John was arrested. Elijah, come to prepare the way of the Messiah, was removed from the mission.
The mantle had been passed at Jesus' Baptism by John, and now the mission was in Jesus' hands.
Jesus withdrew to Capernaum, the territory of the old tribes of Zebulun and Naphtali, where during the reign of King Ahaz of Judah the people were under the threat of invasion by the Northern Kingdom and Syria (Isaiah 7). Assyria did invade, exiled and occupied the land (Isaiah 8). Now, it was Rome that occupied this land. Capernaum was not a place of Rome's elites, and it was not the place of the Temple, or the place of Herod's palace, or where the Temple Cult practiced their collusion with Rome. It was a place where common people lived, who had a history and identification with being occupied and oppressed. They had, not walked in darkness as Isaiah's folk in the exile, but SAT in darkness for a long time - a people oppressed in their own land.
Jesus started His ministry among common folk who were occupied by Rome and oppressed by them, their own Temple cult and king. Jesus, the Messiah, comes as light in their darkness (Isaiah 9:2-7). The Gospel writer draws a well-known history of oppression with a very well known writing on hope in the face of it, and points out that that hope is Emmanuel - God with us (1:23). This flies in the face of Rome - of Caesar who is called "savior" and "god's son". This flies in the face of Herod, who is not a legitimate king, and who has used his position for personal gain at the expense of God's people. This flies in the face of the Temple Cult, who have used their position (as intermediaries to God) to make loans to farmers and gain in wealth by defaulting on those loans and taking their land, and who have used their power to subjugate the people of God. Now, there will be LIGHT in darkness, hope in hopelessness, justice in oppression. But will the people trust God and find salvation or continue in this system of oppression and find judgment?
Jesus' proclamation in this rich soil? "Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand." God has reached into your lives. It is time to repent - metanoia - turn around in your thinking, so that your life direction will change. It is time for you, King Herod and you, Temple Cult to change your corrupt and faithless practices. It is time for you, people of God, to stop sitting in this darkness and live God's Kingdom Values, instead of the acceptance of and practicing of worldly empire values. Messiah is here. God's Kingdom is reaching into your life, here and now. No more powerlessness. No more siding with the power in order to exploit and oppress others. It is time to embrace God's Kingdom Values and act on them in the world, shedding the light of Good News in a world of darkness.
And the response?
Jesus walked by the Sea of Galilea, saw some fisherman who were under this oppression for a long time, people who had once done their trade knowing it would support their families for generations, but who now mostly supported the very military industrial complex that occupied and oppressed them. They were part of the middle class that had been eliminated in the empire system, a natural consequence of empire - the very few have all the wealth and the rest are their serfs, fodder to feed the machine and keep them in power and wealth. They were folk who had nothing to lose and everything to gain. Jesus had authority and spoke with it, uttered a command (Imperative Mood - "Follow me.") Immediately they went, leaving everything behind, a leap of faith, to pursue a life of living God's Kingdom Values, as they had had a snoot-full of worldly empire values.
Then, Jesus went out proclaiming the Good News of the Kingdom of God in the face of the bad news of the empire and corruptions of the King and Temple Cult, even in their synagogues. He healed people - a sign of the Day of the Lord when all is restored to Shalom - completeness, wholeness, well-being. It was a sign that God was reconciling Heaven and Earth, even from the time of the fall, bringing all creation back into healthy relationship with God. It was a sign that not only would bodies be healed, but also the system that now was sick because it held many down, back and out for the sake of a very few. It was a sign of God's Kingdom Come and God's Will Being Done.
We have sat in relative darkness for a long time. If you have not felt it much, it is because the worldly empire values designed to make you powerless and poor have not completed that work yet - they have been somewhat thwarted from doing so completely, even though their efforts have been very intentional and focused since 1981 (Reagan/Falwell - see my blog "Greed's Blueprint for our Future - on the Desolating Sacrilege - March, 2013). Now, the worldly empire values, embraced and more fully developed prior to the last eight years, will be coming into full fruition - producing the bad fruit of empire in a more complete way. Politicians, even the ones you have thought represent common folk, are in collusion for their personal gain. Many of the religious leaders are in collusion for their own gain, or silent out of the fear of losing their own power or wealth. If they speak, people who claim Jesus while giving their devotion to worldly empire values may not like them or keep coming to their churches or denominations. Individualized salvation perspectives, prosperity theology and church growth perspectives are reflective of self-serving industries and elites. This kills the Body of Christ - community. It hurts God's people. Do you see it getting darker now?
Does the coming of Jesus mean anything to you in light of this?
Are your values in collusion with worldly empire values, so that you support this system that oppresses others, hoping that you will somehow benefit along the way? That is not following Jesus. Do you sit in the darkness, develop a perspective of futility, just waiting for someone else, perhaps the Lord to (supernaturally) take it away for you? Do you live God's Kingdom Values, following Jesus - what Jesus taught, commanded and modeled for us, as we have it in the Gospels? Do you live those values in the face of those who represent empire, and courageously refuse to play along, refuse to stay silent, refuse to participate in them? We have a history of folk who have refused to be compliant. They have not taken up arms or used tactics of empire, but have embraced God's Kingdom values as Jesus has taught us, even helping the most vulnerable who are most oppressed by the living of worldly empire values of power and wealth for the very few. What does this mean for YOU, here and now?
What does it mean for COMMUNITY - the Body of Christ - here and now?
Matthew 4:12-23 is meant to be light in the darkness. Will it be for you, here and now?
Pretty timely passage, right?
Pastor Jamie
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