is in part shall be done away” (I Cor. 13, 10). For by John the Law is signified; “The prophets and the law were until John”[5]

As Dr. John Bergsma points out, it is likely not the case that “the four men drop their nets to follow a total stranger…”[6] and continues with the likelihood “that these four men had already encountered Jesus before and had some interaction with him. Jesus is not calling to total strangers, but he is calling the men to commit whole-heartedly to what, up to that time, had been a casual relationship with him.”[7] Another interesting aspect he points to is that “In Judaism, it was only permissible to cease the practice of one’s livelihood and break family ties for the sake of the study of God’s Word, the Torah, “The Law.” In calling his disciples to abandon everything, not to study the Law but to follow him, Jesus is placing himself in the role of the Law of God. He is God’s Word incarnate. Imitating him is a form of studying God’s Law.”[8]
He also gives us this detail:

He calls fishermen to follow him and become “fishers of men.” Although Matthew doesn’t call attention to the fact, this is actually a fulfillment of an oracle of the prophet Jeremiah:[9]

Behold, I am sending for many fishers, says the LORD, and they shall catch them; and afterwards I will send for many hunters, and they shall hunt them from every mountain and every hill, and out of the clefts of the rocks. (16:16, RSV2CE)

Venerable Fulton J. Sheen called Jesus The Only Person Ever Pre-Announced and Dr. Peter Kreeft reminds us about Messianic prophesies and their importance:

There are literally hundreds of specific prophecies in the Old Testament of the Messiah, the “anointed one” or the “promised one,” and Jesus fulfilled every one of them in every detail. No other religious founder ever fulfilled so many specific prophecies. Today’s reading from Isaiah is one of them, and Matthew quotes it in today’s Gospel.[10]

We can discern much by this initial call of four apostles. Unsurprisingly, St. Thomas Aquinas gives us some of the depth of this:

Note that at the beginning He called brothers: and although He called many others, nevertheless, mention is specially made of these, because they were outstanding, and because He called them by pairs: for the New Law is founded in charity: whence, also in the Old Law, He called two brothers, Aaron and Moses, because even then the commandment of charity was given. And because the New Law is more perfect, thus at the beginning a double number of brothers is called, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother. By these four men the four Gospels’ doctrine, or four virtues, is signified: because by Peter, which is interpreted ‘knowing,’ the virtue of prudence is signified; by Andrew, which is interpreted ‘virile’ or ‘very strong,’ the virtue of fortitude is signified; by James, which is interpreted ‘supplanter,’ the virtue of justice is signified; and by John, on account of his virginity, the virtue of temperance is signified. Their piety is set forth, because they were with their father, Zebedee.[11]

St. John Henry Newman reminds us that Jesus calls all of us:

“Such are the instances of Divine calls in Scripture, and their characteristic is this; to require instant obedience, and next to call us we know not to what; to call us on in the darkness. Faith alone can obey them. But it may be urged, How does this concern us now? … For in truth we are not called once only, but many times; all through our life Christ is calling us. He called us first in Baptism; but afterwards also; whether we obey His voice or not, He graciously calls us still. If we fall from our Baptism, He calls us to repent; if we are striving to fulfil our calling, He calls us on from grace to grace, and from holiness to holiness, while life is given us. Abraham was called from his home, Peter from his nets, Matthew from his office, Elisha from his farm, Nathanael from his retreat; we are all in course of calling, on and on, from one thing to another, having no resting place, but mounting towards our eternal rest, and obeying one command only to have another put upon us.”[12]

Sources

Ignatius Catholic Study Bible: New Testament ↩
The Gospel of Matthew, Catholic Commentary on Sacred Scripture, Edward Sri and Curtis Mitch ↩
Catholic Productions, Brant Pitre ↩
Ignatius Catholic Study Bible: New Testament ↩
Commentary on the Gospel of St. Matthew, Dolorosa Press ↩
The Word of the Lord: Reflections on the Sunday Mass Readings for Year A, John Bergsma ↩
ibid ↩
ibid ↩
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Peter Kreeft, Food for the Soul: Reflections on the Mass Readings Cycle A ↩
Commentary on the Gospel of St. Matthew, Dolorosa Press ↩
Sermon 2 in John Henry Newman, Parochial and Plain Sermons (London: Longmans, Green, and Co., 1899), 8:22–23. ↩

My Reflection on Sunday’s Gospel Matthew 4:12–23

Matthew 4:12–23

Sources

Book Review – Great Heresies and Church Councils – Jean Guitton

My Reflection on Sunday’s Gospel Matthew 5:1–12a

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