The Counter-Cultural King
Notes
Transcript
This is no secret. I really enjoy politics. Election season is like ice cream for me. So much fun. Seeing the candidates, analyzing why they campaign the way that they do, why they go where they go, what they say, what they don’t say.
It’s so much fun. The art of presenting an idea. Other’s might term it “the art of lying.” It’s all in how you perceive it.
Now, if you want to impact the most people, get your message out, create a following, everyone says: focus on where the people are at. That’s why presidential candidates mostly just hit the big cities.
But, not just the big cities: go to the places which will put you in the best light. Do you know how many times Trump visited California during this past election? Once. And it was in the last 25 days before the election.
It’s what you do. You go where people are and you go where it won’t hurt you too badly.
But, some people break the rules. Like Jesus.
Jesus wasn’t here to run for office. He wasn’t here to create a following. He was here to redeem sinners and call these sinners to turn to God.
So, his counter-cultural purpose and message, presented itself in a counter-cultural method. One which we are called to follow.
Let’s read this passage.
When Jesus heard that John had been put in prison, he withdrew to Galilee. Leaving Nazareth, he went and lived in Capernaum, which was by the lake in the area of Zebulun and Naphtali—to fulfill what was said through the prophet Isaiah:
“Land of Zebulun and land of Naphtali,
the Way of the Sea, beyond the Jordan,
Galilee of the Gentiles—
the people living in darkness
have seen a great light;
on those living in the land of the shadow of death
a light has dawned.”
From that time on Jesus began to preach, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.”
Short and sweet.
In this passage, we see Jesus’ surprising place of ministry, message of ministry, and result of ministry.
Before we dive in, would you pray with me?
1. The Place of Ministry
1. The Place of Ministry
Let’s track Jesus’ movements from birth until now.
He is conceived in Nazareth, born in Bethlehem.
Joseph takes Mary and Jesus and flees to Egypt because Herod is trying to kill Jesus. Herod dies. Joseph considers going back to Bethlehem because that is a nice place to raise a family. But, Jesus’ life might be threatened again, so Joseph settles back in Nazareth.
The place where people say:
“Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?” Nathanael asked.
“Come and see,” said Philip.
There, Jesus grows up. He is raised as a Jewish boy, because he is Jewish. He goes to Jerusalem three times a year, as is customary. But, he lives in Nazareth.
When he is 30, he walks to the Jordan, where John is baptizing. Then, he goes into the wilderness. Then he returns to Nazareth, in the power of the spirit. But, we know that a prophet is not welcome in his home town.
And he moves to Capernaum.
That video makes Capernaum sound so cool!
But, it wasn’t.
It was a bustling fishing town with a garrison of maybe 100 Roman soldiers. It was the center of commerce in the area, because of its spot on the Sea of Galilee and because of its location on a major Roman road. However, it wasn’t really a large city and it wasn’t a city where prominent people went. No one bragged to be from Capernaum.
These were unschooled, uncouth, Galileans. As a region, they had rejected a lot of the teaching of the urban Pharisees. Because those teachers were out-of-touch. They were concerned with agriculture and fishing, on what mattered today.
And, they didn’t mind hobnobbing with the Gentiles. Because Capernaum had a sizeable population of gentiles.
Which is why this area was known as Galilee of the Gentiles.
Matt quotes Isaiah:
“Land of Zebulun and land of Naphtali,
the Way of the Sea, beyond the Jordan,
Galilee of the Gentiles—
the people living in darkness
have seen a great light;
on those living in the land of the shadow of death
a light has dawned.”
Why would a Messiah of the Jewish people start his ministry here?
As Jesus would tell the religious leaders,
On hearing this, Jesus said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick.
Jesus came to redeem the sinner. He came to uplift the downtrodden. He came to give worth to those who feel unworthy.
So, he begins his ministry in the place which was looked down upon by all of Israel.
I know a man who is sick. Who feels like God cannot love him. He’s done too many bad things. And he cannot except the simplicity of the Gospel, that we just have to turn to Jesus in faith, we don’t have to work for it. We can’t.
But, Jesus started his ministry reaching out to those who did not feel worthy. Whom everyone looked down on. And he keeps reaching out to those people, just as he reached out to me.
The place of Jesus’ ministry
2. The Message of Ministry
2. The Message of Ministry
Jesus goes to Capernaum and as he goes, he is talking to the regions around and he has one message:
From that time on Jesus began to preach, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.”
This is the exact same message that John was preaching.
In those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the wilderness of Judea and saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.”
John has now been thrown in prison. It seems that he was thrown in prison a lot, so this might not have been the final clanging of the prison door. It might have. We don’t know.
John is in prison, and so Jesus takes up the message. John has prepared the way for him. So, by Jesus taking that message, he is softly saying: “I’m the one whom John was telling you about. I’m the one John wants you to follow. I will lead you to this kingdom of heaven.”
What is this message that Jesus is preaching to the outcasts of society.
There are three elements to it.
First, the kingdom of heaven. What is this kingdom of heaven?
The kingdom is the irruption of God’s power into history in a new and dramatic way with the advent of Messiah Jesus.”
The Jewish people had been looking for the kingdom. They thought that it was “the completion of God’s plans for his people in a physically visible, materially prosperous, and powerful geopolitical entity.”
And it will be that, once Jesus comes back to fulfill his promises to the Jewish people in the Old Testament prophets.
But, it’s not there yet, because first the Messiah had to redeem the people in order to fulfill the promises.
The kingdom is not a geographical entity, yet. But, it is seen through the community of believers who accept the message of Jesus and begin to work out God’s purposes here on earth. Showing his power, his peace, his authority.
