MATTHEW 4: 12-25 

Matthew in the Margins…Epiphany 3…Revised 2020

Light, introduced in vv.15-16, is the heart of our passage. Is this MT’s equivalent of JE’s, ‘I am the Light of the world’? To get to the heart of the matter we need to go further back than the IS passage MT is quoting. Right back to GN 1:1-2, where Light is the first thing YHWH creates. Making all else possible. Jesus, as God’s Light come into the world, makes the New Creation possible today! In the Light that Jesus is for the New Creation, &, God is calling us to be for the world!

Jesus’ testing out in the wilderness is immediately put to the test in the new situation He finds Himself in when JB is imprisoned. Jesus isn’t interested in mere theorising! How can we preach in down-to-earth terms, how can we live in down-to-earth terms rather than ‘in theory’? Live in a Way that lets Jesus’ Light shine out through us? If people stir over what they see as something that needs to be put right, do we jump in with both feet, either for, or against? Or, do we examine it in the Light Jesus shines on it & us, & act accordingly?

Change your ways / repent says Jesus. God’s Rule, the Light YHWH throws on every -thing through His Son, Jesus, has come near & remains near. As integral to the New Creation as God’s Light is to the original, ‘In the beginning…’.  What keeps it so? Or, better,‘Who keeps it integral? You & I do, as we absorb the Christ Light deeply.

God's Rule of Light certainly envelops the four first followers! Some of them have been ‘casing’ JB. Now they’re casing Jesus, too. Jesus, though, has been sizing them up, & turns the tables on them. Calling them so they have big decisions to make about their future direction. Does God's Light, God’s rule, ‘grab’ them & us enough to want in?

It's a big ask, still, to leave today's equivalents of boats & nets, & family. Proclaim-ing, teaching, & healing, though, all need to happen out there in the margins as well as in our churches. Outside the protective walls of our religious establishments. If people can't see the Light of Christ in us out there in life’s margins, not only are they living in darkness, but so are we!

Brian

Afterthought: There're at least two key differences between the way Jesus operates & the way JB did: You have to go out to JB, whereas Jesus makes home visits. And, where JB talks about sin, & repentance, or punishment, Jesus majors in compassion, acceptance, & healing.