Today Fr Paul Gooley reads from the Gospel of Matthew (4: 12-17,23-25) in which Jesus left Nazareth and went to live in Capernaum after hearing that John had been arrested.

Fr Paul says this is the very beginning of Jesus’ ministry. The first thing Matthew does is introduce us to Galilee, characteristically quoting the scriptures to show that they are being fulfilled, and in what way. Galilee is called ‘Galilee of the gentiles’ only in this passage, and it was not a particularly notable feature of Galilee. Archaeology shows that Jewish observance was strong in the region.

Contemporary literature shows that there was a lively tradition of prayerful charismatic rabbis with a warm devotion to the Lord. Jesus begins his ministry by proclaiming the imminence of the Kingdom of God, which will be the subject of all his activity.

There are some verses missing here, we skipped over some, and they are the verses where Jesus begins to form the new Israel by calling his team together. The Christian imagination tends to combine this scene with the scene of the Baptist in the Jordan Valley in the Gospel of John, which gives at least Peter and Andrew some knowledge of Jesus. But today’s Gospel must be heard on its own, and the staggering factor is that this is the first time at any rate the sons of Zebedee have set eyes on Jesus. As he passes by, he calls them and such is the electrifying power of his charismatic personality that they simply drop everything and follow this total stranger – immediately, as the evangelist stresses each time.

As Fr Paul mentions, today’s Gospel is the very beginning of the ministry of Jesus – what we have today, he says, comes from this moment.

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