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Without any formal training, providence gave me a season of work in the arena of commercial construction. I immediately had to swim in the waters of jargon, abbreviations, measurements, specifications, etc. So, almost daily, I had to investigate the meaning of terms, like plenum rated, and acronyms like MEP and AHJ.
One day, as I was standing near my desk, I reviewed a document stating we needed to send such-and-such drawings to the AHJ. I asked our consultant, who had served for decades as a construction architect for hospitals, “Did we get these to the AHJ?”
After a bit of discussion, he asked, “Aaron, do you know what an AHJ is?”
“No,” I said. Perhaps, I thought, the initials represent some engineering company.
“Aaron, AHJ simply means the authority having jurisdiction.” It doesn’t refer to a specific company. It refers to the company overseeing that certain sphere of the project.
Since I was also attending seminary when I heard this, I instantly thought of the New Testament passage, Matthew 28:18, in which Jesus said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.” Matthew develops the theme of God’s authoritative rule channeled via the person Jesus Christ.
Matthew also contains the third text for exploring the meaning of the gospel.
In the first article, on Galatians 1:11–12, we learned that the gospel comes from God. In the second article, on Revelation 14:6–7, we learned that the gospel conveys an eternal message.
In this third article on the gospel, we’ll look at Matthew 4:23 and learn that the gospel proclaims the rule of God. In other words, the gospel claims that God functions as the AHJ of our planet.
Matthew wrote four simple statements summarizing what Jesus did at the beginning of his earthly ministry.
“And he went throughout all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction among the people.” (Matthew 4:23, ESV)
A punchy verse packing a lot of truth.
The Sand on Jesus’ Feet
Jesus based most of his ministry in Galilee, near the Sea of Galilee (a freshwater lake). This region contained at least two hundred villages and cities, filled with Jews and Jewish synagogues, who relied on the abundant water—especially the heavy dew to irrigate the crops—and the supply of fish. Galilee’s elevation also made it the highest region in Israel.
Jesus did not travel throughout Galilee to make a profit, explore ancient ruins, or get cultured because he felt embarrassed having grown up in the small village, Nazareth. Jesus did not tell his followers to send out an invite so people would come to him in Capernaum.
He traveled to teach.
He traveled to proclaim.
He traveled to heal.
Yet, cosmic meaning hides in Matthew’s simple line, “And he went throughout all Galilee….”
God comes to us.
In Jesus, God got his feet dirty.
God got his feet dirty because he wanted to come to us. That kind of God we would not invent. Most of our invented gods project human likeness—tendencies, emotions, desires, virtues, and vices. The gods of human imagination necessarily contain human characteristics even though they also contain inhuman ones.
I think it’s fitting for anyone learning the gospel, or having already believed it, to spend time considering this radical truth.
In Jesus, God has come to us.
Matthew continues explaining why.
The Curriculum of Jesus’ Teaching
Jesus taught in the synagogues of the region. The Jewish synagogue developed at some point between the fifth and third centuries BC. Many Jews revolved their routine of life around the activities of the synagogue. It housed worship and teaching. It fostered community. It preserved identity. Born a Jew, Jesus occupied the Jewish milieu of his time making the synagogue integral to his life and mission.
Matthew wrote, “…teaching in their synagogues….”
The time of teaching in the synagogue consisted of teachers reading a portion or multiple portions from the Hebrew Bible, perhaps Genesis, the Psalms, or Isaiah. The Hebrew Bible contained texts considered to be the word of God to his people. By the time of Jesus, the Jewish canon just about solidified into the documents Christians and Jews now hold authoritative today.
Jesus might have received invitations to speak. Other times, he might have stood to offer comments on the passage.
When Jesus spoke, people listened.
The scriptures that Jesus exposited explained how the Jews came to be, why the Jews came to be, and what God had in store for the Jews. The scriptures conveyed what God is like, what God likes, and what God dislikes. They taught how to live and how to think.
