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Gospel: Matthew 4: 12-23
When Jesus heard that John had been arrested,
he withdrew to Galilee.
He left Nazareth and went to live in Capernaum by the sea,
in the region of Zebulun and Naphtali,
that what had been said through Isaiah the prophet
might be fulfilled:
Land of Zebulun and land of Naphtali,
the way to the sea, beyond the Jordan,
Galilee of the Gentiles,
the people who sit in darkness have seen a great light,
on those dwelling in a land overshadowed by death
light has arisen.
From that time on, Jesus began to preach and say,
“Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”
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.
He said to them,
“Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men.”
At once they left their nets and followed him.
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, and immediately they left their boat and their father
and followed him.
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.
The Gospel of the Lord.
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It’s been said, “We make decisions. Slowly, those decisions define our lives.”
Looking back, I can think of several decisions that have defined my life – choosing where to go to college, responding to the call to priesthood, moving to Rome, and ultimately accepting the Cardinal’s invitation to be the shepherd of our beloved faith community.
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In today’s Gospel, both Jesus and his disciples make decisions that will define the rest of their lives.
The arrest of John the Baptist signals to the Lord that his time has come. As John cried out prophetically before his imprisonment, “He must increase and I must decrease.” As John fades away, Jesus takes center stage, emerging publicly as the Messiah.
It would’ve been understandable for the Lord to shy away from Herod’s paranoid reign. But Jesus does the opposite. Moving to Capernaum, towards the very center of Herod’s power, Jesus begins his public ministry of preaching and healing.
He will not be intimidated by evil; rather, Jesus confronts it head on in a non-violent and non-retaliatory way.
This is, perhaps, a lesson we all need to be reminded of at times – darkness cannot drive out darkness, nor can evil drive out evil. Just as light is the antidote for darkness, so love is the antidote for hate.
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Before starting his ministry, Jesus returns to the small, hilltop town of Nazareth where he grew up to say his goodbyes.
Imagine him embracing the ordinary people he loved – family members, friends, and good neighbors – knowing in his heart that he would never see them again.
Shutting his front door and throwing whatever he owns over his shoulder, Jesus heads down to the populous lakeside village of Capernaum as he faces his future.
I imagine John the Baptist weighed heavily on his heart. It was John who plunged him into the Jordan River while proclaiming repentance. Now John is chained to a wall deep inside Herod’s darkened prison.
John reminds us that it’s never safe to rebuke a tyrant.
If John could be jailed for something as mild as denouncing Herod’s unlawful marriage, then what will happen to Jesus as he proclaims the arrival of an entirely new kingdom, where the first shall be last and the greatest shall be the servant of all?
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Much of Christ’s public ministry will unfold in Capernaum, right underneath Herod’s nose. There, Jesus calls his first disciples, performs miraculous healings, casts out demons, cleanses lepers, and offers new beginnings, forgiving people caught in sin.
Yet after all he does, Jesus will leave that town, condemning the locals for their spiritual lethargy.
As Matthew recounts, “He began to reproach the towns where most of his mighty deeds had been done, since they had not repented…Woe to you, Capernaum!” Jesus laments.
It’s a sobering truth – God can walk among us and act directly in our lives, still we can be uninspired to change.
So, Jesus will shake the dust from his feet and continue his march towards Jerusalem, wondering, “When the Son of Man comes, will he find any faith on earth?”
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Unlike the residents of Capernaum, there were people whose lives were forever changed by the Lord, a few of them being his disciples, whom he calls in today’s Gospel. Two sets of brothers: Peter and Andrew, James and John.
When the Lord calls them, they immediately drop their nets and follow him.
Sometimes we imagine their sacrifice to be easier than ours. We might say they lived in a simpler time; they weren’t bound by as many obligations as we are; or they had less to lose.
But that isn’t true.
Peter was married. He and his brother, Andrew, were successful fishermen. James and John left their father on the spot. These were not young, idealistic boys; they were real men with deeply connected lives.
So, why would they leave everything to follow the Lord?
In Judaism, ceasing to work and breaking family ties was only permissible in order to study the Word of God; there was no higher calling.
In calling his disciples to himself, and making the brazen command, “I will make you fishers of men,” Jesus claims to be the Word of God incarnate. By studying him, his disciples will learn directly from God himself.
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Sometimes we also need to take risks. When have I made a difficult decision in order to follow the Lord? Or where might Jesus be calling me now?
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We all make decisions. Slowly, those decisions define our lives.
The Lord reminds us today that there is no higher calling – or greater decision to make – than to leave everything behind and follow him.
What might that look like for us today?
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Image credits: (1) Wharton Executive Education, UPenn (2) Patrick Oben (3) The Wall Street Journal