The Beginning Of Jesus’ Mission

In this Sunday’s gospel we begin the continuous reading from Matthew’s gospel of the story of the public ministry of Jesus. Today’s reading presents us with the early beginnings of Jesus’ mission. I remember as a student in the seminary, one of our Formation Directors would often quote for us the aphorism “Watch beginnings”. This was taken from a legal maxim OBSTA PRINCIPIIS which means literally, “resist beginnings” in other words withstand the first approach of encroachments on the law. At any rate, beginnings are always of great significance, especially of great endeavours. These beginnings reveal a lot about the character of the enterprise which is about to unfold. Matthew writes: “Hearing that John had been arrested, Jesus went back to Galilee…”.The mission of God’s anointed begins with a movement from the centre of power (Jerusalem) to the margins (Galilee), or as Trinidadians would say “from ‘Town’ to the ‘bush.’

Regions or places on the margins away from the urban centres of power are seen as places of exile and of punishment. They are devoid of life and creativity. These are places where careers go to die. In Trini lingo, we term such distant places “behind God back.” This detail is theologically significant. In the life of the Church, she speaks often of a ‘preferential option for the poor.’ This preferential option is rooted in an understanding of God nourished by the stories of the bible. When we look at the drama of salvation, God has a predilection, a ‘weakness’ if you will, for all those on the margins of life. In Luke 4: 18 Jesus, the Son of God begins his programmatic statement, his manifesto in the synagogue as follows: “The Spirit of the Lord has been given to me, for he has anointed me. He has sent me to bring the Good News to the Poor…”

In this ‘preferential option for the poor therefore, all members of the church, without exception, are invited in their daily lives, in their ministry, in their outlook on life and in what they do for and with others, to imitate the God revealed in scripture by mimicking the special attention which God pays to the disadvantaged. For the Church of Jesus Christ, the poor are the first (but not the only) recipients of her ministry.

Matthew then goes on the quote this exquisite passage from the book of Isaiah:

Land of Zebulun! Land of Naphtali! Way of the sea on the far side of Jordan,

Galilee of the nations!

The people that lived in darkness has seen a great light; on those who dwell in the land and shadow of death a light has dawned.

In spite of her oil wealth, my own country has many places that could be considered ‘living in darkness…in a land and shadow of death…’

In the late 1970’s I visited a remote village called Matelot on Trinidad’s scenic North Coast. I was amazed since I saw sights that I had never seen before. Electricity lines were just being run. All along the road, for miles and miles was strung out a long line of teenagers heading to the only secondary school in the region several miles away in the nearby town of Toco. I asked myself at the time, ‘was this a land that time forgot?’ In  subsequent years an amazing thing happened, a Holy Faith sister by the name of Rosario Hackshaw took the seemingly ‘backwards’ step in her career and opted for a position as principal of the primary school in this remote place and over the next 14 years or so, transformed the school and to some extent the village to the point where they opened their own secondary school, a unique endeavor in the Trinidadian education system. Sister Rosario was but one of a long line of church workers carrying the Good News to the forgotten and disenfranchised in our land. When the church sets out on ministry, she often ‘goes back to Galilee’ to the backwaters, to the towns and the places where people ‘live in darkness’. The Word of God this Sunday invites us to do the same, to go back to those places that are small and unseen, to find those places and situations that are out of the public eye, where there will be little fame or recognition for our efforts. We can all ‘go back to Galilee’ like Jesus but for us, going back to Galilee takes great courage, initiative and creativity. Here are a couple questions for our reflection on the Word today:

1. Do I know anyone personally whom the society would consider disadvantaged?
2. Do I know of any situation, among my friends at school or at work where I can quietly and effectively bring light and joy?
3. When I do good for and with others, do I need my efforts to be acknowledged?