One of the things I hate is turning on the TV just after a movie or a weekly drama has started, so I’ve missed those opening few scenes where the story is set up, where perhaps the main characters are introduced; where the crime is committed or the tensions between characters is highlighted. If you miss those opening moments, you can spend the rest of the show trying to work out just what’s happening.
Well, as Matthew begins his account of Jesus’ adult ministry he does something like that. He sets the scene for what’s to come later. First he records Jesus’ baptism by John. Then he accounts what happens when the Holy Spirit leads Jesus into the desert to be tempted by the devil. Then he gives 3 short episodes that give us a feel for who this Jesus is. Now obviously we need to read the whole gospel to fully understand that, but here at the end of ch 4 we see 3 incidents that tell us a lot about who it is we’re about to read about.
First we discover that he’s:
1 A Light to Lighten the Gentiles vs 12-17
Matthew knows and loves his Old Testament. And he’s particularly interested in passages that apply to Jesus. So when Jesus moves to Capernaum, to the region of Zebulun and Naphtali, following the imprisonment of John, Matthew’s Jewish ears prick up. He’s reminded of the prophecy of Isaiah that we heard read earlier: "In the latter time he will make glorious the way of the sea, the land beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the nations. 2The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who lived in a land of deep darkness-- on them light has shined." Jesus’ coming is to fulfill the promise of one who would bring light to the nations, who would enlighten those who live in darkness, who would bring life to those who live in the shadow of death.
But notice how that light and life come. "17From that time Jesus began to proclaim, ’Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.’" The light of life comes to people as they turn away from their rebellion against God. It comes as they embrace the kingdom of heaven. Jesus’ message is no different from that of John. John had called people to repent in readiness for the coming of God’s kingdom. The only difference in what Jesus says is that now it has come near. The kingdom is upon them. Now is the moment that John was warning them of, preparing them for. Now it’s no longer the herald preparing the way, but the Messiah himself.
In fact the way this sentence is arranged in the Greek, it might have been translated, "From that time Jesus, himself, began to proclaim." Now it’s the Messiah himself who calls people to acknowledge the kingdom, to acknowledge, in fact, God’s anointed king. Strangely enough, here is the king himself preparing people for his coming. Here is one of those signs of the great graciousness of God. He doesn’t just send an emissary to announce the message. No, he comes himself to speak to his people. He delivers a personal message, a personal warning.
But it is a warning, notice. This is no soft gospel. This isn’t an invitation that can be ignored if we want to. Nor is it open to interpretation. No, it’s very clear. Repent! Get ready! The kingdom is on its way. If you’re not ready, then you’re going to miss out on the kingdom and instead be under the judgement of God.
2 The Founder of a Radical Church
But not only does Jesus come to bring light to the world. He also comes to establish a Church. God knows that people need connections, relationships. He knows how important it is for people to be part of a fellowship of believers. And so Jesus begins his ministry by calling out a group of followers who will be able to take his message of salvation, his call to repent, to others. He calls them to live with him as his disciples while he’s on earth so he can teach them the values of the kingdom. So he can train them to tell others about the coming of the kingdom. So he can model a kingdom lifestyle to them so they in turn can show others how to live like Christ. Jesus’ ministry begins with the call to these men to become his disciples and it ends with him sending them out to tell others about him, baptising them in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, thus bringing them into the Church, [as we have with Will today] and teaching them everything he’s taught them.
Now these first few disciples are fishermen so he says to them, leave your nets where they are. Come and follow me and I’ll show you how to catch people. Now I’m sure if these guys had been builders the metaphor he would have used would have been something like building the church. If they’d been farmers he would have called them to spread the seeds of the gospel. So we mustn’t get hung up over the image of catching people. The kingdom isn’t about collecting scalps. It’s about bringing light to those who live in darkness.
But notice that when he calls these men to become his disciples, it’s a call to set aside their secular pursuits and priorities; even to reevaluate their family bonds. This is something that will come out more clearly as we study Jesus’ teaching in the sermon on the mount during February and March. Those who are called to be Jesus’ disciples are called to reassess the way they look at the world. We’re to have different priorities from those we had before. We’re to bring the kingdom and its values into every aspect of our lives. We’re to begin to think and act the way Jesus would, the way God does and to apply that thinking in everything. The path of discipleship is a radical departure from the way the secular world lives.
So as Jesus reinterprets Moses in ch5 we see the way he expects us to apply the principles of the 10 commandments to all of life, not just to those areas that are specifically mentioned in the written law.
This call to these 4 fishermen is not a call just to them. It’s actually indicative of the call that comes to all who will follow Christ. Elsewhere Jesus says to those who would follow him "Take up you Cross and follow me." He calls us to form a church of radical believers. Jesus’ church isn’t a safe place purpose built for conservatives. It’s a church that’s purpose made for people who are willing to follow him at all costs: at the cost of their lives, perhaps at the cost of their family connections, perhaps at the cost of their livelihoods. But it’s for people who want to be part of the kingdom of heaven. I’ve often wondered why Matthew uses that term rather than the Kingdom of God. But perhaps this is why. Because he wants to remind us that our kingdom is not of this earth. That therefore our priorities mustn’t be of this earth. And that the cost of discipleship is more than made up for by the promise of the kingdom, the kingdom of heaven.
