Over the last few Sundays we reflected on the baptism of Jesus and his anointing for his ministry. This week the gospel depicts Jesus putting together his ministerial team. He chose to remain in Galilee, but moved from his hometown of Nazareth in the southern part of the province to Capernaum located at the northern tip of the Sea of Galilee. Syria bordered on the east, and Phoenicia, present day Lebanon, on the west. The Great Sea Road ran along its western border funneling the trade of Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, Iraq and Iran through Galilee to Egypt and Africa. The King’s Highway ran north and south along its eastern border also connecting the kingdoms of the north to Egypt.

There were several reasons why Jesus chose to take up residence in this area as he began his ministry. The trade routes brought many people through Galilee making it the most cosmopolitan area in Palestine. Galilee was also blessed with the most fertile soil in the province. For that reason, it was also the most densely populated area. Capernaum was the ideal place to begin a ministry of preaching. There were many people living there and many people passed though. Galileans were inquisitive by nature and were exposed to all the new ideas circulating throughout the Empire. It was common for their synagogues to invite travelers to share new ideas with their congregants during the Sabbath afternoons. Galilee was the perfect place for a teacher like Jesus, who had new ideas, to begin his preaching.

Jesus was not going to take up the work of his mission alone, however. In today’s gospel passage we see him choosing his assistants. There must have been something very powerful about his manner. The first men he called to join him were brothers, Simon and Andrew, two fishermen. Jesus came to them as they were casting their nets. One sentence was all he needed to convince them to join him. “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” We were told that they dropped everything and followed him. He moved along the seacoast and found two other brothers, James and John. They were working with their father getting their nets ready for the day’s fishing. “He called them. They immediately left their boat, and their father, and followed him.”

The passage ends with an overview of Jesus’ ministry. “He went around all of Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, and curing every disease and illness among the people.” What message can this account of the beginning of Jesus’ ministry give to us as followers of Jesus? Here we are, the Christian community in New York City, the financial and artistic capital of the world and, perhaps, the most cosmopolitan city in the world. It’s estimated that there are over 800 languages spoken here. We’re generally a progressive society open to new ideas and the avant-garde. There are many similarities between the world Jesus chose to preach in and our own. Galilean society was generally open to Jesus’ message. There was a conservative backlash that came from the religious right centered in Jerusalem. But in spite of that, many heard his message and found joy and new life in it.

Jesus’ message was simple and filled with hope. I sometimes wonder, if, as a Church, we have distorted the teaching of Jesus. Have we morphed his message into the “heavy burden” he fought so hard against? Have we forgotten the new commandments he gave us, the Beatitudes, in which he laid out a religious path filled with joy. How can we exclude people from our Eucharistic table? Have we forgotten that Jesus was condemned for eating with sinners?

There are three things I would like to suggest today. First, that each of us commit to a journey to rediscover Jesus’ message of joy and liberation. I suggest beginning by prayerfully reading and reflecting on the entire chapter five of Matthew’s Gospel – the Beatitudes. Second, that we make every effort to base our Christian lives on the sure and certain knowledge that God loves each and every one of us unconditionally. Third, as a community, we commit to stretch out our arms in welcome to everyone.

Jesus walked along the seashore calling for assistants in his ministry. Through the gospel we’ve read, Jesus is calling each of us today to follow him and to take up his ministry. Let’s pray for our community at Saint Jean’s. May we be anointed as Jesus was anointed. May we hear the words: “You are my beloved, daughter. You are my beloved son. I’m so pleased with you. Now be strong. Take up the mission I’ve called you to.”

We begin Ordinary Time by reading from the beginning of John’s Gospel. The scene opens with John the Baptist at the Jordan. The Jewish authorities had sent emissaries from Jerusalem to ask him a very direct question: “Who are you.” He had no hesitation in telling them that he was not the Messiah, nor Elijah, nor the prophet. By quoting Isaiah he told them that he was the herald of the Lord who was already among them.

The next day, John was again baptizing. Surrounded by his disciples he stopped what he was doing and pointed at a man. His eyes wide, his heart racing, he proclaimed, “Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world.” Then he testified. “I saw the spirit come down like a dove from heaven and remain upon him.”

Unlike the report of Jesus’ baptism in the Gospels of Mark, Matthew and Luke, here, there is no drama. God’s voice isn’t heard speaking. Instead John attests that he has personally seen the Spirit come to rest on Jesus. The remainder of the chapter clarifies what the evangelist is teaching us.

The following day, John is again at the Jordan. Two of his disciples are beside him. Again, Jesus walks by. Again, John points to him, “There is the Lamb of God.” The disciples leave John, and begin following Jesus who turns to them asking, “What are you looking for?” “Where do you live?” they ask. “Come and see,” he invites them.

The evangelist is laying out the dynamic of the Christian life for us. One person of faith who can see beyond the obvious, points to Jesus, not only the man, but the Lamb of God. This simple account is meant to fan our faith. Each of us is called to contemplate the mystery of the Lamb of God – to internalize it. Each of us is called to testify – to point him out. From that moment on, the Spirit will guide all who can hear, and the journey will have begun.

