Matthew 4:12–25

Action

Jesus’ special public work began. He taught and he healed people. These things showed who he was. We shall think about what people’s reactions to him should have been.

John’s work ended. Then, Jesus’ work began (verse 12). He worked mostly from a small town. It was called Capernaum. It was a special place in Galilee. It was important to Matthew. This was because of the OT. Capernaum belonged to Zebulun and Naphtali. These were two of the 12 tribes (family groups) of the Jews. An OT prophet spoke about them. The wonderful words are in Isaiah 9:1–2.

This place was in the north of Israel. For centuries, the people who lived there had had very hard times. They had suffered much. There had been political trouble. There had been military trouble too. There were constant attacks from their enemies in the north. The words of Isaiah’s prophecy showed this. But he promised something good to those same people. One day, they would be the first to benefit. They would have light instead of darkness.

The Bible often uses the word ‘light’ as a picture. It makes us think about laughter. We think about living a great life. But, there are two other special uses for the word. It reminds us about the knowledge of God. It also reminds us about the fact that God is present. Matthew believed that this prophecy had now come true. It was happening as Jesus began his work. He declared the start of the kingdom of heaven.

Jesus’ words are in verse 17. They are like John’s words. Jesus made it clear which people had hope. They were people who knew something. They knew that they had sinned against God. They knew that they deserved his punishment. But they turned to him with repentance. There was such good news for them. This could be true for the people of Galilee. It did not matter that they were poor. They were suffering much. They were anxious. Their needs were great. But, the good news was still for them.

The first disciples

At this time, Jesus asked 4 men to join him. They were Peter, Andrew, James and John. There was a custom in Israel at that time. Disciples would gather round a teacher. But, Jesus was different. He called the men to him. He expected them to follow him. This clearly showed that he had authority.

But Jesus was not like a teacher who is at school. He was not giving information to students. They followed him. This meant that they were joining him in the work. That work was to call men and women to repent. They must call them to believe in God too. To these 4 men, it meant that they must leave their jobs. Their work for Jesus must be more important than their families. It could be the same for us today. Jesus deserves the best.

Now we come to the last three verses of the chapter. They are an introduction to 5:1–9:34. They describe the nature of Jesus’ special public work. Jesus did three things.

  • He taught the truths of the Bible. He would go as a visitor to the synagogue. (This was the Jews’ special building in which they worshipped God.) Priests would invite him to speak.
  • He declared the good news. It was about the kingdom of heaven. (Read verse 17 too.)
  • He healed many people. These actions taught three things. Matthew 8:1–9:34 shows them.
  1. They confirmed Jesus’ message (Compare John 14:11).
  2. They showed that he was the Messiah. The prophets had spoken about him (Read Isaiah 35:5; 53:4–5; 61:1 and Matthew 11:2–6).
  3. They proved that God’s kingdom had begun to arrive.

The life and the work of Jesus disturbed many people. It also caused excitement. That was in Galilee. But it was true about other places too. This is not a surprise.

Questions

  1. Jesus invited the first 4 disciples to follow him. Study their reactions to Jesus. What do you think that you should learn from these disciples? They left their jobs and their families. Does Jesus usually expect us to do the same? If not, how do we know when we should do this?
  2. Christians should bring people to Jesus. They should then teach them how to follow Jesus. Read this passage again. What can we learn about how we could do these things?
  3. Verse 16 describes certain people. Where might we find them today? Other people think that religion is something bad. To them, it is like going into the dark. How can we help them to find Jesus as the ‘light’?