Jesus Begins His Ministry

Jesus begins his Ministry

We have in these verses from the Gospel of Matthew the beginning of our Lord’s ministry among mankind. He enters on His labours among a dark and ignorant people. He chooses men to be His companions and disciples. He confirms His ministry by miracles, which arouse the attention of “all Syria,” and draw multitudes to hear Him.

Jesus’ coming is to fulfill the promise of one who would bring light to the nations, who would enlighten those who live in darkness, who would bring life to those who live in the shadow of death.

The light of life comes to people as they turn away from their rebellion against God. It comes as they embrace the kingdom of heaven.

Jesus’ message is no different from that of John. John had called people to repent in readiness for the coming of God’s kingdom. The only difference in what Jesus says is that now it has come near. The kingdom is upon them.

Now is the moment that John was warning them of, preparing them for. But now it’s no longer the herald preparing the way, but the Messiah himself.

Not only does Jesus come to bring light to the world. He also comes to establish a Church. God knows that people need connections, relationships.

He knows how important it is for people to be part of a fellowship of believers.

Jesus begins his ministry by calling out a group of followers who will be able to take his message of salvation, his call to repent, to others.

He calls them to live with him as his disciples while he’s on earth so he can teach them the values of the kingdom.

So, he can train them to tell others about the coming of the kingdom. So, he can model a kingdom lifestyle to them so they in turn can show others how to live like Christ.

Jesus’ ministry begins with the call to these men to become his disciples and it ends with the great commission, with Jesus sending them out to tell others about him, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, thus bringing them into the Church, and teaching them everything he’s taught them.

Notice that when he calls these men to become his disciples, it’s a call to set aside their secular pursuits and priorities; even to re-evaluate their family bonds.

Those who are called to be Jesus’ disciples today are called to reassess the way they look at the world.

We’re to have different priorities from those we had before.

We’re to bring the kingdom and its values into every aspect of our lives.

We’re to begin to think and act the way Jesus would, the way God does and to apply that thinking in everything.

The path of discipleship is a radical departure from the way the secular world lives.

This call to these 4 fishermen is not a call just to them. It’s a call that comes to all who will follow Christ: at the cost of their lives, perhaps at the cost of their family connections, perhaps at the cost of their livelihoods. But it’s for people who want to be part of the kingdom of heaven.

The Lord commenced his mighty work by preaching. We’re told, “He began to preach.” Repent! Get ready! The kingdom is on its way.

There is no work so important to the souls of people as that of preaching. It is an office which the Son of God was not ashamed to take up. It is an office to which He appointed His twelve apostles. It is an office to which St. Paul in his old age specially directs Timothy’s attention. He charges him with almost his last breath to “preach the word.” It is the means which God has always been pleased to use above any other, for the conversion and edification of souls.

Lyman Beecher of Boston Church was once asked how he was able to accomplish so much in his church. He replied: “Oh, I preach Sundays, and four hundred of my church members preach every day.”[1]

The brightest days of the Church have been those when preaching has been honored. The darkest days of the Church have been those when it has been lightly esteemed. Let us honor the sacraments and public prayers of the Church, and reverently use them. But let us beware that we do not place them above preaching.

The first doctrine that our Lord preached to the world then and now is “repentance”. He began to say “repent.”

The necessity of repentance is one of the great foundations, which lie at the very bottom of Christianity. It needs to be pressed on everyone without exception. —High or low, rich or poor, all have sinned and are guilty before God; and all must repent and be converted, if they would be saved.

And true repentance is no light matter. It is a thorough change of heart about sin, a change showing itself in godly sorrow and humiliation, —in heartfelt confession before the throne of grace, —in a complete breaking off from sinful habits, and an abiding hatred of all sin.

True repentance has a double aspect; it looks upon things past with a weeping eye, and upon the future with a watchful eye.