A Simple Prayer

Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world have mercy on me – grant me peace.

We begin our reflection on the baptism of the Lord by reading Isaiah’s poetic description of the Messiah. “I, the Lord, formed you, and set you as a covenant of the people, a light for the nations, to open the eyes of the blind, to bring out prisoners from confinement, and from the dungeon, those who live in darkness.” Through this image of the Messiah Isaiah casts the light of hope on the world’s suffering, poor and oppressed.

Then, we move on to the testimony Peter gave to Cornelius and his household. It’s so simple we may overlook its importance. His testimony is a short creed. “You know…what has happened all over Judea, beginning in Galilee after the baptism that John preached, how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power. He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him.” Peter takes Isaiah’s description of the Messiah and puts it into the ordinary course of life. Jesus moved through the society of his day lifting suffering by doing good and healing. The Holy Spirit was with him as he ministered, and God’s power flowed from him.

The Gospel reading gives us Matthew’s account of the event. It begins with a wonderful dialogue between Jesus and John the Baptist. Jesus had come from Galilee with the specific purpose of going through the ritual bathing that John had initiated. He asked people to convert – to turn their hearts to God and confess their sins. Submerging themselves into the Jordan, the penitents symbolically washed away their sins. They were then ready to step into the new, Messianic Time.

John didn’t want to baptize Jesus. He protested saying that he needed to be baptized by Jesus.

Jesus told him to “allow it for now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Jesus was telling the John that he wasn’t detaching himself from the world, no matter how dark and sinful it was. His mission was to purify and heal the world from within. Saint Paul put it this way in his second letter to the Christians in Corinth. “Christ was without sin, but for our sake God made him share our sin in order that in union with him we might share the righteousness of God.” (2 Corinthians 5:21)

Matthew then shares with us the powerful event that occurred within Jesus as he came up out of the water. “The heavens were opened for him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming upon him.” Jesus went into the Jordan river wrapped in the darkness of the world. As he emerged, he was overshadowed by the power of the Holy Spirit and anointed by the Father. “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.” Jesus went into the water wrapped in the world’s darkness; he emerged anointed and strengthened for his mission to bring God’s healing light to the world. With this event, Matthew begins his Gospel, the Good News that God loves each and every one of us –good and bad alike. The world’s healing has begun through Jesus. His ministry will continue through us, his disciples. Matthew reminds us of this event in the last sentences of his Gospel.

“Go then, to all peoples everywhere, and make them my disciples: baptize them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and teach them to obey everything I have commanded. And I will be with you always, to the end of the age.”

Balaam gave voice to this oracle: The utterance of Balaam, son of Beor, the utterance of the man whose eye is true, the utterance of one who hears what God says, and knows what the most high knows, the one who sees what the almighty sees, enraptured and with eyes unveiled.

I see him, though not now; I behold him, though not near: A star shall advance from Jacob, and a staff shall rise from Israel… Numbers 24:15-17

With this famous oracle from the Book of Numbers in his mind’s eye, Matthew began writing his narrative of the birth of Jesus. The prophecy was delivered by Balaam, a Moabite prophet. The Israelites, having fled from their slavery in Egypt, were en route to Canaan, the “Promised Land.” Their migration led them to the plain of Moab, northeast of the Dead Sea. There, they requested permission from Sihon, the king of the Amorites, to allow them passage through his land, but he would not permit them. Israel then battled against him, and conquered his army. Shortly after, Israel fought against Og, the king of Bashan, and conquered him.

Learning of the defeat of Sihon and Og, Balak, the king of Moab, summoned his court prophet, Balaam. He commanded him to curse the armies of Israel. But every time Balaam tried to utter a curse against Israel, a blessing came out instead. The fourth, and last, “curse” became the prophecy that Matthew used as the inspiration for his infancy narrative. “I see him, though not now; I behold him though not near: a star shall advance from Jacob, and a staff shall rise from Israel.” Balaam had looked into the dark cloud of the future, and saw a light, a great ruler who would emerge from the Jewish people. When Balaam could not curse the Israelites, Balak became frightened and withdrew his forces, leaving them in peace. During the Israelites sojourn in Moab Moses died and was succeeded by Joshua. He eventually led the people into Canaan, the “Promised Land.”

Matthew’s infancy narrative is a short, sacred drama bound together by a series of divine revelations that manifest themselves in dreams. Joseph had three dreams, and the magi another. This was much the same way that Luke’s narrative will use three angelic visitations, one to Zachariah, another to Mary and the third to the shepherds, to develop his story of the birth of Jesus.

Matthew began the narrative with a short introduction. “Now this is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about.” Notice that from the very beginning Matthew called Jesus, the Christ, the Messiah, the anointed one. After this very brief introduction, he began the narrative.

