Preaching Paths, 22nd January 2023, Sally A. Brown

Preaching Paths 1.22.23

John the Baptist has been arrested and thrown into prison by Herod. Jesus, recognizing that it is dangerous to preach news of a kingdom unauthorized by Rome, “withdraws” to Galilee. He chooses a region of the tribes of Zebulun and Naphtali, occupied by Rome in his own time, but by the Assyrians in Isaiah’s time. It is the land of captives who “sit in darkness.” Isaiah’s doubling of the phrase “to them” (see Prof Petropoulos’s  grammatical analysis) emphasizes that on those resigned across centuries to hopelessness – on them, especially on them—light has dawned.

It is here that Jesus chooses to inaugurate his preaching ministry. Keen readers will notice that his message (Mt 4:17) is identical to that of his cousin, John the Baptist (Mt 3:2). If our preaching seems to fall on deaf ears, we do well to remember that it is in the deepest darkness – in deserts devoid of hope—that news of God’s reign bursts like a “great light.” Who are the captives with whom Jesus might sojourn today? Who are the ones utterly stripped of hope and agency by the ambitions of today’s systems of power and privilege? To whom does the just reign of God most need to be proclaimed?

It is first and foremost the humble—the ones that self-absorbed regimes exploit—who  have ears for this message. Commentators note that fishermen like Simon Peter and his brother Andrew were likely working under contract to Rome. Jesus calls them away from this servitude. His strange invitation – “I will make you fish for people”—is so compelling that they abandon their nets (they quietly defect)  become disciples of the rabbi Jesus.

Jesus teaches about the reign of God in the Jewish synagogues—a wise strategy. Rome allowed local religions to thrive, provided they did not encourage beliefs or behavior that destabilized the state.  Jesus moves from town to town embodying the reign of God that he preaches: “curing every disease and every sickness among the people.” Crowds gather.  This is good news for all who are captive in body or spirit.

Today’s preachers are heirs to the task of proclaiming the reign of God. It is a challenging task for those of us who preach not to the disinherited but to  those benefiting from the status quo. To be sure, some do “sit in darkness . . . in the region and shadow of death.” Yet surely part of our task is to invite our listeners to step outside the doors of their sanctuaries and engage those who struggle daily against the darkness of endless scarcity and marginalization. What does it look like, concretely and specifically in our preaching context to embody the reign of God that we celebrate in our hymns? When we act in ways that free our captive neighbors, our hearts too may leap at the wonder of the reign of God come near.