Matthew 4:12-22; Setting up Shop In Capernaum I

12 Now when Jesus heard that John had been arrested, he withdrew to Galilee. 13 He left Nazareth and made his home in Capernaum by the sea, in the territory of Zebulun and Naphtali, 14 so that what had been spoken through the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled: 15 “Land of Zebulun, land of Naphtali, on the road by the sea, across the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles— 16 the people who sat in darkness have seen a great light, and for those who sat in the region and shadow of death light has dawned.” 17 From that time Jesus began to proclaim, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.”

18 As he walked 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 fish for people.” 20 Immediately they left their nets and followed him. 21 As he went from there, he saw two other brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John, in the boat with their father Zebedee, mending their nets, and he called them. 22 Immediately they left the boat and their father, and followed him."

I. Introduction

Jesus might have entertained the reasonable expectation after finishing his tests with the Devil that he would be free for a time to pursue and discover his ministry, free from the harassment, danger and temptation that characterized 4:1-11. But, it was not to be. John's arrest made Jesus a man on the move again, and it was not until he became settled in Capernaum that the shape of his ministry began to emerge. This exposition will deal with the dynamics of danger, geography and demand that made up his "post-temptation" life. After all, surviving the rigors of temptation didn't mean that he would be honored by an ovation or triumph; it simply meant that he now was ready to begin his work. Let's look at that beginning today.

II. Danger

As the passage opens, the sense of danger is palpable. Matthew uses two words to tip us off that something is amiss: "arrested" and "withdrew" (v. 12). The Greek behind "arrested" merely means "handed over," but the word (paradidomi) is elsewhere used in the Gospels to describe Jesus' being handed over, or betrayed, to death. That it doesn't mean the same thing for John here is revealed only later to us (11:1ff), where we read the story of John's death. But here is it ominous indeed. John, who had a very public ministry where hundreds of people came out to witness his work and be baptized, had been taken into custody. The advantage of a public ministry is often its disadvantage: i.e., you attract attention, and many preachers, political figures, authors, etc. desire attention, but the attention is of two kinds. There is a crowd of people who admire and even adore the preacher/speaker, but there is also a smaller number, maybe even a handful that want to bring this person "down."

Why? Possibly human jealousy. Possibly because the speaker threatens the economic or political interest of those in power. The threatened people have their hired goons who will try to make life miserable for such a person. John's ministry had netted the biggest "fish" of all--Jesus--and it had no doubt attracted the attention of Herod's son Antipas. No good, from the king's perspective, could come from this. The king was a political appointee, chosen by Rome, whose job it was to keep order and make sure the revenue desired by Rome would flow into the imperial coffers. Anything that might have threatened the steady stream of revenue had to be nipped before it had a chance to flower.

So, John was arrrested. The text doesn't tell us on what charges. Indeed, in many regimes, charges are just "window dressing" for the powers that be to threaten or undermine opponents to the regime. When Jesus heard the news (he wasn't so eremitical to ignore or be unaware of the things happening in his neighborhood), he withdrew. This in itself is significant. Maybe, indeed, Matthew could have presented this as a "fourth temptation" of Christ--possibly to use some of the power he declined to use against the Devil by engaging in a political or armed conflict with Herod's men and kick some serious butt. He could have done so with the Devil, but he declined the opportunity; maybe now was the time to act. But he decided, simply, to withdraw. He decided that the better part of wisdom was not to engage in controversy, not to pick a fight, not to make himself visible when the authorities were no doubt looking for other people that might be sympathetic to John. So, he "withdrew." This is the same verb used in 2:14, 22, where it can best be translate "escaped" or "got safely away." In fact the verb anachoreo is Matthew's special term for removal from a venue of danger. Later, in the history of the Church that verb will become transliterated into English as "anchorite"--to describe those who live in small communities away from the hustle of life to cultivate their sense of call. But the point from this text is that Jesus read the signs all around him and withdrew.

In just four chpapters of Matthew we have at least three people or groups of people showing what we might call "practical sagacity": Jesus' parents, the Wise Men, and Jesus himself. In the first two instances the people were aware that Herod was trying to or was planning to put people to death. Here the implication is also ominous. Acting with political savvy is not a sign of timorousness; it can be a well-considered decision to wait until the "right time" for one's work. Indeed, hanging around in the region of the Jordan might be an example of temerariousness.

My next essay speaks of geography and demand.

3239