—Robert Smith[2]

A Sunday school teacher once asked a class what was meant by the word “repentance.” A little boy put up his hand and said, “It is being sorry for your sins.” A little girl also raised her hand and said, “Please, it is being sorry enough to quit.”

—Donald Grey Barnhouse[3]

Such repentance is the inseparable companion of saving faith in Christ. We must prize the doctrine at its highest level. It is of the highest importance. No Christian teaching can be called sound, which does not constantly bring forward “repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.” (Acts 20:21.)

We should also note the class of men whom the Lord Jesus chose to be His disciples. They were of the poorest and humblest rank in life. Peter, and Andrew, and James, and John, were all “fishermen.”

The religion of our Lord Jesus Christ was not intended for the rich and learned alone. It was intended for all the world, —and the majority of all the world will always be the poor. Poverty and ignorance of books excluded thousands from the notice of the boastful philosophers of the heathen world. They exclude no one from the highest place in the service of Christ.

Is a man humble? Does he feel his sins? Is he willing to hear Christ’s voice and follow Him? If this be so, he may be the poorest of the poor, but he shall be found as high as any in the kingdom of heaven. Intellect and money are worth nothing without grace.

A religion which did not flatter the rich, the great, and the learned,—a religion which offered no license to the carnal inclinations of man’s heart,—a religion whose first teachers were poor fishermen, without wealth, rank, or power,—such a religion could never have turned the world upside down, if it had not been of God.

Look at the Roman emperors and the heathen priests with their splendid temples on the one side! Look at a few unlearned working men with the Gospel on the other! Were there ever two parties so unequally matched? Yet the weak proved strong, and the strong proved weak. Heathenism fell, and Christianity took its place. Christianity must be of God.

Jesus came to bring the possibility of healing and wholeness to people. They were miracles of mercy and kindness. Our Lord “went about doing good.”

These miracles are meant to teach us our Lord’s power. He that could heal sick people with a touch, and cast out devils with a word, is “able to save all them that come to God by Him.” He is almighty.

These miracles are meant to be types and emblems of our Lord’s skill as a spiritual physician. He before whom no bodily disease proved incurable, is mighty to cure every ailment of our souls. There is no broken heart that He cannot heal. There is no wound of conscience that He cannot cure. Fallen, crushed, bruised, plague stricken as we all are by sin, Jesus by His blood and Spirit can make us whole. But we must go to Him.

These miracles are intended to show us Christ’s heart. He is a most compassionate Saviour. He rejected no one who came to Him. He refused no one, however loathsome and diseased. He had an ear to hear all, and a hand to help all, and a heart to feel for all. There is no kindness like His. His compassions fail not.

We need to rethink our approach to healing and miracles. Perhaps we should be expecting, when Jesus comes into someone’s life, that the healing he brings at a spiritual level might also have an effect at the physical level. May we all remember that Jesus is “the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever!” High in heaven at God’s right hand, He is not in the least altered. He is just as able to save, just as willing to receive, just as ready to help, as He was 2000 years ago. Should we have spread out our wants before Him then? Let us do the same now. He can and will “heal all manner of sickness and all manner of disease.” [4]

Jesus came as a light to lighten the nations, he called people to be a church who would continue to share the good news with others, and his coming was accompanied by miraculous events that heralded the end to all suffering and the creation of a new heaven and earth.

Let’s do all we can to share that good news with those who haven’t heard it.

[1] Paul Lee Tan, Encyclopedia of 7700 Illustrations: Signs of the Times (Garland, TX: Bible Communications, Inc., 1996), 977.

[2] Paul Lee Tan, Encyclopedia of 7700 Illustrations: Signs of the Times (Garland, TX: Bible Communications, Inc., 1996), 1133.

[3] Paul Lee Tan, Encyclopedia of 7700 Illustrations: Signs of the Times (Garland, TX: Bible Communications, Inc., 1996), 1133.

[4] J. C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on Matthew (New York: Robert Carter & Brothers, 1860), 28–31.