The kingdom of heaven, Jesus and John proclaim, “is near”
It is approaching. The world will be able to experience the power of God and the changing of lives.
The prophecy of Jeremiah
“This is the covenant I will make with the people of Israel
after that time,” declares the Lord.
“I will put my law in their minds
and write it on their hearts.
I will be their God,
and they will be my people.
No longer will they teach their neighbor,
or say to one another, ‘Know the Lord,’
because they will all know me,
from the least of them to the greatest,”
declares the Lord.
“For I will forgive their wickedness
and will remember their sins no more.”
So amazing!
All these prophesies about God being with us being fulfilled before the eyes of Capernaum and the Galilee region.
It’s here!
So, what should they do about it?
Jesus says: repent. To turn. 180 degree shift. You are going in one direction and now you go in the complete opposite direction.
We’ve talked about repenting, back when we were studying John’s message.
The Jewish people knew the concept of repentance, that of turning from one thing to another. From sin and back to God. Their Day of Atonement is all about repentance.
The Gospel of Matthew: A Socio-Rhetorical Commentary John’s Mission to Israel (3:5–6, 8–9)
Yet John’s call is more radical; his “repentance” refers not to a regular turning from sin after a specific act, but to a once-for-all repentance, the kind of turning from an old way of life to a new that Judaism associated with Gentiles converting to Judaism
This was the call of the Old prophets. People of Israel, you have left your God and have begun to worship other gods. Turn back to him before it is too late.
But, in a sense, this message is different than the Old Prophets. Because Jesus, in the calling of repentance, will not be calling people to a sense of God through the temple and the sacrifices. No, he will be saying: come follow me.
Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
Jewish people. Galilee of the Gentiles. The kingdom of heaven is near. It is at hand. Do you want to experience the power of God? Do you want your sins forgiven? Do you want to live in paradise? Turn for your evil, turn from your ungodliness, turn from your apathy, and turn to Jesus, God with us.
Jesus had one message that he preached over and over and over. Throughout the Gospel of Matthew, we are going to study so many sermons that Jesus preached. But, the core message of every single one of them is:
From that time on Jesus began to preach, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.”
The message of Jesus preached at the place of ministry.
3. The Result of Ministry
3. The Result of Ministry
This passage also shows us the result of this ministry through the prophecy of Isaiah.
“Land of Zebulun and land of Naphtali,
the Way of the Sea, beyond the Jordan,
Galilee of the Gentiles—
the people living in darkness
have seen a great light;
on those living in the land of the shadow of death
a light has dawned.”
Next week we are going to study the next passage, but it shows the result of the light:
Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people. News about him spread all over Syria, and people brought to him all who were ill with various diseases, those suffering severe pain, the demon-possessed, those having seizures, and the paralyzed; and he healed them. Large crowds from Galilee, the Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea and the region across the Jordan followed him.
Do you know what happens to people in a really dark cave and there is only one flashlight, everyone gathers around the person holding the flashlight.
Israel was going through a really hard time. The religious leaders where not interested in leading the Jewish people back to God, they were interesting in having the people follow the rules, the ones in the Torah and the ones the religious leaders made up.
Rome was taking everyone’s money and making life miserable in all the ways you could imagine.
This was a dark time. And in the middle of that darkness a light shone. And everyone flocked to it.
Jesus didn’t preach a message of self-help. He didn’t try to make people feel good about themselves. He didn’t tell them that truth was found within them. He didn’t say for his hearers to be true to themselves and follow their own path because all ways lead to truth. He didn’t counsel them. He didn’t hold office hours. He proclaimed the message about the kingdom and called people to change so that they could be part of the kingdom. He urged them to follow him.
Truth, without compromise. Proclaimed without equivocation. Told to everyone who would hear.
The result: a light, brilliantly bright for people to see, to cluster around, to follow.
4. Application
4. Application
Two themes of application:
Are you in darkness? Do you feel the despair of the Galileans? Perhaps you look at your life and see the sinfulness and you say that you have no hope. Jesus came and died for you, even in the state of your sin. And he wants to redeem you while you are a sinner, if you would let him.
Perhaps you are going through a hard time and you have no peace in your life, like the Jewish people under the oppression of both the Romans and their religious leaders. Jesus came to bring peace. Shalom. Ultimately, this will come when he returns to call us home. But even now, those who have placed their faith in him will have peace that passes all understanding even through the hardest turmoil.
Perhaps you know a lot about Jesus, mentally, but you can’t say that you know him in your heart. The light is not shining. It’s in a distance. And Jesus is calling you to come close, accept the light and let it flood you. Will you come to him? If you are not his follower, you have never placed your faith alone in him, turn to him today and let the light change you.
If you are his follower, are we following him. Jesus went to the outcast, the places and the people that no one else wanted to go to. We are called to follow him to those places. If someone rubs us wrong, perhaps that is the person we are to talk to. If we are uncomfortable in a location, perhaps that is the location that we should minister to. I’m not God. I can’t say. But I can say, we are called to love the unlovable so that they might know God through us. How are we doing in this?
If we are his follower, we should follow him in his message. Everything that he said came back to the one theme: Repent for the kingdom of God is near. Does everything that we say come back to this message? I have to confess, it doesn’t for me. Sometimes when I want to get my haircut, I really don’t want to start sharing the Gospel. Because I really want to have a good haircut. We are called to follow him.
If we want to see revival. If we want this ministry to grow. We must follow Jesus in the place of his ministry and the message of his ministry, in order to see the result of his ministry. Let’s be counter-cultural.
