3rd Sunday of Ordinary Time, cycle A

MATTHEW 4:13-23
IN TODAY'S GOSPEL, MATTHEW WANTS HIS READERS TO NOTICE THAT JESUS BEGINS HIS PREACHING MINISTRY IN THE AREA AROUND THE UPPER PART OF THE SEA OF GALILEE – THE LAND OF ZEBULON AND NAPHTALI. YOU WILL REMEMBER THAT JESUS WAS BAPTIZED IN THE JORDAN RIVER, DOWN IN THE SOUTHERN PART OF PALESTINE, NOT FAR FROM JERUSALEM. HIS HOME WAS IN NAZARETH, AND NOW HE MOVES TO CAPARNUM, A SEASIDE VILLAGE.
THERE IS QUITE A CONTRAST BETWEEN JUDEA AND THE LAND WHERE JESUS BEGAN HIS MINISTRY. JUDEA WAS ALMOST ALL JERUSALEM; THERE WERE LITTLE TOWNS AS WELL – BETHLEHEM, EMMAUS, BETHANY, JERICHO – BUT THE SITUATION WAS SOMETHING LIKE RHODE ISLAND – THERE'S NOT A LOT THERE ONCE YOU GET OUTSIDE OF PROVIDENCE AND IT'S SUBURBS. THE BUSINESS OF JUDEA WAS JERUSALEM. AND THE BUSINESS OF JERUSALEM WAS RELIGION. THE HOLIEST AND MOST COMMITTED JEWS LIVED THERE.
IN GALILEE, ON THE OTHER HAND, AND ESPECIALLY IN CAPARNUM, IT WAS VERY DIFFERENT. CAPARNUM AND THE SURROUNDING AREAS WERE POPULATED BY JEWS, SAMARITANS, AND PAGANS. AND IF YOU WERE A RELIGIOUS JEW, YOU PROBABLY ENVIED THOSE PEOPLE IN JUDEA WHO HAD A MUCH EASIER TIME PRACTICING THEIR FAITH, OBSERVING THE PURITY RITUALS, AND BEING ABLE TO OFFER SACRIFICES ANY TIME THEY FELT LIKE IT. IN FACT, TO THE JEWS OF JERUSALEM, THE JEWS IN CAPARNUM WERE VIEWED AS UNSOPHISTICATED, ILLITERATE, DIRTY, AND HAVING VERY SHORT FUSES. I GUESS THAT IS A UNIVERSAL TRAIT – EVERYONE NEEDS SOMEONE TO LOOK DOWN ON. IN MONTANA, WE USED TO MAKE JOKES ABOUT NORTH DAKOTANS.
MATTHEW SAYS JESUS WENT TO THAT AREA TO FULFILL A PROPHECY OF ISAIAH, WHICH HE QUOTES, AND OF COURSE HIS READERS WOULD IMMEDIATELY SEE THAT THOSE GALILEANS WERE PEOPLE LIVING IN DARKNESS, COMPARED TO JEWS LIVING IN JERUSALEM, OR IN SOME OF THE CITIES OF THE EMPIRE WHERE THE JEWISH POPULATION WAS URBAN AND SOPHISTICATED.
BUT JESUS DIDN'T GO THERE JUST BECAUSE HE WANTED TO FULFILL A PROPHECY. I THINK HE WENT THERE BECAUSE THERE WAS A MUCH BETTER CHANCE THAT THOSE PEOPLE WOULD ACCEPT HIS MESSAGE, AS OPPOSED TO THE PEOPLE OF JUDEA – AND OF COURSE, TIME SHOWED THAT HE WAS CORRECT. IN JERUSALEM, A LOT OF PEOPLE LIVED OFF THE TOURIST TRADE, OR MADE MONEY SELLING SACRIFICIAL ANIMALS, OR WERE EMPLOYED BY THE KING OR THE HIGH PRIEST. WHITE COLLAR WORKERS. THE PEOPLE OF JUDEA HAD THE TEMPLE AND THE PRIESTHOOD AND PEOPLE WHO COULD READ AND INTERPRET THE SACRED WRITINGS – WHAT DID THEY NEED OF A WANDERING PREACHER?
THE PEOPLE OF THE NORTH UNDERSTOOD THEMSELVES TO BE WANTING IN NEARLY EVERYTHING RELIGIOUS; ABOUT ALL THEY COULD DO WAS GET DOWN TO THE TEMPLE ONCE A YEAR TO OFFER A SACRIFICE, AND THE REST OF THE TIME THEY TRIED TO KEEP THE SABBATH AS BEST THEY COULD. IN THE NORTH, ALMOST EVERY JEW WAS EMPLOYED IN HARD PHYSICAL LABOR IN JOBS THAT WERE LOOKED DOWN ON – FISHING, CARPENTRY, FARMING, HERDING SHEEP, AND THERE WERE MANY DAY LABORERS, LIVING HAND TO MOUTH, EATING WHEN THEY WORKED, STARVING WHEN THEY COULDN'T FIND WORK.
