Flashback Episode — Starting with the Gentiles: Matthew 4:13-17

As I have read from the gospel of Matthew, it seems as though Matthew, while he was a tax collector, may have had a childhood goal of being a Rabbi or religious expert. When reading his gospel, time and time again, he draws our attention to how an act or event in Jesus’ life fulfills one or more prophecies.

Reading this gospel helps draw our attention onto just how many prophecies about the Messiah there were, and Matthew helps us discover prophecies that we might not have thought of as being prophetic of the Messiah’s ministry.

Perhaps you have noticed this in Matthew, but if not, a couple of episodes ago, we focused in on some of Matthew’s prophecies surrounding Jesus’ birth, and in this episode, Matthew brings out another prophecy that is fulfilled when Jesus begins His ministry.

Our passage for this episode is found in the gospel of Matthew, chapter 4, and we will read it from the New International Reader’s Version. Starting in verse 13, Matthew tells us that:

¹³ Jesus left Nazareth and went to live in the city of Capernaum. It was by the lake in the area of Zebulun and Naphtali. ¹⁴ In that way, what the prophet Isaiah had said came true. He had said,

¹⁵ “Land of Zebulun! Land of Naphtali!
    Galilee, where Gentiles live!
    Land along the Mediterranean Sea! Territory east of the Jordan River!
¹⁶ The people who are now living in darkness
    have seen a great light.
They are now living in a very dark land.
    But a light has shined on them.”

In these few short verses, Matthew brings our attention to where Jesus would begin His ministry, and he shows us specifically how this act was in direct fulfillment of prophecy. Whether Jesus chose this location because of the prophecy, or because God directed Him there because it was the home of a number of His first disciples, we don’t really know for sure, but regardless of the reason, this act sheds light on the focus of Jesus’ ministry.

Capernaum was a fishing hub on the Sea of Galilee and while it was part of Israel, it held a greater number of Gentiles in it than many other parts of the country. This is interesting, because while we might think Jesus began or centered His ministry in an area where there was a high percentage of Jews, this is not the case, because even the prophecy states that Galilee was the part of Israel where Gentiles lived. Gentile is simply a broad term for anyone who is not Jewish.

This was likely one of the first counter-messianic things that Jesus did in His ministry that didn’t line up with the traditional view of the coming Messiah. The popular thought among the Jews at that time was that the Messiah would come, rally the Jews together, throw off Roman oppression, and reestablish the nation of Israel as a permanent country that would never again be overtaken.

If Jesus would have been this type of Messiah, then centering the beginning of His ministry in an area that doesn’t have as many Jews in it does not make sense. For this military-messiah model to work, Jesus should have centered His ministry in the southern portions of Israel, where there was a greater concentration of Jews – as well as Jerusalem and all the Jewish leaders.

However, Jesus came as a Messiah for humanity, not just as a Messiah for only the Jews. It seems as though Jesus intentionally chose Capernaum because of its higher concentration of Gentiles. Perhaps there were more Gentiles in the city than Jews, or maybe it was a 50-50 split at the time Jesus was there. In the little research I did, I could not find an answer to this question.

However, what I do find interesting about this event is that by choosing Capernaum, Jesus is intentionally saying that He has come to reach not only the Jews, but also the Gentiles. In this act, it is like Jesus is saying publicly that He values both the Jews and the Gentiles. Jesus valued the Jews because Capernaum was located in Israel and Jesus valued the Gentiles because Capernaum may have been one of the more Gentile-filled areas of the nation.

After Jesus moved and began His ministry, what did He do first?

Our passage continues and concludes with a summary verse that described how Jesus began His ministry. In verse 17, we read, “From that time on Jesus began to preach. ‘Turn away from your sins!’ he said. ‘The kingdom of heaven has come near.’”

Jesus’ first big message echoes John the Baptizer’s ministry. Repent and pay attention, because the kingdom of heaven has come near.

This last verse points out something very interesting and important in my mind: In order to come to Jesus, we must turn away from our sins and recognize that He wants to “come near” to us. Moving towards Jesus will never move you towards sin, and moving towards sin will never move you towards Jesus.

In our own lives, God wants to be close to each of us, and He wants to have a growing, personal relationship with us because He sees each of us as special in His eyes. However, He also cannot stand sin, and because of this, He will prompt us to get rid of the sin in our lives so that He can move closer. If we are stubborn and don’t give up sin, then unfortunately for us, He does not move as close. By choosing a sin over a closer relationship with God, we are placing God in second or third place, and making that sin a “god” in our lives – which breaks the first of the Ten Commandments.

God loves us and He forgives us, but His forgiveness is when we have repented and turned away from our sin. I am unaware of a place where the Bible says that God forgives those who are actively sinning. God has chosen to delay punishment, and He chose to come into a world full of sinners to let us know how much He loves each of us, but in order for our relationship with Him to grow, we must be moving away from sin and into a closer relationship with Him.

With that said, as we come to the end of another podcast episode, here are the challenges I will leave you with:

As I always open by challenging you to do, intentionally place God first in your life and choose to move towards Him and away from sin. Moving towards God is never the wrong choice from the perspective of eternity and while it might be a challenge to do in your life today, looking back on your decision from heaven will remind you that it was the best decision you could make.

Also, as I regularly challenge you to do in one way or another, continue praying, reading, and studying the Bible personally so you are able to get a clearer picture of God. While other people would want you to adopt their opinions about God, choose to base your opinion about God on what the Bible teaches and on what the Bible reveals to us about Him. While the Bible has challenging passages, the more we study out passages we don’t understand, the better able we will be to understand what God is really like.

And as I end every set of challenges by saying in one way or another, never stop short of, back away from, chicken out of, or turn away from where God wants to lead you to in your life with Him!