3. The one Who Brings Healing
Thirdly, we discover in the final short episode from v23 on, that one of the effects of Jesus’ coming into the world is that he brings healing. Again, Matthew will report many other occasions on which Jesus heals various people of a variety of illnesses. But here he just gives us the news headlines. "Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and curing every disease and every sickness among the people. 24So his fame spread throughout all Syria, and they brought to him all the sick, those who were afflicted with various diseases and pains, demoniacs, epileptics, and paralytics, and he cured them." The coming of the Messiah, of God’s anointed one brings with it an easing of the pain of life in this world. He can’t remove pain from the world. He can’t take away the illnesses of everyone. That will have to wait. But his coming is fundamentally connected with God’s plan to renew the creation. And so, as he preaches the good news of the kingdom, inevitably people are healed. In a sense there’d be something wrong if the Messiah came and nothing changed at the physical level.
You see, his coming is to bring salvation to the world at every level. Those who live in the shadow of death need to see that that shadow has been lightened, a little at least, just by Jesus’ presence among them. So we see him curing every disease and sickness among the people with whom he comes into contact. We see him casting out demons, curing those who are afflicted by seizures, healing paralytics and people suffering from chronic pain. All the things that are signs of this fallen world are healed by Jesus’ presence among his people.
Again, we need to understand that not everyone was healed. As I said these are just the headlines. In other places we read how at times Jesus would leave a place despite the numbers who were still coming to him to be healed, because he needed to go on and preach the gospel in another town, because that was his priority. But each time, as he preached the gospel, as he announced the coming of the kingdom of heaven, people would find their lives renewed, both spiritually and physically.
By the way if you’re not quite sure whether this is really meant to be like a headline or a summary statement, look over to 9:35. There we find exactly the same phrase as we have here in v23. It’s as though Matthew is flagging that what he says here is a summary of all that’s to come between these verses and the repeat of the headline at the end of ch9, as Jesus teaches, preaches and heals.
And what do we find in that reprise of this passage in ch9? "Then Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom, and curing every disease and every sickness. 36When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. 37Then he said to his disciples, "The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; 38therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest." (Mat 9:35-38 NRSV) Jesus knew that 12 disciples would never be enough to satisfy the demand for light in this dark world. So he told them to pray that God would send out more laborers to share the gospel with those who need to hear it.
Here we have those three threads drawn together. Jesus comes as a light to lighten the nations. He calls out a group of followers to form a church and then he sends us back into the world to bring the message of salvation to all who need to hear it. Jesus still offers healing to people. He still calls people to repent because the kingdom has come near. But now he does it through us. And in case you hadn’t noticed, the fields are still white for harvest. There are still hundreds of people around us who have no knowledge of God or of his kingdom. One of the frustrations I know Camille feels is that the potential for ministry among our young people is limited only by the number of laborers we can put out in the field.
I trust you’re praying, as Jesus commanded his disciples, that God would send laborers to work in this part of his kingdom.
You may also be asking God what part he’d have you play in that harvest. In 2 weeks time we begin a series looking at the sermon on the mount, looking at the way kingdom values and attitudes might impact on the things we do and say and think. But in the meantime, here are just 3 things to meditate on from this passage in Matthew 4:
Jesus came to bring light to those who walk in darkness. That’s all those who are living without Christ. That means many of your friends and neighbours, your work mates, the people you meet at the gym or the supermarket or your book club, or your kids’ school or kindergarten. They need to hear the good news of the kingdom, so they can find the way in to God’s presence.
Jesus came to found a radical church. If your image of church is of a group of fairly conservative types doing predictable and safe activities together, then maybe you need to revise it. Jesus came to call us to radical obedience; to give up our reliance on worldly security, to abandon our secular way of thinking, our secular value systems. He came to call us to follow him, even at the cost of our lives; to put him before career, family, possessions, hobbies, etc.
Jesus came to bring the possibility of healing and wholeness to people. One of the things that we were challenged with at Summer under the Son last week, was the need to understand God’s sovereignty over the physical world, particularly as it applies to healing and spiritual warfare. We in the west don’t like to think about spiritual forces at work in people’s lives. We tend to shy away from the possibility of miraculous healing. Yet in the non-western world, such events are a given. They’re almost to be expected if God’s power is at work in the world. And so it was when Jesus first appeared on earth. Well, perhaps we need to rethink our approach to healing and miracles. Perhaps we should be expecting, when Jesus comes into someone’s life, that the healing he brings at a spiritual level might also have an effect at the physical level. That was certainly the case when he was here on earth.
Well that’s all I want to say today. Jesus came as a light to lighten the nations, he called people to be a church who would continue to share the good news with others, and his coming was accompanied by miraculous events that heralded the end to all suffering and the creation of a new heaven and earth. Let’s do all we can to share that good news with those who haven’t heard it.
For more sermons from this source go to home.vicnet.net.au/~sttheos/
