Third Sunday on Ordinary Time

Having been baptized by John, ratified by his Father, flooded with the Spirit and tempted by Satan unsuccessfully, Jesus returns from Judea to his native region of Galilee, and promptly moves from Nazareth, his home town in the hill country, to Capernaum, the modern Tell Hum, to begin several years of public ministry.

After years of preparation and silence, Jesus now responds to his Father’s call, and begins his mission in the area of Galilee. At the time of Jesus, Galilee was about half Gentile and half Jewish in its population; it was a vacation resort for the Roman world. {Those fishermen whom Jesus called to be fishers of men may have had a more sophisticated knowledge of the Mediterranean world than we sometimes suppose. Peter and Andrew, James and John may have been the purveyors of fish to the jet set of the first century.}

About 732 BC the Assyrian conqueror, Tiglath-Pileser, had devastated this territory of Israel. But prophet Isaiah affirmed that God would not forget his people, and so confidently predicted that a restoration was to come. Darkness would give way to light, sorrow to rejoicing. What Isaiah could have foreseen only dimly, Matthew was able to identify clearly. Both the first reading and the Gospel tell us that Jesus will be a light, even to these Gentiles. Jesus, who began his ministry in a town that was within the territory mentioned by the prophet, must be the great light and source of joy predicted long ago. So Matthew sees Isaiah’s aspirations fulfilled in Jesus Christ.

His inaugural message is word-for-word the same as that of John the Baptist: Reform your lives. The Kingdom of heaven is close at hand. Any change or improvement in society must be preceded by a change and improvement in individual hearts. The first part of the message calls for a complete conversion and reorientation of life. Jesus is calling all people for a profound conversion of heart or metanoia. The second part affords the reason for the command to Reform. That is, God’s reign is initiated in Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus not only announces the reign, but is the very embodiment of the kingdom. Jesus’ ministry marks the beginning of the last age in mankind’s history, when the powers of evil -illness, ignorance, death and sin- will be overcome. The definitive display of God’s power and judgment and the establishment of his rule over all creation are near. In fact, the ultimate victory of God is being inaugurated in the mninistry of his Son.

Having received and recognized his vocation, Jesus now calls his first four male disciples (Paul VI liked to say that Mary the Mother of Jesus was his first and greatest disciple). And since they lived in his new hometown -Capernaun-, Jesus probably had sized them up before inviting them to join him in his ministry. Jesus knew that in the plan of his Father, he was to spend only a limited period of time on this earth. And part of the plan was that after Jesus had ascended into heaven, other human beings like ourselves would continue his saving work in this world.

Just as Jesus had summoned the first four disciples, so, through our baptism, He has summoned us to be his followers and servants of the Father. We are also the light of the world, because those who share this Light will become light ourselves.