The Kingdom Has Come Near

Matthew 4:12-25

Welcome back to our series in Matthew. This is my first message of the new year and the new decade that we are now in. Does it still seem new to you or is writing the date correctly already old hat? I am anticipating some changes for me in 2020, though I don’t yet know exactly what God has in store. Do you feel like you are on the verge of something new? Some of you may be graduating this year and moving on to the next stage of your lives. Some of you will experience other types of changes in your life or work or family. Transitions can be a challenge, sometimes exciting and scary at the same time. That’s why it’s important for each of us to live with a sense of God’s purpose and an assurance that he is in control. He is always preparing us for what lies ahead.

Our passage today marks an important transition in Jesus’ life. Matthew has taken us through some details of Jesus’ birth and very early childhood, but he gives us basically no information about his growing up years in Nazareth. Even with the narrative of the other gospels, we know very little about the first 30 years of Jesus’ life. People speculate that he probably would have joined his father Joseph in his carpentry trade, living a life in submission to his parents. Whatever he did, we can be sure that this was a time of preparation for all that would lie ahead.

John the Baptist appears on the scene in chapter 3, preaching in the Desert of Judea, calling people to repentance. He was preparing the way for Jesus, announcing that “the kingdom of heaven is near.” He prophesied that one would come after him who would be more powerful and baptize the people with the Holy Spirit, not just with water as he was doing. And Jesus came to him for water baptism in the river Jordan, an event that marked the public recognition of his sonship by God the Father. He was clearly being set apart and anointed in a special way.

However, last Sunday we looked at how Jesus was then led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the Devil. He had just heard Almighty God calling him his Son, and now Satan was calling that into question, urging him to take matters into his own hands and decide his own destiny. But Jesus passed the test, responding to each of three temptations with words of scripture that he must have hidden in his heart as he grew and studied in Nazareth. Satan was silenced and had to leave him, “until an opportune time,” as it says in Luke’s account. It would certainly not be the only attack that Jesus would face or his only time of temptation. But at this point angels would come and attend him, ministering to his physical needs after 40 days of fasting in the desert.

Now comes the significant transition that I mentioned: the beginning of Jesus’ public ministry. Everything up to this point has been preparation. Jesus was listening and observing and learning. Just a few people would have known about him. Many of those would have recognized something special in him, but this news had probably not traveled very far. He was an ordinary young man in many ways. But he probably had an inkling that something big was on the horizon. John had said that the kingdom of heaven was near. What would that kingdom be like? How would God choose to reveal it? We’ll see that Jesus announces it himself – and he starts living it out. John the Baptist steps aside, just as he said he would, and Jesus steps up in a very public way to call people to salvation.

John had said that he would decrease and Jesus would increase. But in the end, John was forcibly removed from the scene. He was arrested for speaking out against the immorality of Herod Antipas, the tetrarch who had married Herodias, the wife of his brother Philip. Antipas and Philip were sons of Herod the Great, the infamous king who had ordered the babies in Bethlehem to be killed. Absolute rulers did not have to justify their actions, so it would have seemed unlikely for John to ever be released from prison. And he was indeed beheaded there through a scheme of Herodias, who hated him. But that is getting ahead of our story. Let’s get into our passage for today: Matthew 4, starting at verse 12.

When Jesus heard that John had been put in prison, he withdrew to Galilee. Leaving Nazareth, he went and lived in Capernaum, which was by the lake in the area of Zebulun and Naphtali— to fulfill what was said through the prophet Isaiah:

“Land of Zebulun and land of Naphtali,
    the Way of the Sea, beyond the Jordan,
    Galilee of the Gentiles—

the people living in darkness
    have seen a great light;
on those living in the land of the shadow of death
    a light has dawned.” – Matthew 4:12-16

The Jewish historian Josephus tells us that John was imprisoned in the area to the east of the Dead Sea. Jesus moved well away from that area when he went back to Galilee, though this was still in the territory of Herod Antipas. Jesus was on the cusp of proclaiming a new kingdom, the kingdom of God. This was a risky position to be in, as this could put him at odds with both the political establishment and the religious powers of his day. The fact that John, his immediate forerunner, had been put in prison must have brought this home to him.

He went back to his hometown of Nazareth and was rejected there. Luke fills in the details of what happened: He went to the synagogue on the Sabbath, as he normally did, and took his turn reading from the scriptures. What was unusual, however, was that when he sat back down he said that the passage that he had read from Isaiah was fulfilled that very day. He was saying that the ancient prophecy was actually about himself! Who could make such an audacious claim? Wasn’t this just the son of Joseph the carpenter, the people wondered?

At first they “marveled at his gracious words,” it says, but then he touched a nerve when he claimed that it would be natural for him, as a prophet, to be rejected in his hometown. He then compared himself to Elijah who cared for Gentiles over Jews, providing for the widow of Zarephath and healing Naaman the Syrian. Was Jesus saying that he was too good for them, his own people of Nazareth? The angry crowd hustled him out of town and intended to throw him off a cliff, but Jesus stood his ground and then just walked away.