Jesus stood next to the stone bench holding up the scripture scroll; he read from it before the people—perhaps only a few dozen sat around him. He sometimes may have had to translate the text from Hebrew to Aramaic. Then he explained its meaning—why it was important for them to know and how it was significant for their lives during his day.
What has Jesus’ teaching in the synagogues to do with the gospel? It means that the gospel did not appear at random in history nor did it appear disconnected from any human culture.
The gospel appeared in history because it was promised beforehand. God prepared the Jews to receive the gospel. In doing so, God had prepared the world to receive the gospel.
The gospel message of Christianity lodges itself in human history. It’s historical. God acted in history. People saw Jesus, touched Jesus, witnessed his bloody death on a wood cross, and felt the fleshly holes in his palms after he resurrected.
The gospel is based on empirical evidence. Humans living two thousand years ago saw, touched, tasted, smelled, and heard with the sensory capacity we do today. God revealed himself to their senses.
The four Gospels, written about Jesus, connect Jesus’ story with the story of the Jews and simply put forth what people experienced. The gospel message contains earthly content and divine meaning.
God is Back
Why did Matthew write that Jesus taught in the synagogues and proclaimed the gospel of the kingdom? Aren’t they the same thing?
Not quite.
While Jesus may have proclaimed the gospel of the kingdom during a bit of his teaching in the synagogue, the proclaiming added to the teaching.
Matthew says kingdom, in this verse, to represent the kingdom of heaven, the kingdom of God. Jesus proclaimed the good news of God’s reign. He invited people to participate in it.
The scriptures from which Jesus taught heralded the return of God to his people, to restore them and deliver them. The scriptures heralded the return of God to establish his kingdom on earth.
Here’s an image from Isaiah written about seven hundred years prior to Jesus:
“It shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and shall be lifted up above the hills; and all the nations shall flow to it, and many peoples shall come, and say: “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob, that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths.” For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. He shall judge between the nations, and shall decide disputes for many peoples; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore.” (Isaiah 2:2–4, ESV)
When Jesus traveled through the villages of Galilee, he proclaimed the good news that God has come. God’s kingdom is at hand.
Evidence of the Kingdom
Lastly, Matthew wrote that Jesus healed every disease and affliction. Elsewhere in the Gospels, the writers tell us Jesus had compassion on the crowds so he healed them. Yet, more meaning lies behind the healings.
In the Isaiah passage quoted in the previous section, the outcome of God’s teaching is that people will turn their swords into plowshares and spears into pruning hooks.
God made them farmers. Farming reflects that God will return the world to the ideal state. Humans will use the world as God intended, will relate to each other as God intended, and will connect with God as God intended. God will restore all.
Jesus healed as a sign that the restoration has arrived. In Jesus, God began the work of restoring the world—healing what’s wrong with it.
God did not make the world because he enjoys death and decay and wants those harsh rulers to reign. He made the world for life, health, peace, and joy. He made humans to flourish.
The gospel of the kingdom, the announcement of God’s return, the proclamation of God’s rule puts forward the invitation from God to flourish—to find life, to discover love, and to live with purpose and hope.
That’s why it’s good news that God is the AHJ of this world.
But for each of us to flourish, something radical must happen for us and to us. And that’s what’s at the core of the gospel invitation, which will be the content of our next passage.
Bibliography
- The Lexham Hebrew Bible, 2012
- The Holy Bible: English Standard Version, 2016
- Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, 2003
- The Lexham Theological Wordbook, 2014
- The Lexham Bible Dictionary, 2016
- Kurt Aland, Barbara Aland, Johannes Karavidopoulos, Carlo M. Martini, and Bruce M. Metzger, Novum Testamentum Graece, 28th Edition, 2012
- William Arndt, Frederick W. Danker, Walter Bauer, and F. Wilbur Gingrich, A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and other Early Christian Literature, 2000
- D. A. Carson, The Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Matthew
–Mark, 2010 - R. T. France, The Gospel of Matthew, 2007