The beginning of Jesus’s Galilean ministry

Today’s Gospel is about the start of  the Galilean ministry of our Lord Jesus Christ. About 80 percent of the teachings of our Lord Jesus Christ happen in that one corner of the northwestern side of the Sea of Galilee, which is a little over ten kilometers in length where the towns of Zebulon, Naphtali, Capernaum, Tabgha and Magdala are located and those smaller villages across the Sea of Galilee. Our Lord’s own hometown, Nazareth, was a bit far from Galilee, towards the mountainside. You can read today’s gospel in Matt. 4:12-23.

“(12) When [Jesus] heard that John had been arrested, he withdrew to Galilee .(13) He left Nazareth and went to live in Capernaum by the sea, in the region of Zebulun and Naphtali, (14) that what had been said through Isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled: (15) “Land of Zebulun and Land of Naphtali, the way to the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles, (16) the people who sit in darkness have seen a great light, on those dwelling in a land overshadowed by death light has arisen. (17) From that time on, Jesus began to preach and say, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

(18) As he was walking by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon who is called Peter, and his brother Andrew, casting a net into the sea, they were fishermen. (19) He said to them, “Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men.” (20) At once they left their nets and followed him, (21) He walked along from there and saw two other brothers, James, the son of Zebedee, and his brother John. They were in a boat, with their father Zebedee, mending their nets. He called them, (22) and immediately they left their boat and their father and followed him. (23) He went around all of Galilee teaching in their synagogues proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and curing every disease and illness among the people.

*  *  *

Remember the story of the wedding in Cana which you can read in John 2:1-12? When our Lord Jesus and his mother, the Blessed Virgin Mary were invited to a wedding feast and the hosts ran out of wine? It was the Blessed Virgin Mary who approached her son Jesus and told him, “They have no more wine.” Jesus said to her, “Woman, what does this have to do with me? My hour has not yet come.” Then the Blessed Virgin Mary said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.” Then the miracle of the wine happened.

In today’s gospel reading, we can say that finally the Hour of the Lord has come and it came on the heels of the bad news of the arrest of John the Baptist, which we can reckon was at the palace of King Herod near Jerusalem. The news of the arrest of John must have reached our Lord in his home in Nazareth because after hearing this news, he began preaching the same thing that John the Baptist had been preaching in the wilderness; to repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

Though I’m sure that our Lord knew that he had divine powers, he was not a loner, he needed friends whom he later called his Apostles and not far from Capernaum, our Lord, saw Simon Peter and his brother Andrew casting their nets as they were fishermen and he called upon them to follow him for they will become fishers of men. He also called the sons of Zebedee, James and John who were mending their nets with their father and they all dropped what they were doing and followed him.

Eventually, our Lord Jesus Christ would have a total of Twelve Apostles who would be given special tasks that no fishermen would ever dream of; casting out demons and curing the lame and the sick. Most of these Apostles, except for John would eventually die a martyr’s death in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Though it is a long journey with our Lord Jesus for these Apostles, their journey starts with today’s scripture reading.

Just imagine from this very remote corner of Israel, a small ragtag band of fishermen, zealots and a tax collector moved on from the Jewish Faith to embrace the New Covenant ordained by our Lord Jesus Christ and became the first Christians. Who would believe that two thousand years later, Catholics would reach a billion people, eclipsing the total number of Jewish people. All this because of that divine promise… “The gates of hell shall not prevail against her.”

As our Lord Jesus Christ moved to Galilee, he lived in Simon Peter’s house in Capernaum, which is just a few meters from the Synagogue. Today you can still see the ruins of the house of St. Peter, where a church was built on top of it, where we held Mass last October. One of those who donated money to build that church is the late Don Ramon Durano, Sr.

Let me point out once more that our Jesus Christ relied upon his Apostles because after he ascended into heaven, they bore witness to God’s promise to send his only begotten Son our Lord Jesus Christ so that whoever believes in him shall not perish, but have eternal life.

*  *  *

Email: [email protected].