Matthew 4:12-23

It has been said that every new beginning is some other beginnings end. This is the case in our gospel reading for today. In The Gospel of John 3:30, John the Baptist is quoted as saying, “He must increase, but I must decrease.” The end of John the Baptist’s ministry, being arrested by King Herod, is the que for Jesus to begin His public ministry. John the Baptist decreases Jesus increases.
“Now when He heard that John had been arrested He withdrew into Galilee. And leaving Nazareth He went and lived in Capernaum by the sea.” Jesus goes from Nazareth to Capernaum which was just outside of Herod’s and Roman jurisdiction. Why? Three reasons: 1. Christ’s time had not yet come to go to the cross and he had to wait until things settled down a little after the arrest of John, 2. It fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah, and 3. That is where His; yet to be chosen disciples were living. Capernaum was the home of the apostles Peter, Andrew, James and John as well as the area where scripture tells us that Matthew is collecting taxes. It is interesting that Jesus starts His ministry in a land where the majority of the population is Gentile. Gentiles are anyone who is not of the Jewish faith. You people in other words. Jesus starts His public ministry preaching and teaching to non-Jews. The fact that Matthew is the most Jewish of the gospels as it seeks to prove that Jesus is the foretold Messiah is even more interesting. Incidentally if you misspell Gentile, your Microsoft Word spell check will correct it as genitals which I found out the hard way after sending this week’s Bible study question to the entire congregation. Go ahead have a laugh at my expense I have thick skin.
When we study a scripture we seek first to distinguish the law from the gospel. The law being anything that God or the world requires of us and gospel as anything that is promised to us by God. Verse 16 from our reading in Matthew is a great BIG PROMISE FOR EACH OF YOU!!! LISTEN CAREFULLY GENTILES! “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!!!!
Darkness is Biblical langue for total and complete and utter spiritual bankruptcy!!! The shadow of death is the state that one is in until they are called by Jesus to be claimed as His own. How are we to know for sure that one is being called and chosen by Christ? Well, they are baptized of course. Baptism is the bestowal of Christ’s promise upon a child or an adult. This outward act is living proof that Jesus Christ has claimed the person being baptized as His own. The water in baptism symbolizes the death of the old sinful nature by drowning and the brining up out of the water and the anointing of the head of oil is the outward symbol of grace, the very power of the indwelling Holy Spirit, given to a person being baptized. The water alone is nothing without the presence of the Word of God Jesus Christ Himself. The water and the Word make baptism the claiming of a person for Christ, not the water alone or the technique.
At your baptism, regardless of denomination and regardless of technique, Jesus Christ makes a promise to you that He has died ONCE AND FOR ALL to destroy your sin and He has risen from the dead SO THAT YOU MAY HAVE ETERNAL LIFE. THE SECOND YOU COME UP OUT OF THE WATER YOU ARE A NEW CREATION IN CHRIST!!! THIS IS A PROMISE FROM THE LIVING GOD THROUGH HIS ONE AND ONLY SON JESUS CHRIST TO YOU! You have heard me say it before and you will hear me say it again, “When someone make you a promise they are on the hook for its fulfillment not you!!! Jesus Christ alone=salvation!
Jesus Christ, the great light, the light that has dawned, is Jesus Christ given totally and completely to you. He is given to YOU PERSONALLY!!! This is good news, this is gospel, and this is Christ’s promise to you, for you!!!
Jesus begins His public ministry to the gentiles and how does Matthew sum up Jesus’ message? “Repent for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand!” Repent, command, law, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand, promise gospel. Jesus Christ, like John before him, is declaring that the Kingdom of Heaven is here. It is now!!! It isn’t a promise of a future reward it is now and it is coming more and more into the reality of this world!!! This is why it seems like the whole world is going to Hades, Sin, death, and the Devil are trying to make their last stand and they are losing!!!! And they will lose!!
Now please don’t mishear me that I am predicting the end of the world. The Kingdom of Heaven is here but it has not come into completion quite yet. And the time that it will come into completion, is not for us to know, we are not to be concerned with SPECULATION ABOUT WHEN! We are to be, like Christ, about our Father’s work loving and serving our neighbors drawing God’s elect to Him. Know your place, or as my friend Bill Dooley says, “Don’t exceed your pay grade.”
The rest of our Gospel reading for today can be summed up simply by saying, “Jesus said FOLLOW ME AND IMMEDIATELY THEY FOLLOWED!!” Now we have talked about the meaning of several Greek words over the past few months that I have preached. And each of those Greek words had several meanings. Do you know the meaning of the Greek word “εὐθέως,d \{yoo-theh'-oce?” It has one and only meaning! It means IMMEDIATELY!!!!!
Peter, Andrew, James and John heard to very Word of God Himself Jesus Christ command them to follow him and the followed immediately. Now I ask you, “Does that sound like a God who sits around like a broken lover waiting for His beloved to make a decision to choose and love Him?” Absolutely NOT! God is not some impendent love sick being, He is the great and mighty warrior the CREATOR OF THE HEAVENS AND THE EARTH, THE ALMIGHTY AND ALL POWERFUL LORD OF ALL. And when God speaks with the authority only He has things happen. God said follow and they left everything, their families, their houses, their possessions, their iPods and iPhones, their DVD players, their sport utilities, their knitting needles. They left everything and IMMEDIATELY FOLLOWED HIM! Thank the Heavenly Father that we are not all called to be apostles. We are not all called to drop everything and follow immediately however we are called out of our old life into a new existence, that existence being? Loving and serving our neighbors.
How can I be for sure that it was the power of God that caused the apostles to follow Jesus immediately? John 6:44, “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day.” God has drawn you here today right here and right now for the purpose of hearing and receiving the Holy Spirit nurturing and growing the faith given to you at your baptism, for the purpose of 1. Making you a better servant to your neighbor in this life and 2. Preparing you for life eternally.
Let us pray, Lord God all Mighty and Powerful Warrior, we thank you for your call to be your children. We ask Father that you continue the work that you started in us. Free us Father from the bondage and the consequences of short comings in this life, so that we may be the examples to the world of what you can do in a time. In the Holy, Precious and Powerful Name of Jesus Christ we pray. Amen