February 5, 2026

GOD’S WORD FOR TODAY:

“When Jesus heard that John had been put in prison, he withdrew to Galilee. Leaving Nazareth, he went and lived in Capernaum,. ” (Matthew 4.12-13a)

“Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit. He went teaching in synagogues along the way. Everyone praised Him. News about Him spread through the whole countryside. He even went so far as Nazareth, where He had been brought up.” (Luke 4.14-16a)

“After John was put in prison, Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God.” (Mark 1.14)

TODAY’S REFLECTION ON GOD’S WORD:

It is easy to understand why Jesus returned to the northern communities of Israel after John the Baptizer was arrested, jailed and soon after was beheaded. It wasn’t that Jesus wanted to distance Himself from His cousin John and the political turmoil which surrounded the desert prophet. John proclaimed the coming of the Kingdom of God to be led by the King of kings, the Messiah, the Lamb of God who came to take away the sting of sin and the consequences of eternal death. Shouldn’t repentance be enough to satisfy the penalty of sin which is death? Didn’t the whole of the Temple worship center on the sacrificial system which offered gifts to God from a grateful people? In that same moment, however, the prophets spoke of God’s unmitigated disgust with the sacrifices of the people. They had lost touch with the reality of mercy, grace and forgiveness. They no longer should true contriteness of the heart, mind and soul. They had begun to adopt the dualism found in other cultures which focused on the separation of flesh and spirit, body and mind. It was as if they believed they could live in two realities at once. We say it this way in the modern church, reflecting a number of New Testament scriptures, “Be in the world but not of it.” It is a summation statement claiming that the world (the human population) is not our home even though we live on earth. Rather, we are called to live on earth under the sovereignty of God as we will in Heaven under the same. However, the pursuit of so much religion is to approximate how such a life of Heaven can be lived on earth. Either we attempt to deny the past which has so negatively influenced and polluted our lives living more for ourselves in response to emotions and feelings or we seek to overcome the past with sacrificial or beneficent works. Regardless of which option is chosen, it is not what happens in Heaven. It is simply an earthbound way of life that serves limited good but not to the full glory of God.

It is here that we have to hit “pause” and remember what Jesus said to those who were in spiritual and political leadership. He wasn’t seeking to get away from something (as we saw in His responses to the three temptations). Instead, Jesus was moving toward the truth. He wasn’t avoiding Satan. He was seeking God. In reality, Jesus was inviting Satan to join with Him in believing God’s will for His own life. The temptation story was, as I suggested, a redemption story that revealed the undeniable truth. What is that truth? It is the truth of righteousness. It is the reality of living righteously. It is on that pivot point that I view the “Ten Commandments” not as a list of “don’ts.” I see the “Ten Commandments” as the description of living righteously. Doing so only promotes the right kind of living. The first orientation is how to live toward God: worship God and only One God; honor and trust the covenant established in His name; put away all distractions which promote a human understanding of God; and honor the sabbath. The second orientation is how to live with one another in the covenant community. As those within the covenant community (the Kingdom of God on earth) begin to thrive, so the rest of the world will witness the life that community has. They will have to make two decisions for themselves. Either they will seek it for themselves and prosper or they will deny it and attempt to defame and destroy it. Jesus reminds the faith community that the sole purpose of the enemy is to “steal, kill and destroy.” He says, “But, I have come to give them life and that life in abundance.” To whom was He coming to give life?

Sadly, most of the dispossessed people were in the territory north of Jerusalem and Judea. In former times, they were the remnants of the Ten Tribes of the Northern Kingdom. Once united until David and Solomon, they had slowly become a fragmented and dismissed people under the leadership of the “south,” that is Jerusalem both politically and spiritually. The protection of the land its population waned as foreign enemies (reflecting their own domestic enemies) infiltrated and overcome them all. Jesus would say, “I have not come to seek those who are saved; I have come to seek and save those who are lost.” Conventional wisdom would say “For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.” On the other hand, it was a more popular opinion that only those who lived within the confines of Jerusalem were “saved” because they represented the Temple and the political capital of Israel. So, as Jesus moved to the north, it was a move to minister to those who were “like sheep without a shepherd.” John’s mission was to call people to repentance. Jesus’ mission was to call people to righteousness. Righteousness only comes when people are truly repentant. The “righteous” have no need to repent or, as in Jesus’ words, “the well have no need for a doctor.” Of course, only Jesus could be truly righteous in the world on earth. His righteousness would be called into question in many places; none more so than in Nazareth where He grew up as a boy into His early manhood.

TODAY’S PRAYER OF THANKSGIVING:

Father, in these days we are finding the need to believe even more than ever before. We all have known trouble, some in greater ways than others, but You are offering us the assurance that we will not be consumed by it forever. Regardless of the “time” we are in and the “time” we have been given, we ask for Your Holy Spirit which Jesus asked You to share with us, to lead and guide and direct us in the paths we should go. Teach us what we still need to learn. Empower us to put that learning into action. Bless our actions not as a works righteousness but as righteous works of faith, hope and love in Jesus’ name. AMEN.