The Third Sunday in Ordinary Time begins our journey through the Gospel of Matthew for Year A. The reading is from Matthew 4:12-23:

“Now when he heard that John had been arrested, he withdrew into Galilee; and leaving Nazareth he went and dwelt in Capernaum by the sea, in the territory of Zebulun and Naphtali, that what was spoke by the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled: ‘The lan dof Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, toward the sea, across the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles–the people who sat in darkness have seen a great light, and for those who sat in teh region and shadow of death light has been dawned.’ From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.’ As he walked by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon who is called Peter and Adnrew his brother, basing a net into the sea; for they were fishermen. And he said to them, ‘Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.’ Immediately they left their nets and followed him. 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. And he went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagoguyes and preaching the gospel fo the kintgdom and heavling every disease and every infirmity among the people.”

There are a number of questions to answer here, but I would like to focus on one: Why does Jesus go and dwell at Capernaum in the land of Zebulum and Naphtali? Matthew says that Jesus does it in order to fulfill a prophecy, so that the words of Isaiah might be fulfilled. To understand why this is important, we must understand the history of Israel.

I hope you enjoyed this post. Please let me know if you would like too discuss this more in-depth or discuss something else. See you tomorrow!

Ben Crittenden

Anchorage, Alaska