January 26th 2014 SECOND SUNDAY OF ORDINARY TIME

Gospel: Matthew 4:12-23

­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­Translated from a homily by Don Fabio Rosini, broadcast on Vatican Radio

Don Fabio’s reflection follows the Gospel reading ...

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GOSPEL Matthew 4:12-23

Hearing that John had been arrested Jesus went back to Galilee,  and leaving Nazareth he went and settled in Capernaum, a lakeside town on the borders of Zebulun and Naphtali.  In this way the prophecy of Isaiah was to be fulfilled:

'Land of Zebulun! Land of Naphtali! 

Way of the sea on the far side of Jordan, 

Galilee of the nations!

The people that lived in darkness 

has seen a great light; 

on those who dwell in the land and shadow of death 

a light has dawned.'

From that moment Jesus began his preaching with the message, 'Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is close at hand'.

As he was walking by the Sea of Galilee he saw two brothers, Simon, who was called Peter, and his brother Andrew; they were making a cast in the lake with their net, for they were fishermen. And he said to them, 'Follow me and I will make you fishers of men'. And they left their nets at once and followed him.

Going on from there he saw another pair of brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John; they were in their boat with their father Zebedee, mending their nets, and he called them. At once leaving the boat and their father, they followed him.

He went round the whole of Galilee teaching in their synagogue proclaiming the Good News of the kingdom and curing all kinds diseases and sickness among the people.

 The Gospel of the Lord: Praise to you Lord Jesus Christ

Kieran’s summary . . . The first reading from Isaiah recounts how a people who walked in darkness see a great light. In the Gospel we find that Jesus goes to live in the very area spoken of by Isaiah, a crossroads of culture, where Judaism would have been poorly observed. Capernaum was a shabby commercial town on the periphery as far as “pure” Judaism was concerned. It is here that the mission of the Lord begins. Jesus does not choose an area of impressive religious observance in which people live upright lives. He starts out from the most unlikely of places where people seem farthest removed from God. All of us walk in the same darkness and have need of His great light! Where does Jesus call us? While we are in church saying our prayers? When does Jesus call us? At a time when all is secure and going well? No! Just as Jesus called the apostles while they were doing their menial everyday tasks, so he calls us at the very time when God does not seem present in our lives. He comes to us wherever we are to be found saying, “Repent for the Kingdom of Heaven is near!” Who is the Kingdom near to? To those who have their lives sorted out and seem most ready to receive the Lord’s message? The great surprise of the Lord’s incarnation is that the Kingdom is near to each one of us because Jesus is near us in the darkness of the anger, irritability, disappointment and confusion of our everyday lives! It is he who approaches us, not we who approach him!

Jesus fulfils the prophecy of Isaiah by beginning his mission is a dark and peripheral area of Israel

The Gospel contains a citation from the Prophet Isaiah that appears in the first reading on Sunday. Isaiah foretells a time when the people who walk in darkness shall see a great light. The burden weighing on these people shall one day be broken as happened previously in the days of Midian. What is this passage referring to? It is speaking of one of the judges of Israel who defeated thousands of Midianites with an army of merely three hundred men.

            When John the Baptist is arrested, Jesus realizes that the moment for his mission has come. He goes to Galilee and settles in Capernaum on the shores of the lake, the most important town on the so-called “way of the sea” mentioned by Isaiah. Capernaum was a commercial town on an important crossroads. The east-west route led to the Mediterranean sea. Galilee itself was a region of mixed population. This was not an area of pure unadulterated Judaism. The history of salvation does not take its beginning from an untainted part of the world but from a peripheral, shabby location! Here there would have been plenty of paganism and little enough obedience to the Jewish law. In the same area there were towns that were dominated by Greek culture and ideas. This is the “land of darkness” where the mission of the Lord begins. He does not begin from the things that are already in order, but from the things that are broken and in need of repair. He starts out from the darkness that each of us walks in. As soon as the mission of John the Baptist comes to an end, Jesus begins in this chaotic place that would never have been cited in Scripture if it hadn’t been so down at heel. This is the kind of people that Jesus calls to himself, a people who eke out their existence on the edge of life. How Pope Francis must love the theme of this Sunday’s Gospel! And rightly so, because it is to places like these that the Lord’s mission is most urgently directed.

Jesus calls us in the places where we are to be found. He calls us at the times when we seem most distant from God

 It is here that Peter, Andrew, James and John receive their call from Jesus. Were they called while they were in the synagogue praying? No, they were called while they were working, in the very place where it seemed God was not present at all. The Lord hunts us out in these very places. He was preaching the message “Repent for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand!” And who was this message been preached to? To a people who lived far distant from the Temple, to a people who seemed the least receptive to a message of this sort. This is the surprise of the appearance of the Lord. Jesus becomes incarnate but does not assume any position of dignity or power. Instead he appears in the most profane and distant of places. It is to this place that the Kingdom of Heaven is near. But it is not we who are near Him; it is He who is near to us! It is Jesus who descends into Galilee; it is Jesus who appears in Capernaum; it is Jesus who takes the way of the sea; it is Jesus who calls those who are caught up with the tasks of ordinary life. Jesus calls us right here in the place where we are found, in the state of life in which we exist!

No matter how dark our lives, Jesus comes to us and calls us towards the light. How can I be sure that the Lord is calling me? Because of the talents and gifts he has given me? No! We mustn’t look to ourselves for evidence of his call. Let us look only to him!

The message of this Gospel is that there is no place on earth where the Lord cannot find us. No matter how complete the darkness of our lives, the Lord comes to us where we are. Jesus’ appearance in Capernaum is just the beginning of his descent into the darkness of humanity. He will go on to enter even into death itself and there take humanity by the hand and lead it out. If we wish to believe that we have been called by Christ then we mustn’t look at ourselves. We need look only at Him. It is unnecessary to reflect on our own qualities and talents. Let us contemplate only his power. It is He who knows how to transform our darkness into light.