Mt 4:12 "But when Jesus heard that John had been handed over, he withdrew into Galilee." Mark says: "But after John was handed over into prison, Jesus came into Galilee." Luke, however, said nothing about John being handed over, but wove his narration thus: "And when the temptation was completed," he says, "the devil departed from him until a time, and Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit into Galilee." That this was not done immediately, however, is made clear according to the evangelist John, when he says that before John the Baptist was sent into prison, Jesus went into Galilee, and from there wine was made from water, to Capernaum with his mother and disciples, and thus he ascended to Jerusalem, and after some things John baptized in Aenon. In these matters it is established that the four evangelists did not narrate things contrary to the Gospel of John, but passed over his first coming into Galilee after baptism, when he made wine from water.
Mt 4:13 "And leaving the city of Nazareth, he came and dwelt in Capernaum by the sea, in the borders of Zebulun and Naphtali." Nazareth is a small village in Galilee near Mount Tabor, whence also our Lord Savior was called the Nazarene. Capernaum, however, is a town near the pool of Gennesaret in Galilee of the Gentiles, in the borders of Zebulun. Mystically, however, that Jesus begins to preach when [John] is handed over signifies that the Gospel consequently arises with the Law. Nazareth is interpreted as "his shoot" or "flower," and the flower of figures which remained imperfect under the Law, which having been left, Jesus Christ [goes] to Capernaum, which is interpreted as "most beautiful village" or "field of fatness" or "village of consolation," and teaches us to pass to the fruit of spiritual doctrine which is in the Gospel, in the holy Church, which is the most beautiful village in the beauty of virtues, a field of fatness in the abundance of good works and the abundance of charity, and a village of consolation in the comfort of the Holy Scriptures and hope of future things, the Savior dwelling through his teachers preaches the Gospel. This is well called "by the sea" because, placed in the sea of the world, it is beaten by the waves of persecutions, and yet does not cease to free those submerged in the waves of pleasures with its nets. Which, being in the borders of Zebulun, is placed as a "habitation of strength," and of Naphtali, which is "enlargement," because in the midst of the Gentiles it stands strongly for enlarging the word of God and provides a refuge of protection to believers.
Mt 4:14-16 "That it might be fulfilled which was spoken through Isaiah: 'Land of Zebulun and land of Naphtali... light has risen for them.'" There are two Galilees: one beyond the Jordan in which Solomon gave twenty cities to Hiram king of Tyre in the lot of the tribe of Naphtali; the other [is] the pool of Gennesaret in the tribe of Zebulun around Tiberias, for whose distinction [it is called] "Galilee of the Gentiles beyond the Jordan," and the rest. "The people who sat in darkness have seen a great light." The Holy Church, taken away from former errors, has become a spiritual Galilee, that is, a transmigration, which previously, living in the Gentile manner in the shadow of death, that is, in the darkness of unbelief, received the light of the Gospel when Christ came.
Mt 4:17 "From that time Jesus began to preach and to say: 'Do penance, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.'" That he preaches the same things which John had said before shows them that he is the Son of God, whose prophet John was.
Mt 4:18 "But walking 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." That is, the Lord became incarnate; in the sea of this world he saw spiritual fishermen whom before the foundation of the world he foreknew as fit for the work of preaching. Simon is interpreted as "obedient," Peter as "recognizing," Andrew as "manly," and this befits well the person of teachers, because only these are suited for the work of teaching who are illuminated by the light of wisdom for knowing, and by working well obey God's commands, and manfully suggest this to others for knowing and doing.
Mt 4:19 "And he said to them: 'Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men.'" But that according to the evangelist John, Andrew is said to have followed the Lord by the Jordan at the testimony of John the Baptist, and Peter received his name, and Philip was called, [while] the other three evangelists say they were called from fishing—this must be understood thus: that they did not immediately cling to him inseparably, but only recognized who he was, and admiring him, returned to their own affairs.
Mt 4:20 "But they immediately, leaving their nets, followed him." Perhaps someone says: What did each fisherman leave who had almost nothing? But we ought to consider that he left much who refused the desires of possessing.
Mt 4:21 "And going on from there, he saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee and John his brother, in a boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets, and he called them." But it can be asked how first he called two by two, and a little later two others, as Matthew and Mark narrate, when Luke says that Peter's partners were the sons of Zebedee, and were called by him to help pull in the nets when the boats were filled in that very catch of fish, and the Lord said to Peter: "From now on you will be catching men" (Luke 5:10), and thus, having brought the boats to land, they equally followed the Lord. Whence it must be understood that what Luke [relates] was done first, nor were they then called by the Lord, but only was it predicted to Peter that he would catch men, and afterward happened what Matthew and Mark narrate, that two by two were called to follow the Lord.
Mt 4:22 "But they immediately, leaving their nets and father, followed him." These four disciples signify two peoples called from the love and cares of this age to spiritual study through the grace of God; for Peter and James signify the faithful Jews recognizing the Lord and supplanting vices; but Andrew and John signify the Gentiles manfully believing in Christ and saved by God's grace. For the two boats signify the two Churches from the circumcision and the uncircumcision called; the nets [signify] the preaching of the Gospel; the sea also [signifies] the world; the fish [signify] men submerged in the pleasures of the world and devoted to carnal wisdom; the harbor [signifies] the end of the present life. Zebedee is interpreted as "flowing" and signifies the instability of fleeting things. Morally, however, each faithful person can have four names in himself if he strives to show them in four virtues: he is Simon Peter when he recognizes sins through prudence, and these being deleted through strong obedience to God's commands, he avoids the injury of punishments; Andrew indeed when he manfully sustains temptations through temperance; but Jacob is not falsely called [such] who by supplanting vices conquers through fortitude; and fittingly can be named John, that is, "grace of God," when through justice he fulfills the Creator's commands and yet attributes nothing to himself from this, but to God.
Mt 4:23 "And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every disease and every infirmity in the people." That by his own example he might teach that teachers ought to be diligent and industrious and minister the word of God without respect of persons, in their synagogues, that is, in the assemblies of many, not vain fables but for the profit of the hearers. "Healing every disease" of bodies and souls, providing us an example that we should be ready to provide comfort to our neighbors in spiritual and bodily matters.
CONTINUE
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