Gospel Reflection on Matthew 4:12-23

January 25, 2026

Now when he heard that John had been arrested, he withdrew into Galilee; and leaving Nazareth he went and dwelt in Caper′na-um by the sea, in the territory of Zeb′ulun and Naph′tali, that what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled:

“The land of Zeb′ulun and the land of Naph′tali,

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 the region and shadow of death

light has 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 Andrew his brother, casting 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 Zeb′edee and John his brother, in the boat with Zeb′edee their father, mending their nets, and he called them. Immediately they left the boat and their father, and followed him.

And he went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and preaching the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every infirmity among the people. God.

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A new, rather bleak sounding app has taken China, other countries by storm. The app is called, 'are you dead?'

The concept is simple. Once you install the app, you have to click on it every two days to confirm you're alive. If not, it gets in touch with your appointed emergency contact and tell some you may be in trouble. The app has taken off because there are so many isolated and lonely people today who are deeply afraid of being overlooked.

Ironically, social media, which was supposed to keep us connected now, leaves us isolated. Today's social media is like talking to ourselves, which we do too much of anyway.

In 1st century Palestine, social media was called the Way of the Sea. The Way of the Sea was a valley that went from the east towards the Mediterranean. It was an easy route for travel, and traffic was heavy. This area was a bit like Babylon, an area of promiscuity and darkness.

But Jesus goes into this very busy zone to call people who were living a darkness, heading

towards death and nothingness, and He calls them to freedom. To stop listening to their own voices, or the echo of their voice on social media.

And this is something that has had to take place from the very beginning.

When Abraham was called, he had to leave his paternal home, the zone of his original

interpretation of who he was as a person.

That same pattern takes place over and over again in the lives of the early disciples.

They leave the sounds of their own narrow perspective to come out of their own small framework of thinking about themselves. 'Come after me, Jesus says, and I'll make you fishers of people.' As we see in the life of Peter, that didn't happen overnight.

It was a long process of the Apostle having to learn that it is not what he can do by

himself with himself as the center, but what God can do with him if he lets God act and doesn't be the first initiator of everything. Peter had to pass through a lot of failure before he learned the way.

Pope Francis called this Sunday the Word of God Sunday. The Word is not first the Bible, but a deeper Word, a more internal Word.

But before we begin here this Word, we have to turn off the tapes that we play over and

over inside ourselves. We have to turn off the social media that tells us what we're supposed to think and what we're supposed to do. Only then can we begin to hear the still, quiet voice of God speaking in our hearts; it offers us another key for understanding everything: who we are, what's going on around us, what our place is in the activity of God.

We need to open ourselves and allow this key, this internal voice of grace to speak in

our hearts. To tell us that the goodness of the Kingdom of God is not very distant, instead the Kingdom of God is very close.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HzJG50svefs