Re: Verse reading–Matthew 4:12-22 (day three). “When Jesus heard that John was cast into prison He departed for Galilee.” (vs 13) There are some who believe that Christ’s departure to Galilee was a cautious move to avoid John’s fate. I am not convinced. Jesus was probably safer from Herod Antipas in Jerusalem than Capernaum. (Tiberius is close by) A more probable motive was courage, a willingness to “pick up the torch” once John’s ministry was complete. I am realizing how connected we are with those who have gone before us and those who will come after us. Serving God is a relay race, all of us running while we have the opportunity, pressing the baton forward, building on what others have done, counting on others to complete the race for us. If dangers and disappointments come (and they will) so be it. Sooner or later, all of us have to decide what is worth our life and run our part of the race with courage and without complaint.
I agree that our Lord would not have gone to Galilee for selfish (or any other) motives other than obedience. He only did what He saw the Father do and whatever is not from faith is sin. This is why He always had to be about His father’s business. He was spotless/sinless/perfect (praise be to God!) To let fear/self-preservation or any other motive “move Him” would have been to agree with darkness that God is not Best/Right/Enough….. basically GOD in all that He is to us…. and would not have been from faith. Oh that I could learn this lesson well.
I love your analogy of a relay race. It seems to me that the Church could benefit from looking at one another as teammates and not as competition. If one’s calling is from God then they never have any reason to be jealous/envious/afraid of others who might be “more gifted” (a lie in itself because we are all just different by design)…because your call is from God and He is more than sufficient/faithful in that. What man did not give, man cannot take away. A lack mentality is destructive within the Body and declares that our God is not sufficient (there is not enough of Him to go around) and that He is not Good. I once heard someone say that the only reason we could possibly have for envying others’ gifts is that we do not understand our own calling. If we did, we would be so enthralled in the vision/goodness of what God has created us uniquely for that we would not have time to even look around and compare ourselves. May He give us Grace that this would be a reality in our lives and it would cause us to pour ourselves into the lives of our brothers and sisters and see their success as our own and their burdens as something we are to help them bear.