Matthew 4:12-17
At that time, when Jesus heard that John had been arrested, he withdrew into Galilee; and leaving Nazareth he went and dwelt in Capernaum by the sea, in the territory of Zebulun and Naphtali, that what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled:
“The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, toward the sea, across the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles, the people who sat in darkness have seen a great light, and for those who sat in the region and shadow of death light has dawned.”
From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”
In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
In our Gospel reading for today, Saint Matthew tells us that Jesus waited until after the imprisonment of Saint John the Baptist before He began to preach Himself. From that, the question naturally arises as to why did He wait until then? Indeed, we read elsewhere in the Gospels that He did not begin His public ministry until He was about thirty years of age. So, we might as well ask the question also, why did He wait until that age?
As to the question of His age, it is to be remembered that in that time and place a man was not considered to be fully of age until he had reached thirty. A younger man might, of course, work, own property, marry, and fulfil other public duties such as serve in the army. But until the age of thirty, he wasn’t considered fully mature.
There is a certain wisdom in this. A man may be physically mature at a much younger age, but there is more to maturity than simply being physically mature. Human development is a complicated affair, and while a man may come into his full strength at a relatively young age, his mental and emotional maturity does not come until some years later.
There is also a quite natural preference for a community to think that it is a good idea for a man to have some amount of life experience. There are always, of course, exceptions to this. But in the ancient world such exceptions tended to come as a result of inherited wealth and family connections. But this, as we all know, was not part of God’s plan for His only begotten Son.
Regarding why our Lord waited until after the arrest of His cousin to begin His ministry, the Fathers explain this. Had Jesus begun preaching while Saint John was still going about his work, it would have risked giving the appearance that there was a rivalry between them. This could well have split the Baptist’s followers into two factions: one which rejected Jesus and continued to follow Saint John; and another which rejected Saint John and followed Jesus instead.
Neither would have been in keeping with God’s plan. Saint John was sent to prepare the way for Jesus. This was something prophesised in Sacred Scripture and acknowledged by both the Baptist and Christ. This plan would not have been served by their entering into what might appear to be a rivalry by their both preaching at the same time; nor would it have been served if Jesus had seemed to be attempting to undermine His cousin by attracting followers away from him.
However, the arrest and imprisonment of Saint John marked a very obvious end to his ministry. This was particularly so, given that all his followers would have known that Herod’s wife sought not merely to silence the Baptist, but to kill him. And, as we all know, she would succeed in attaining her bloodthirsty desire all too soon.
No, God’s plan was not that the one who prepared the way the One for Whom the way was prepared would operate simultaneously but in succession. Thus, it was only when Saint John was locked away that Jesus began His ministry; and thus, that He signalled that His ministry followed on from the preparatory work done by the Baptist by beginning to preach with words that echoed those of Saint John: ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.’
These are words spoken elsewhere in the Gospels by Saint John, as I’m sure you are aware. And take careful note of a particular word that the Baptist spoke in order to prepare the way for the Messiah that was to come: repent. And note well also the word that our Lord spoke when He began to follow the way that had been prepared for Him: repent.
Repentance is an essential part of the Christian faith. If it were not, it would not have formed such a central part of the Baptist’s preparation for the coming of our Lord; nor would it have been part of the initial call to the people when He began to preach.
And repentance, we must remember, is not a one-time thing. We do not say ‘sorry’ once and then carry on. No, repentance, as the Fathers remind us, is an ongoing process. The repentance we are called is continuous. Consider the lives of the saints and how we read in them how they continually shed tears of compunction, weeping for their sins and repenting of them always. Consider the Prayer and how we are called to say it again and again daily and how in it we cry out to God to have mercy on us. We call upon Him for mercy because we have sins to repent of and because of them we are in need of His mercy.
And to repent and seek forgiveness for our sins and to ask God’s mercy is not something we can afford to wait to do. Our Lord’s waiting was in accordance with God’s plan for our salvation. But our wating is not in accordance with that plan. For we know not the day nor the hour; and if we wait, we may leave it too late and have no time to repent, no time to pray ‘Lord have mercy on me’. Repent now. Ask for mercy now. I pray that you will. Amen.
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