The Beginning of the Galilean Ministry
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Mt 4:12-17, 23-25
12When he heard that John had been arrested, [Jesus] withdrew to Galilee. 13He left Nazareth and went to live in Capernaum by the sea, in the region of Zebulun and Naphtali, 14that 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,/ 16the people who sit in darkness/ have seen a great light,/ on those dwelling in a land overshadowed by death/ light has arisen.”/
17From that time on, Jesus began to preach and say, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”
23He
went around all of Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming
the gospel of the kingdom, and curing every disease and illness among
the people. 24His fame spread to all of Syria, and they
brought to him all who were sick with various diseases and racked with
pain, those who were possessed, lunatics, and paralytics, and he cured
them. 25And great crowds from Galilee, the Decapolis, Jerusalem, and Judea, and from beyond the Jordan followed him.
Reflection:
The people who sit in darkness have seen a great light.
In our individual lives and in our history, we have all experienced how
our dark moments are illuminated when a person of the hour comes along.
In the Philippines, after the murder of Ninoy Aquino, the country was
plunged in great darkness. But when Cory Aquino announced her candidacy,
the light of new hope shone on the country, culminating in our famous
EDSA peaceful people power revolution.
The
coming of Jesus into the scene when he stays in Capernaum casts an even
greater light of hope on people who have been sitting in darkness and
dwelling in a land overshadowed by death. Jesus brings light by his
person and by his ministry of teaching, proclaiming the gospel, and
healing.
Do you, like Christ, bring light to people?
Or does your arrival cast a pall of gloom over them?
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