SO JESUS REJECTED THOSE WHO THOUGHT THEY COULDN'T BE IMPROVED, AND WENT TO THOSE WHO KNEW THEY LACKED SOMETHING. AND IT WAS IN GALILEE THAT DISCIPLES CAME TO HIM IN DROVES.
UNTIL YOU ARE CONSCIOUS OF HOW MUCH YOU ARE LACKING, UNTIL YOU SEE THAT YOU LIVE IN A KIND OF DARKNESS, UNTIL YOU CAN TRULY SEE HOW HOPELESS YOU ARE BY YOURSELF, UNTIL THEN, IT IS HARD TO HEAR JESUS' MESSAGE. HE SAYS “REPENT, REFORM YOUR LIVES, TURN AWAY FROM THE DIRECTION IN WHICH YOU ARE GOING”. BUT WHO WILL LISTEN IF HE OR SHE THINKS THINGS ARE ABOUT 90% PERFECT THE WAY THEY ARE? HE SAYS, “THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN IS AT HAND,” BUT IF WE EAT WELL EVERY DAY, DRIVE A LATE MODEL CAR, HAVE A 50 INCH FLAT PANEL TELEVISION, NEVER REALLY EXPERIENCE COLD OR BAD WEATHER FROM INSIDE OUR WARM HOUSES, AND ENJOY GOOD HEALTH, THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN MAY NOT BE ALL THAT ATTRACTIVE. IN THE UNITED STATES OVER THE PAST FEW YEARS THERE HAS BEEN A LARGE INCREASE IN THE NUMBER OF PEOPLE WHO BELIEVE IN REINCARNATION. A REASON FOR THIS IS THAT LIFE IS PRETTY GOOD, AND PEOPLE WOULD PREFER TO COME BACK HERE, NOT GO OFF TO A HEAVEN WHICH BY COMPARISON DOESN'T SEEM THAT MUCH BETTER.
THE PEOPLE OF JUDEA, EVEN THOUGH VERY RELIGIOUS, WERE IN GENERAL, FULL OF THEMSELVES. THERE WAS VERY LITTLE ROOM IN THEM FOR GOD TO OPERATE. THE PEOPLE IN THE NORTH WERE CONSCIOUS OF THEIR EMPTINESS, AND IN THOSE CIRCUMSTANCES, GOD CAN DO WONDERFUL THINGS – AS JESUS DEMONSTRATED IN THE TOWNS AND VILLAGES THROUGH WHICH HE TRAVELED.
THERE ARE MANY PEOPLE IN OUR COUNTRY, MANY PEOPLE IN OUR PARISH, I WOULD VENTURE TO SAY, AND I'M NOT EXCLUDING MYSELF, WHO ARE QUITE COMFORTABLE, WHO SEE THEMSELVES AS BASICALLY ALL RIGHT, NOT IN NEED OF MUCH IMPROVEMENT, AND IF YOU WERE TO ASK THEM WHERE THEY NEED TO CHANGE, THEY WOULD THINK A LONG TIME AND THEN GIVE YOU A STATEMENT LIKE “I'M A LITTLE SHORT TEMPERED,” OR “I PROBABLY DON'T PRAY ENOUGH.” AND THERE IS LITTLE ROOM FOR GOD TO WORK.
BUT ONCE WE SEE OUR OWN EMPTINESS, HOW FAR WE ARE FROM WHAT WE SHOULD BE AND WHAT WE COULD BE, HOW MUCH WE NEED TO BE FILLED UP BE GOD AND EMPTIED OUT OF OURSELVES, AND THEN WE TURN AWAY FROM ALL THOSE THINGS, ALL THAT STUFF, AND TURN TOWARDS GOD, WE WILL BE THE PEOPLE WHO LIVE IN DARKNESS WHO SEE A GREAT LIGHT, AND JESUS WILL MOVE AMONG US HEALING THE SICK AND BRINGING THE KINGDOM INTO OUR MIDST.
LET US PRAY TODAY THAT WE WILL BE ABLE TO LEAVE JERUSALEM AND GO TO CAPARNUM, WHERE JESUS CAN HEAL OUR SICKNESS AND GIVE SIGHT TO OUR BLINDNESS.