As the church’s calendar begins Ordinary Time, i.e, the ordered or numbered weeks of the calendar, the public life of Jesus Christ as recorded by St. Matthew is proclaimed as well.
The northern, rural Palestinian province of Galilee is the setting for most of Jesus’ public ministry in St. Matthew’s Gospel. Nazareth, Cana, Capernaum are the familiar scenes of his Gospel narration. Occasionally Jesus even ventures into southern Lebanon. Tyre, Sidon the Decapolis and Caesarea Philippi occasionally hear his preaching as the Jewish cities did. In this first Gospel, Jesus leaves Galilee for Judea only in chapter 19 and Christ’s ministry in Jerusalem, the final goal of his historical journey, is limited to a few days. Perhaps the Master’s avoidance of the holy city during most of his public life is a quiet statement that his Gospel is not simply a refinement of Judaism. Jesus’ good news is indeed new. Jesus announces a Gospel that fulfills the prophets, as St. Matthew is intent to point out. But Jesus also reveals truths and institutes practices that transcend Judaism. Jesus is not proclaiming business as usual.
Before St. Matthew begins his account of the ministry of Jesus in earnest, he first welcomes Jesus into the public arena by introducing the preparatory preaching of St. John the Baptist. St. Matthew especially highlights the baptism of Jesus which culminates in God's proclaiming Jesus his “beloved Son.” St. Matthew similarly includes the temptations of Jesus in the desert by which Jesus proves his true sonship by his victory over the devil’s attempt to deflect him from the way of obedience to the Father. Once St. Matthew has recorded the baptism and the temptations of Jesus to underline Jesus’ true nature as Son, the evangelist then proceeds to extend this call into Sonship toward Jesus’ vast Galilean audience. The crowds hear for the first time the central message of Jesus’ preaching: the coming of the kingdom of heaven and the need for repentance, that is, a complete change of heart and conduct. For anyone who would receive the great gift of God’s kingdom there is a clear need for conversion. The need for conversion, the need for repentance, the need for a drastic change of heart is critical to authentic Christianity. Just as Jesus believed that he must make a break with traditional, official Judaism by shying away from Jerusalem, so the true believer must make a break with the comfortable lifestyles to which the vast majority of mankind has become accustomed. Jesus the itinerant preacher clearly wants to challenge his listeners. He wants especially to prick the consciences of the people of Galilee. He demands change. He urges self-examination. He insists that they reflect on their own spiritual poverty. Jesus’ message is alarmingly fresh and provocatively new. Listen up!
As so often happens in St. Matthew’s Gospel, the author joins the powerful preaching of Christ to the powerful works of Christ. Here, just before the famous Sermon on the Mount, a summary statement of Jesus’ activity speaks not only of his teaching and proclaiming the Gospel but of his “curing every disease and illness among the people.” Jesus’ mighty words are always supported by mighty deeds. The popular healing ministry of Jesus is a visual and audible declaration that Jesus’ words can be just as effective on hardened hearts, blunted minds and weak wills as they are on lame legs, crippled arms and dulled senses. Jesus the preacher is predictably linked with Jesus the healer. Jesus is powerful in both word and deed.
After 20 centuries of Christianity the need for conversion, the need for a radical reorientation of one’s inner life and daily work, is still imperative. Most, perhaps all, readers of this column have long focused their spiritual and community life on God. He has been a presence in their lives since infancy. Yet a conversion is not a general orientation. A conversion is a complete reversal of direction. A conversion is an about-face. Perhaps, as Blessed John Henry Newman suggested, there is no such thing as a sudden conversion. For most Christians the daily routine of prayer, sacraments, charity and duty will be the path to conversion, the road to an ever-deepening appreciation of the place of God and his Kingdom in daily life. Whether repentance be a sudden realignment of one’s life as a few saints have experienced staring into the grave of a loved one or whether repentance be a lifelong act of fidelity to the Gospel, repentance and conversion cannot be avoided. They are the first steps into the kingdom.