Joseph had discovered that Mary, his betrothed, was pregnant. He had decided to divorce her quietly. But he had a dream. An angel told him not to be afraid to take Mary as his wife because she was pregnant through the power of the Holy Spirit. He was told to name her child Jesus, Joshua in Hebrew, a name meaning, “God is salvation.” Matthew stressed that “All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet, (Isaiah 7:14): ‘Behold, the virgin shall be with child and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel, which means ‘God is with us.’” He then concluded this first scene by noting that Joseph “had no relations with her until she bore a son, and he named him Jesus. (Matthew 1:25)”

Matthew then gracefully introduced a number of themes. “When Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, in the days of king Herod, behold, magi from the east arrived in Jerusalem, saying, ‘Where is the newborn king of the Jews? We saw his star at its rising and have come to do him homage. (Matthew 2:1-2)’” He tells us where Jesus was born – in Bethlehem of Judea. Notice that there was no census, as in Luke’s Gospel, compelling the family to travel there. He didn’t name the Roman emperor, Caesar Augustus. Instead, he mentioned Herod who was the king of Judea at the time. He will become a central figure in Matthew’s narrative.

Perhaps as long as two years after the birth of Jesus, a group of magi, astrologers from the east, arrived in Jerusalem in search of a newborn king of the Jews. These men weren’t Jews. Matthew may have been referencing Persian, Zoroastrian mystics. They were stargazers. Balaam’s prophecy spoke of an individual as the star rising from the descendants of Jacob. The star the magi were following was a cosmic phenomenon, but they had connected its appearance to the birth of a great king. This prophetic star led them to Judea, the land of the Jews. They thought they would find the newborn in the capital city, but they walked into the lair of an evil king who wanted only the destruc- tion of this would-be “King of the Jews.”

Throughout his Gospel Matthew consistently presented Jesus as the new Moses. In light of this, King Herod immediately takes on the image of the heartless Pharaoh in the Exodus story who tried to eliminate the Jewish people by killing their newly-born male children. Jesus would become a great liberator, even greater than Moses. He would lead the New Israel to a promised land that had no national borders. Jesus referred to it as the Kingdom of God.

Herod immediately called the religious leaders together to ascertain from them where the Messiah would be born. They quoted a prophecy to him, Micah 5:2. Bethlehem, the birthplace of King David, was the place. Asking the magi to return to him so that he could “go and do him homage,” Herod sent them off to find the child for him. After their audience, the magi again followed the star. “They were overjoyed at seeing the star and on entering the house saw the child with Mary his mother.” They prostrated themselves before him as one would before a great potentate. They then offered three prophetic gifts: myrrh, frankincense and gold.

This child’s death would be central to his life and mission, so they presented him with myrrh, the ointment used for healing and embalming. This child was no ordinary child. This was a divine child, so they offered him incense. This child was to be a king. They gave him the royal gift of gold.

These visitors from the east were not Jews. Yet they, unlike the people of Jerusalem, weren’t “troubled” over his birth. They recognized this divine king, and paid homage to him.

Looking ahead to the end of his Gospel, we note that Matthew concluded his drama of redemption with a pagan centurion’s profession of faith. When he witnessed Jesus’ death on the cross the centurion proclaimed: “Truly, this was the Son of God. (Matthew 27:54)” Jesus was not only “The king of the Jews (Matthew: 27:37)” as the plaque on his cross asserted. He was truly “the Son of God.”

A dream warned the magi not to return to Herod, but to go home by an alternate route. They had witnessed the cosmic event, the birth of the new star. They saw the newborn King of the Jews. They had peered into his future. They had intimated his redemptive death. They returned to a world that had never heard about a Savior, but they brought with them the Good News of his birth.

Matthew ended his infancy narrative with several allusions to the Exodus event. An angelic messenger returned to Joseph in a dream telling him to flee to Egypt. The young family fled, under the cover of night, to the land from which their ancestors had fled on the night of the Exodus many years before. Meanwhile, Herod, infuriated by the deception of the magi, ordered “the massacre of all the boys two years old and under in Bethlehem and its vicinity. (Matthew 2:16)”

The family stayed in Egypt until an angel again came to Joseph in a dream announcing that Herod was dead. It was time to leave. Having returned to the land of Judah, they discovered that Herod’s son, Archelaus, had replaced him. Joseph feared him and hesitated to return to Bethlehem. In yet another dream, an angelic messenger directed him to settle in Galilee.

Matthew concludes his narrative in the same way he began it, with reference to a prophecy. “He went and dwelt in a town called Nazareth, so that what had been spoken through the prophet might be fulfilled, ‘He shall be called a Nazorean. (Matthew 2:23)’”

For Matthew, Jesus was the fulfillment of Israel’s yearning for liberation and redemption. Every past prophecy came to fruition in him. But his coming was tinged with sadness. The people of the covenant would ultimately not receive him.

However, there was reason to rejoice. The Messiah would not only offer freedom and redemption to the Jewish people, but to the people of the east and the west, the north and the south. The Divine Messiah would stretch out his arms to everyone. This was the greatest moment in history. Even the stars celebrated.