So our Gospel is the beginning of Jesus’ ministry.
Jesus, as you all know,
Was born in Bethlehem and then He grew up in Nazareth.

Nazareth was kind of in, you could say,
The middle part of Israel, maybe in the south,
Kind of a desert, mountainous town,
Not that far from Jerusalem.

When Jesus comes of age,
When He’s ready to begin His ministry,
After He’s been baptized by John the Baptist,
When He’s 30 years old,
He has to make a decision through inspiration
Of the Holy Spirit where He’s going to conduct His ministry,
Where He’s going to teach,
Where He’s going to do all the miracles and so forth.

And He decides—it’s also not just His own decision—
But He goes to Scripture to consult this,
Decides to go north to Galilee.
That’s what we’re reading in Isaiah and then repeated

In the Gospel, to the region of Zebulun and Naphtali.
Why? Several reasons for this.

First, this in the Sea of Galilee
Was very much of a crossroads.
We hear that also in the Scripture readings,
“The way by the sea.”

So the Israelites would go up to Galilee
And they would trade.
Obviously the Sea of Galilee was a great source
Of fish and commerce and whatnot.

The Syrians and the Babylonians would come down from the north,
Passing that way.
So you have a lot of kind of mixtures
Of races and cultures and religions.

So Jesus kind of knows this.
Part of His mission is not just to redeem the nation of Israel,
But to bring the Light of God to the world,
To all the nations.

So it’s kind of a good training ground
To go into this very cosmopolitan
Melting pot of an area.

So He goes up there and He preaches.
He’s also going to get His disciples up there,
His Apostles who are from Galilee, the Galileans,
Peter and Andrew, James and John, and the others.

And these guys are real salt-of-the-earth individuals.
Jesus kind of wanted that.
Not insular and kind of overly—whatever you want to say—
Protected in their shelter, in their life.

Men and women who’ve experienced the world,
Men and women who have suffered.

This is the last part why Jesus chose this area.
As we heard in Isaiah, and again repeating the Gospel,
The people who’ve walked in darkness
Have seen a great light.

This region, because it was very much of a crossroads,
Was constantly being conquered.

And when, of course, in ancient times,
In ancient war, when a nation is conquered,
It’s pretty brutal.

People are enslaved, towns are burned to the ground,
Buildings and temples and whatnot are smashed.
It’s really painful.

So these people have grown up,
Have known basically generations
And generations of pain and suffering.

So they need it.
They need Jesus.
They need a Messiah.

Dare I say, even more than the people of Nazareth or Jerusalem.

So Jesus wants to go, and He wants to heal.

So does all that sound familiar?

I like to think that Jesus, He chooses the area to come to
That’s again diverse, but also people who are kind of
Salt of the earth and who’ve been suffering.

I think that fits Chicago.
I think that fits your home, wherever it is.

We know that our Messiah isn’t just one sitting back,
Chilling out, not noticing what we’re going through,
But He’s taking notice.

Jesus went to Capernaum.
He went to Galilee 2,000 years ago,
But that wasn’t the first, last,
And only time that He goes into an area.

He comes into our city, comes into our lives, and He heals us.
He wants to take us by the hand like He did those Apostles,
All those people suffering.

He wants to raise us up.
He wants to bring us into the Light.

May we accept that invitation.
Amen.