Message of Abbot Paul - Sunday 22nd January 2023

Today is the Sunday within the Octave of Prayer for Christian Unity, so I know that Masses, Liturgies and Services will be held in churches and chapels all over the world for this intention, and Belmont is no exception. We are all praying for unity, just as we long for it and work seriously towards it, even if at times is seems an impossible task. One of the positive things we can do is to thank God for the unity we already share in Christ and for the many things we now do together which we once did apart. When I was a boy, we weren’t even allowed to say the Lord’s Prayer with other Christians, treating them as though they were pagans or worse. We have moved on leaps and bounds since then, due in great part to the Week of Prayer.

 

​Our Gospel today, which comes from Matthew, (Mt 4: 12-23), explains to us the move from Nazareth to Capernaum, the preaching of Jesus and the call of the first four disciples, Andrew and Peter, James and John, all four of them fishermen, to whom Jesus said, “Follow me and I will make you fishers of men.” Matthew sees in the move to Capernaum the fulfilment of the prophecy 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.’

The preaching of Jesus echoes that of John the Baptist, but there is a great difference. “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is close at hand.” Jesus is the incarnate Son of God, the Word made flesh. He embodies the kingdom of heaven that he proclaims. Where Jesus is, there is the kingdom.

 

​The calling of the disciples is as radical as it is dramatic. Both sets of brothers are at their daily work, Peter and Andrew fishing, James and John mending nets with their father Zebedee. With not so much as a Good Morning, Jesus simply says, “Follow me.” They stop working, they leave their boats and their nets and the old man Zebedee and simply follow Jesus. This really is obedience without delay, not an easy or realistic example to follow, but is does make us reconsider our own following of Jesus and whether it is truly radical enough. Matthew then gives a summary of the ministry of Jesus from that moment on. “He went round the whole of Galilee teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the Good News of the kingdom and curing all kinds of diseases and sickness among the people.” As we are often reminded, Jesus himself is the Good News and where Jesus is, there is the kingdom.