Back when I worked construction, one of the most annoying thing I would encounter were plans that told you what the end result looked like, without any direction on how things were to be done. I’ve shared the story of the dome my dad and I spent an entire job figuring out. But there are other time just like that. One of the best stories is one that happened right after I moved down here.
The crew I was building out an office space on the third story of a building. The job was typical with simple straight walls for offices spaces. In fact throughout the entire job, there was only one rounded area. It was a large semicircle round wall that was about 20 feet in length. Now, the fact that it was a semicircle wasn’t the problem, in fact there were times when we made curved walls by starting at the ends and eyeballing the curve. But this semicircle had to be a certain round. I was told that no matter how they did it, the curve never turned out the way it was supposed to. Finally the crew got frustrated and called the architect to find out how he had gotten the curve. The architect told them that they needed to go back 100 feet to get the center point and then make the curve off of that. Well, there was a problem. They were on the third story of a building, and the curved wall was about 20 feet from the windows.
It’s easy to draw something on a sheet of paper, it’s a whole other thing stop build it. What need up happening, was that the crew had to wait until everyone left the parking lot, find a place big enough to make the semicircle, then build their track on pavement, and then carry it up to the their floor. The actual work wasn’t hard, but getting it to where it would work the way it was supposed to took time and effort.
And it’s this idea of building something into exactly what it is supposed to be that brings us back into our Matthew series where we’re going to cover the rest of chapter 4 this week beginning in verse 12. And as we open to Matthew 4:12, let’s look back on what we’ve covered so far.
In our first seven weeks of our series, we have really been looking at the identity of Jesus. By the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, Matthew has walked us through who this Jesus really is. Through the genealogies, the parallels, the prophecies, and the proclamations, we have seen who everyone says Jesus is: He is the prophesied Messiah, a King like David, a prophet like Moses, and he is the God come down to his creation. This identity is then challenged by the devil with the temptation to get Jesus to choose a different path as his Messiahship. Jesus rejects the temptation of the devil and as we move into the final verses of chapter 4, we’ll see an overarching understanding of what Jesus’ Messiahship truly is.
Let’s begin reading in Matthew chapter 4, verses 12, where we’ll read through the rest of the chapter.
12 Now when he heard that John had been arrested, he withdrew into Galilee. 13 And leaving Nazareth he went and lived in Capernaum by the sea, in the territory of Zebulun and Naphtali, 14 so that what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled:
15 “The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles—16 the people dwelling in darkness have seen a great light, and for those dwelling in the region and shadow of death, on them a light has dawned.”
17 From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”
18 While walking by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon (who is called Peter) and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. 19 And he said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” 20 Immediately they left their nets and followed him. 21 And going on from there he saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets, and he called them. 22 Immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him.
23 And he went throughout all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction among the people. 24 So his fame spread throughout all Syria, and they brought him all the sick, those afflicted with various diseases and pains, those oppressed by demons, those having seizures, and paralytics, and he healed them. 25 And great crowds followed him from Galilee and the Decapolis, and from Jerusalem and Judea, and from beyond the Jordan.
Now the reason why we’re reading through the whole chapter, is so we can hear the whole passage together. It’s important that we hear sections of Scripture read together so that we can hear the connections between the verses. The New Testament style of writing is meant to be heard and not just read. And as we hear the whole section, we can hear that it all builds upon itself. And by hearing the passage together, we can here how Jesus himself sees what his Messianic work is.
Let’s break this passage down into two parts. The first part of the passage is Jesus’ message. In verses 12-17, we see Jesus’ purposeful movement and declaration. Let’s move backwards from verses 17 so we can better understand this part.
In verse 17, we’re told that, “Jesus began to preach, saying, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.’”
Just in this one verse we get the foundation for the rest of what Matthew is trying to let us know about Jesus. First, this is word-for-word the same call that John the Baptist proclaimed in chapter 3 verse 2. So what does it mean? The Greek word for repent (metanoeó [met-an-o-eh’-o]) means to change one’s mind or purpose. It literally carries with it the idea that when we turn to God, we are to think and act completely differently. The way in which we view the world, and the way we are to respond to it, is to be completely different than the way in which the world calls us to think and act.
So how are we to think and act differently? The answer to that question comes in chapters 5 and and throughout the rest of Matthew. But for now we just need to know that Jesus is calling people to completely remove themselves from what their doing and thinking, and follow what he is going to be teaching.
Second, Jesus gives the reason that a person must repent, which is that the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Matthew being a good Jew here is using heaven instead of God, which Mark uses, this is simply a sign of respect towards God’s name. This is because the Jewish people are very cautions in using the name of God, even up to today where many stay away from God’s name entirely simply saying “the Name” when referring to him. But we must understand why Jesus uses kingdom terminology here.
If you did the homework last week and dove into the temptations of Jesus and the temptation in the Garden, you would have seen some parallels there. Where Adam and Eve fell to the temptation and all creation is cursed because of it, Jesus overcame the temptation, not once but three times, which means the restoration of the creation can occur. If we go back to the beginning of the Bible, we’ll see that within the creation chapters of Genesis, a kingdom subtext can be seen. God is the Creator, he is the one who decrees what is brought into existence, in other words, what can be a part of his kingdom. God then creates administrators to carry out his will within this newly establish kingdom. But the administrators fail, and a civl war ensues. Jesus is now proclaiming that he is the one who will bring about the end of the civil war, and bring the kingdom back under the rulership of its rightful King.
