Third Sunday in Ordinary Time

When I was a student in Rome I made a pilgrimage to the Holy Land.  During most of my stay in that ancient part of the world I was in the company of other pilgrims.  But there was one trek I took solo.  It was to the town of Capernaum, which is the important city highlighted in today’s gospel.  The group I was with was not scheduled to go to Capernaum, but I was intent on doing so since I was to be ordained the following December.  At the Jesuit Biblicum where I was staying, a receptionist had written out in modern Hebrew the name Kaphar-na-um.  I was to give it to the local bus driver who would drop me off at the town where Jesus began his public ministry.

I was the only non-native on the bus, which was packed with Israeli soldiers with their rifles in hand, young mothers nursing their kids, people on their way back home after a long day at work.  I was told the trip was not going to take long.  But the bus driver apparently forgot my note and never stopped at Capernaum.  I realized something was dreadfully wrong when I was one of the few people left on the bus.  The bus driver told me to get off and wait for a bus to take me back to Jerusalem.  I waited for over an hour.  It began to get dark and cold and I wondered where in the world I was.

When I prepared today’s homily, all those emotions of feeling lost in a strange yet beautiful land came back to me.  The adventure of it all!  Which, after all, is what life is all about: an adventure.  It isn’t just narrative fluff for Matthew to say that when John the Baptist was arrested, Jesus left his hometown of Nazareth and went to live in Capernaum by the sea.  Jesus’ move is very important for Matthew’s story.  Now that John has been “handed over,” it is time for Jesus to take over.  The new order has begun.

Jesus leaves his close-knit family and friends of his hometown of Nazareth, and travels to the larger, busier town of Capernaum by the Sea of Galilee.  Jesus’ mission of teaching, proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, and curing illness is not merely for his family, the people he knows and feels comfortable with.  He begins his mission in the long-troubled, racially mixed region where Isaiah had foretold a light would shine in the midst of gloom.  Jesus’ mission is not just for the Jews but for the “District of the Gentiles.”

In today’s gospel, Jesus not only broadens his horizons, he calls others to do so as well.  Notice how Matthew emphasizes the family relationships of the people involved in this story.  Peter and Andrew are specified as brothers, as are James and John.  He underscores the fact that they leave their father and their boat in order to follow Jesus.  I am wondering today about the people in our country who constantly chant, “America first!”  Are they bothered by today’s gospel?  Jesus is telling us that to be his disciples we sometimes have to question the values of our country, indeed, even sometimes to leave our families.

Even Jesus’ family tried to restrain him from his ministry.  They tried to bring him back home.  I think Jesus knew how easy it is to be so consumed by family values that we forget who we are apart from them.  The gospel today speaks loud and clear to us a message that is perhaps hard for us to hear, but hear we must.  The gospel tells us that the kingdom of heaven doesn’t exist to serve the country; the country exists to serve the kingdom of heaven.  The gospel tells us that that the kingdom of heaven doesn’t exist to serve the family; the family exists to serve the kingdom of heaven.  Jesus is always calling us even from what is most secure, more sacred, most safe in our lives, to something and someone higher.

You are a parent, child, spouse, aunt, uncle, godparent, grandparent, citizen – yes.  But you are first of all a Christian, a child of God.  That is your true identity.  That is who you most truly are and where your real peace and security lie.  Once we get that into our hearts and heads, chances are we can survive even a broken country or a dysfunctional family.

When Matthew first told this story about leaving family and boats and all familiar ways to follow Jesus, it didn’t frighten his congregation.  After all, there were many sitting in his congregation who had already been kicked out of their synagogues or families for believing in Jesus.  When Matthew first told this story, it didn’t frighten people; it comforted them.

Let us also hear this gospel as a story of comfort and reassurance.  In this Eucharist, in the partaking of his Body and Blood, may Jesus give all of us the strength and the courage to broaden our horizons and do what is right.

Paul A. Magnano

Pastor