3rd Sunday A

3rd Sunday A
Learning from Meticulous Matthew

l) "When Jesus heard that John had been arrested he withdrew to
Galilee." This sentence has been understood as Jesus courageously
taking up the mission of John.. It clearly signals a change of direction
in Jesus' life. This change involved a geographical move but also a
new phase in the life of Jesus. Matthew in this passage moves us
rapidly through Jesus beginning to
proclaim his theme, calling followers, teaching, proclaiming and
healing. The lives of Jesus and John were closely intertwined. There was
friendship but also foreshadowing. Later in the Gospel in chapter l4
when Jesus hears about the horrible death of John, Matthew tells us,
"...he withdrew into a deserted place by himself." Jesus could see
images of his own life in the life of John. Our lives too are intertwined
with those of others. One point for our consideration this Sunday is
to examine our lives in terms of changes of direction.

2) "From that time on Jesus began to proclaim this theme: Reform
your lives! The kingdom of heaven is at hand." Here Matthew edits
Mark's Gospel to put the exact same words on the lips of Jesus that had
been on the lips of John. But though the words are the same the
understanding of John is different from that of Jesus. Both call for
reform of lives. The necessity of "doing" the will of God will be
developed in a special way in Matthew's Gospel. John thought that the
coming of the kingdom of heaven would bring judgment, that sinners
would be condemned and perish. Instead in Jesus the coming of the
kingdom would mean something different. Jesus in Matthew's Gospel will
be portrayed as the wisdom teacher and compassionate healer.

3) "He said to them, Come after me and I will make your fishers of
men. They immediately abandoned their nets and became his followers."
Jesus distinguishes himself from the teachers of his day by taking the
positive initiative to call disciples. The crisp format of the call
narrative reminds us of the Old Testament call narratives when a prophet
or king was swept into Yahweh's service. Here as in Mark (unlike Luke
and John) the disciples response is motivated only be Jesus' invitation,
an element that emphasizes his mysterious power, his extraordinary
attractiveness and magnetism. Here we also have the important theme of
discipleship being developed. To be a disciple is to be with Jesus and
to share in his mission.

4) "Jesus went around all of Galilee, teaching in their synagogues,
proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and curing every disease and
illness among the people." One author has described the author of this
Gospel as "meticulous Matthew." In this summary statement of the
mission of Jesus we see some of Matthew’s precision. Jesus in his
travels is doing three things: teaching, proclaiming and curing. For
Matthew the time of Jesus is the time of arrival of the kingdom. As
Herald he proclaims what God does in Jesus. In Jesus God shows a
ministry of word and of deed. Jesus is wisdom teacher and compassionate
healer. Chapters 5-7 will develop the notion of wisdom teacher and
chapters 8-9 that of Jesus as compassionate healer. In chapter 9: 35
Matthew will repeat this exact summary. Chapter 10 expands Jesus’
call to disciples to join his liberating mission “fish for people” (4:19).

Between now and the beginning of Lent, we will be
exploring the teaching of Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount. After the
Easter season when we resume ordinary time we will take up Matthew's
Gospel at the second of his five great discourses, the Missionary
discourse.