When Jesus heard that John had been put in prison, he withdrew to Galilee. 13 Leaving Nazareth, he went and lived in Capernaum, which was by the lake in the area of Zebulun and Naphtali— 14 to fulfill what was said through the prophet Isaiah:
18 As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. 19 “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will send you out to fish for people.” 20 At once they left their nets and followed him.
21 Going on from there, he saw two other brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John. They were in a boat with their father Zebedee, preparing their nets. Jesus called them, 22 and immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him.
23 Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people.
I would again like to note that many modern theologians would break this particular texts into 3 parts:
The first part would be directed at verses 12-17 in which the 'kingdom of heaven' is of primary importance. It sets the ground work for a theme that will be found throughout Matthew's gospel. It is interesting to note that the gospel writer does not hold the 'kingdom of heaven' as an ideal, but rather sees it as definitively revealed and embodied in the life and ministry of Jesus. Fast forward a couple of thousand years and the theologian rooted in Matthew would suggest that as the church proclaims the act of God in Jesus, the church extends or continues Christ's own preaching into the modern era. The theocentricity and kingship language found throughout the remainder of the gospel reaffirm and support this perspective.
The second part of the passage would include verses 18-22 and would focus on the calling of the first disciples. It appears that Matthew may be addressing the question within his community that is: How do people become disciples of Christ? It appears that for Matthew the root of discipleship may not be in belief at all, but rather in strictly, and with complete abandon, following Jesus. This messes with the idealism and rationalism of the 21st century, because if we take the story as it is written, then Jesus appears disruptively in our lives and doesn't ask us to accept his principles, or admire him, or even accept him as our personal savior; instead, we are simply called to follow him. And if the reaction of the disciples is any indicator as to what our reaction is supposed to be, then there is an immediacy of dropping everything and doing just that. Not a comforting notion in the world of competing demands that we live in today.
The final verse, for most modern theologians, would be included in a set that runs 4:23-5:2 and sets the stage for the Sermon on the Mount. Some see verse 23 as causal for verse 24 (his fame came from his travels) while others suggest that 23 simply shows what Jesus did with the disciples after he said 'follow me.'
Here is the tough question: can we learn anything about unity from these passages? Is there any inference that can be made about keeping the main thing the main thing? Please feel free to comment below.
15 “Land of Zebulun and land of Naphtali,
the Way of the Sea, beyond the Jordan,
Galilee of the Gentiles—
16 the people living in darkness
have seen a great light;
on those living in the land of the shadow of death
a light has dawned.”[a]
the Way of the Sea, beyond the Jordan,
Galilee of the Gentiles—
16 the people living in darkness
have seen a great light;
on those living in the land of the shadow of death
a light has dawned.”[a]
17 From that time on Jesus began to preach, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.”
21 Going on from there, he saw two other brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John. They were in a boat with their father Zebedee, preparing their nets. Jesus called them, 22 and immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him.
23 Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people.
I would again like to note that many modern theologians would break this particular texts into 3 parts:
The first part would be directed at verses 12-17 in which the 'kingdom of heaven' is of primary importance. It sets the ground work for a theme that will be found throughout Matthew's gospel. It is interesting to note that the gospel writer does not hold the 'kingdom of heaven' as an ideal, but rather sees it as definitively revealed and embodied in the life and ministry of Jesus. Fast forward a couple of thousand years and the theologian rooted in Matthew would suggest that as the church proclaims the act of God in Jesus, the church extends or continues Christ's own preaching into the modern era. The theocentricity and kingship language found throughout the remainder of the gospel reaffirm and support this perspective.
The second part of the passage would include verses 18-22 and would focus on the calling of the first disciples. It appears that Matthew may be addressing the question within his community that is: How do people become disciples of Christ? It appears that for Matthew the root of discipleship may not be in belief at all, but rather in strictly, and with complete abandon, following Jesus. This messes with the idealism and rationalism of the 21st century, because if we take the story as it is written, then Jesus appears disruptively in our lives and doesn't ask us to accept his principles, or admire him, or even accept him as our personal savior; instead, we are simply called to follow him. And if the reaction of the disciples is any indicator as to what our reaction is supposed to be, then there is an immediacy of dropping everything and doing just that. Not a comforting notion in the world of competing demands that we live in today.
The final verse, for most modern theologians, would be included in a set that runs 4:23-5:2 and sets the stage for the Sermon on the Mount. Some see verse 23 as causal for verse 24 (his fame came from his travels) while others suggest that 23 simply shows what Jesus did with the disciples after he said 'follow me.'
Here is the tough question: can we learn anything about unity from these passages? Is there any inference that can be made about keeping the main thing the main thing? Please feel free to comment below.
No comments:
Post a Comment