So you can see why he went to live in Capernaum instead. Nazareth would be a difficult place for him to minister in. We’ll see in chapter 13 how on another visit to Nazareth the people would again take offense at him, and he would not do many miracles there because of their lack of faith. Maybe some of you have experienced how difficult it can be to witness to those who are closest to you. Jesus the hometown boy was just too familiar in Nazareth.

Capernaum, on the other hand, would allow him to make a fresh start. It would become a very significant town for him and his ministry. He called a number of his disciples there, performed miracles that are recorded in various gospels, and made important statements like, “I am the bread of life.” According to Mark 1 he taught in the synagogue in Capernaum and healed Peter’s mother-in-law nearby.

Galilee was a populous area because it was relatively fertile. The area around the lake had a large number of Gentiles, especially on the eastern side of the Jordan. That’s why the prophecy from Isaiah refers to “Galilee of the Gentiles” and “people living in darkness.” Most Gentiles knew nothing of the light of the true God. And many Jews would have felt like they were living in the shadow of death, too.

Galilee was a crossroads of sorts, bordered and influenced by a variety of cultural groups. The Way of the Sea mentioned by Isaiah was the major highway from Egypt to Damascus, bringing trade and new ideas into the area. This passage in its original form in Isaiah mentions God humbling, but now honoring, Zebulun and Naphtali. The Messiah, the Savior, would begin shining his great light there. This is the same chapter that prophesies, “to us a child is born, to us a son is given,” passage that we read so often at Christmas. Jesus was beginning to reveal himself as that long-awaited “Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”

From that time on Jesus began to preach, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” – Matthew 4:17

From that time on. This signals a transition, a new direction. We will see this phrase a couple of more times in Matthew, at critical turning points in Jesus’ ministry. Here he is beginning to speak out, to call people to repentance as John had done. The kingdom of heaven has come near. Other translations say, “The kingdom of heaven is at hand.” It is about to appear; a new thing is about to happen. The reign of God, his involvement in the world, will be revealed in a new way. People will be able to relate to God more intimately. The kingdom is near in that sense, too – near to each person. The kingdom of heaven is near you and near me. God does not intend to be far off, worshipped as some inapproachable presence in the temple in Jerusalem. Jesus would bring him near: touching, healing, forgiving, delivering, and restoring each person, right where they were. The kingdom of heaven has come near in a way people could never have imagined. God cares about me?

As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will send you out to fish for people.” At once they left their nets and followed him. – Matthew 4:18-20

Right from the beginning, Jesus recognized the importance of discipleship. He didn’t wait until he had a large following and needed to worry about a succession plan. He would make his ministry sustainable by getting others involved right away. He invited Peter and Andrew to follow him. This implies a level of commitment. They would leave their jobs as fishermen. Others would have to take care of those who were dependent on them. They would follow Jesus wherever he went and be with him and learn from him. So following also implies submission. Jesus goes before, and they would go along in the direction that he is headed. We shouldn’t make our own plans and ask him to bless them. Right from the start, we need to look to where he is leading, to get on board with what he is doing.

At the beginning Peter and Andrew would have had no idea what “fishing for people” even meant. But Jesus used a relatable metaphor to give them confidence. We tend to think of fishing in the sense of presenting fish with something attractive and hooking them to catch them. It’s what you can see people on Lake Hartwell doing most mornings.

But that’s not the type of fishing that Peter and Andrew did. They used a net. They would go to where they thought a school of fish were and throw a net over them to trap them and allow them to be hauled into the boat. The fish don’t come to you; you have to go to them. Of course Jesus was not implying that people would be brought into the kingdom by force or even passively be swept up in some net along with everyone around them. But it does give the picture of more than one at a time, more than each individual being attracted, hooked, and reeled in. This distinction is very important in cultures where people make decisions in groups. The entire family or even community needs to be brought into the kingdom, otherwise the commitment will not last. One example of an entire household coming to faith is seen in Acts 16, where Paul and Silas were rescued from the jail in Philippi. They were singing praises to God at midnight, you probably recall, and an earthquake made the doors of the prison fly open. The jailer panicked, fearing for his own life if all the prisoners escaped.

The jailer called for lights, rushed in and fell trembling before Paul and Silas. He then brought them out and asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”

They replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household.” Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all the others in his house. At that hour of the night the jailer took them and washed their wounds; then immediately he and all his household were baptized. The jailer brought them into his house and set a meal before them; he was filled with joy because he had come to believe in God—he and his whole household. – Acts 16:29-34

This is much more the image of an entire net-full of fish being hauled in than a single fish being reeled in on a line. This is what Peter and Andrew would have thought of when they began to imagine what it would mean to be fishers of men: going to groups of people – families, households, communities – and drawing them to Jesus.