Finally the terminology of “at hand,” points us to the reality that what follows are the beginning stages of that restored Kingdom. It will not be fully restored, but the restoration has begun.
By understanding what Jesus’ message is, we can understand why he then went where he did. This is our second part of the passage, Jesus’ call. Capernaum was a cross roads of trade. Jews and Gentiles alike used the city for commerce. It was the perfect place to begin Jesus’ ministry because at the crossroads of Capernaum, the world came together. The people of God, the Jews, and the nations of the world, the Gentiles, met in one place, just as it would be in the restored Kingdom of heaven.
This is why Matthew draws our attention to a prophecy by Isaiah. That from this point light breaks into the darkness that surrounds the people in death.
By understanding that Jesus is being very intentional in where he is going and what he is saying, we can then understand the who of the kingdom that are being called.
We’re told that as Jesus walks along the Sea of Galilee, he calls four men into his kingdom. Now we usually tend focus on the “fishers of men” statement by Jesus, but we’re looking at the overarching theme here, so this time we’re going focus on the word “immediately.” This word (Greek eutheós [yoo-theh’-oce]) carries with it the understanding that there was no hesitation involved on the part of the men called. The command is given and the men followed.
We see here a reenacting of the salvation history of Genesis. The basic story of the first twelve chapters of Genesis is that, God created, but was rebelled against; so God works to restore the creation, by calling a group to himself through which he would save the world through Jesus. This group of people are called Israel.
Here, we see Jesus overcoming the rebellion, and then calling to himself a new group through which he will send out his message of restoration among the nations.
This leads us into what were told Jesus does next, “he went throughout all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction among the people.”
In Genesis, before the fall of Adam and Eve, creation was perfectly good. As Paul tells us, death hadn’t entered into the world after Adam. And we see several times, that God calls the creation good. But after the fall, the creation is horrifically marred. Sin happens and brings about death, and disease and all the rest of the suffering we see today.
But with Jesus, we see the beginnings of a creation returned to its perfect goodness. Yet, though Jesus is showing us these beginnings, the real cure comes through repentance. Turning away from our own thoughts and actions, that are contrary to God’s, which is what the Bible calls sin, is what is needed by humanity. And that repentance and turning must be directed at Jesus, through which the forgiveness of sin can only be found (John 14:6; Acts 4:12).
And where are the people coming from to receive Jesus’ healing, “from Galilee and the Decapolis, and from Jerusalem and Judea, and from beyond the Jordan.” All places where both Jew and Gentile are from. Jesus’ kingdom is a cross national, racial, gender, sexual, ethnic, and every other boundary that is humanly made. And all people are called to the same proclamation, repent; turn from what you think is right, to what God calls right. Why? Because the kingdom of God is at hand, and the civil war will be done away with. This is your opportunity to come into the kingdom while there is time.
Because when we get to the end of Matthew, we’ll see how there will come a day, when the kingdom will no longer be accepting entry, and so as long as the kingdom has not been fully realized, as long as it is “at hand,” there is still time to repent.
How do we do that? Well, we seek forgiveness for being in rebellion against God. We ask God to forgive us our sins of thinking and acting like we are gods unto ourselves. We repent of what we think is greater than what God thinks. We must come to that point were we accept God’s rule over us as better than our own rule. Then we accept the free gift of forgiveness that is only given through Jesus. At the end of Matthew, we learned about the cross, and how it is the payment for our sin. Our sin was paid for on the cross by Jesus. Our rebellion crushed through the crushing of him. His blood was spilt so that ours wouldn’t have to be. And then, we must follow immediately. No hesitation, no holding onto our own, but following wherever Jesus leads, because he is the King and everything we need is only found in him.
But it’s more than just an individual thing. Jesus’ message includes my individual salvation, and more. As we’ve walked through this passage I hope you’ve noticed one thing: Jesus’ message is a total restoration message. It’s a restoring of God’s created order from the opening pages of the Bible. It’s his kingdom restored. It’s the world made right. And as we follow, we are called to that restorative process. Not in the sense that our actions bring salvation, but that our actions point people to the salvation that is found in Jesus alone. Jesus uses building illustrations throughout his teaching. And throughout the rest of the Scriptures we are see as part of what Jesus builds. In fact we are called stones.
Peter, that first man called by Jesus in this passage, wrote these words in his first letter to the church, “As you come to him, the living Stone (Jesus)—rejected by humans but chosen by God and precious to him— 5 you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.”
We are stones being used by the Greater Builder to construct his kingdom. This is done when we live in accordance with the call of God on our lives to be witnesses to the full restoration of the kingdom that is ahead. And if the world continues to move at the break neck speed its on, that full restoration is right around the corner.
So this week I want to challenge you with this one thought, “How are you doing as a stone in the kingdom?” Are you doing your job? Are you making the kingdom strong? Are you supporting the other stones, your brothers and sisters in Christ? Are you showing the world the work that God has done in you to build his kingdom?
This week I want to challenge you to wrestle with this idea, of being a stone placed in the kingdom for God’s glory, seeking God to fit you better into your place, so that your brothers and sisters would be strengthen and that the world will see that the kingdom is at hand, so that they might repent and be saved.
Let us each see Jesus’ kingdom and long for that day, but as we live here, let us be about our Father’s business pointing others to the eternal life that is only found in Jesus. Amen.
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