2nd Sunday in Ordinary Time 2020

My Dear People,

The Wilderness ordeal behind him, The Messiah returns to  the land of his upbringing in Galilee. Prompting this move is news that his herald, John the Baptist, has been taken into custody by hostile authorities (4:12). This turning point propels Jesus into a new phase of activity.

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.

Matthew interprets the move to Capernaum as a fulfilment of prophecy. Jesus’ first disciples lived in Capernaum. As with several of the fulfillment quotations given so far in his Gospel, this one from Isaiah (Isa 8:23-9:1) is also tied to the geography of Palestine. It harkens back to a time when the tribes of Zebulon and Naphtali occupied the lands north and west of the Sea of Galilee. In the eighth century BC, these territories were overrun by the expanding Assyrian empire, making the residents of Galilee the first Israelites in biblical history to be hauled off into exile (2 Kings15:29). According to the imperial policies of Assyria at the time, this meant that most of the educated and influential persons of Israel were deported and made servants elsewhere in the empire, while much of the peasant population was left behind in the land. It is this painful memory from Israel’s past that stands behind the darkness and death spoken of by the prophet.

Given this somber history, it is significant that Jesus launches his mission among the Galileans. It suggests that the first Israelites to experience the darkness of conquest and exile will now be the first to see the light of God’s goodness in the Messiah. Because the northernmost tribes were ravaged by the judgment before the others, they are given the chance for renewal and restoration before all others.

But something else is significant here as well. Besides its connection with the people of Israel, the prophecy links Galilee with the Gentiles  (see also 1 Macc. 5:15). The fact is that Galilee, more so than Judea down south, was penetrated by non-Jewish people and culture. In Jesus’ day, Greek appears to have rivaled Aramaic as the language of public discourse, and two of Galilee’s most prominent cities, Tiberias and Sepphoris, were thoroughly Hellenistic. But as far as Matthew is concerned, the point is not that Jesus is about to launch a full-scale outreach to the Galilean Gentiles. For the time being, both he and his disciples remain focused on a mission to “the lost sheep of the house of Israel” (10:6, 15-24). Nevertheless, the Lord’s ministry in the multiethnic land of Galilee foreshadows the Church’s later mission to all nations (28:19).

From that time on is an expression that Matthew uses to mark an important transition in the storyline. Here it introduces us to the public activity of Jesus in Galilee; later, the same words will shift our attention to the second phase of his ministry as it leads to Jerusalem (16:21).

The subject of the Messiah’s preaching is summarized in one sentence: Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.  This is the same message we learned from John the Baptist (3:2), and it is the same message that Jesus will send out with his twelve apostles (10:17). It urges listeners to change the direction of their lives, to adopt a new way of thinking and acting. Repentance is the effort one makes to turn away from all that is sinful and selfish and to accept the responsibility of living by the standards of God. The nearness of the kingdom gives urgency to the call. The kingly reign of God is on the verge of arrival, and so Israel must be ready to embrace it when it comes. Here Jesus is referring to the inauguration of the kingdom rather its final manifestation.

Yours in Christ,

Fr. Vincent Clemente

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