There is much more to the calling of Peter and Andrew that we see in the other gospels. We know from John chapter 1 that Andrew was already a follower of John the Baptist, who encouraged him to follow Jesus instead. And it was Andrew who invited his brother Simon to join him in that. It says that this was the first thing he did! He brought his brother to Jesus. So Andrew was the first evangelist to bring someone to Jesus. What did he tell his brother? “We have found the Messiah!” They recognized Jesus as someone worth following and would come to know him as the Way, the Truth, and the Life. And Jesus gave Simon the name Peter, as he recognized immediately what a “rock” this man would be in building the church. Returning to Matthew 4 again,

Going on from there, he saw two other brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John. They were in a boat with their father Zebedee, preparing their nets. Jesus called them, and immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him. – Matthew 4:21-22

So James and John were two other brothers that Jesus called away from their life as fishermen to follow him. Mark’s gospel in chapter 3 tells us that Jesus gave them the moniker, “Sons of Thunder.” That passage does not explain why, but we can surmise that it was because they could be impetuous and angry at times. There was the instance in Luke 9 where James and John reacted to the rejection of the Samaritans by asking Jesus, “Do you want us to call down fire from heaven to destroy them?” Jesus had to rebuke them for that suggestion. What a transformation for John to become known later as the Apostle of Love.

We can wonder what Zebedee thought as his sons abandoned him in their fishing boat. Perhaps he would have recognized something special about Jesus, too, and encouraged his sons to learn a new way. At least we know that he was not left alone, because Mark’s account adds that there were hired men with him. This also indicates that Zebedee’s family was somewhat well-off, if they could afford to hire others to work for them. They were not the poorest of the poor.

So these four early disciples were fishermen, and there would be incidents, stories, and lessons that would tie them to the lake and their former occupation. For example, Luke 5 adds the story of Jesus choosing Simon’s boat to stand in while he taught the people.

When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into deep water, and let down the nets for a catch.”

Simon answered, “Master, we’ve worked hard all night and haven’t caught anything. But because you say so, I will let down the nets.”

When they had done so, they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break. So they signaled their partners in the other boat to come and help them, and they came and filled both boats so full that they began to sink.

When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus’ knees and said, “Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!” For he and all his companions were astonished at the catch of fish they had taken, and so were James and John, the sons of Zebedee, Simon’s partners.

Then Jesus said to Simon, “Don’t be afraid; from now on you will fish for people.” So they pulled their boats up on shore, left everything and followed him. – Luke 5:4-11

Because you say so, I will let down the nets. Peter realize that where his own efforts were useless, he could step out in faith and see Jesus do a miracle. It was a lesson he would need to learn over and over, just like we have to. This encounter with the power of God gave him such a sense of unworthiness and sinfulness that he couldn’t bear to look into the face of Jesus. But Jesus tells him not to be afraid. As a fisher of men he would be similarly successful, but not by his own effort.

Back to Matthew’s account in chapter 4,

Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people. News about him spread all over Syria, and people brought to him all who were ill with various diseases, those suffering severe pain, the demon-possessed, those having seizures, and the paralyzed; and he healed them. Large crowds from Galilee, the Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea and the region across the Jordan followed him. – Matthew 4:23-25

These were the signs of the kingdom being ushered in by Jesus: the teaching and preaching of the good news of salvation offered to everyone, backed up by a demonstration of God’s power to reverse the work of Satan in people’s lives. People would be healed, comforted, delivered from demons, and strengthened to live healthy, productive lives. No one else was doing this. Religious leaders might have had the right doctrine, but they did not have the power to transform lives. Traditional doctors and magicians might have had some ability to help people, but they could not bring hope to a sin-sick soul. Jesus was unique, and when people heard about him they wanted to be near him. So they came from all over, not just Jewish areas, but places like Syria and the Decapolis and the region beyond the Jordan.

Jesus quickly became known as much more than the carpenter’s son from Nazareth. He became a regional celebrity. This was a rapid and profound change. It was also a transition that would put him at extreme risk. He was confronting powerful people who would try to destroy him. He was starting on a path that would eventually lead to the cross.

Did he ever long for a return to a quiet life in Nazareth? Would it have been easier to just remain an unknown nobody, still involved in God’s work, but in a way that didn’t create any waves? We might be tempted in that way, too, but I’m sure those thoughts were quickly rejected by Jesus! He knew why he had come, and he needed to press on in that calling, regardless of how difficult or painful it would be.

So if you are contemplating a difficult transition or any kind of a step of faith, take courage from the example of Jesus. When we get to chapter 20 we will see how resolute Jesus was in accomplishing his God-given purpose:

Now Jesus was going up to Jerusalem. On the way, he took the Twelve aside and said to them, “We are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and the teachers of the law. They will condemn him to death and will hand him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and flogged and crucified. On the third day he will be raised to life!” – Matthew 20:17-19

Jesus knew that pain and suffering lay ahead, but he looked ahead to the victory beyond that. I would like to close with the first verse of hymn that I really like. You will probably recognize it. Think about it in all the changes and trials of your life.

Be still my soul the Lord is on thy side.
Bear patiently the cross of grief or pain.
Leave to thy God to order and provide.
In every change He faithful will remain.
Be still my soul thy best, thy heavenly friend,
Through thorny ways leads to a joyful end.