Jesus' ministry begins in Galilee

Jesus' ministry begins with explosive force in Galilee.

John the Baptist is arrested by Herod.  Jesus now preaches that the "time has come".  The Gospels are full anecdotes of preaching and miraculous healings by Jesus in Galilee.

Jesus heals the official's son (John 4:43-53)

Jesus is welcomed in Galilee.  A lot of the Galileens were in Jerusalem and saw what he had done in Passover.  Plus, prophets are welcomed in places other than their hometowns.

Jesus is in Cana, where he had turned water to wine.

A royal official with a dying son comes to Jesus and begs Jesus to go to his home to heal the child, who is in Capernaum.  Jesus states, "unless you see miraculous signs, you won't believe".  The man begs Jesus to come a second time and this time, Jesus replies that the child is fine.  The man leaves Jesus and heads back to his home.  He is met by others from his home and tell him that his child is fine and the fever lifted at around the same time the man interacted with Jesus.  The text reports that this man and his household and believed in Jesus.

One theme in the story is about belief based on (1) seeing miracles and (2) hearing about miracles.  I don't think there is a problem with belief predicated on miracles at some level.  In fact, this gives the prophet supernatural credibility.  Plus, for Jesus, the Christian faith is predicated on the Resurrection, which would be classified as a miracle.  Likewise, it is the pattern presented at Jerusalem at Passover that signs and wonders brought people to faith.  So, I don't think Jesus' statement is chastising the father in the story, but rather a statement of fact.  Miracles are a necessary part of any ministry that claims supernatural authority.  

Jesus has a lot of miracles.

For this man in the story, I think he already believed in Jesus without seeing a miracle.  He took Jesus' statements on faith and left Jesus.  He did not beg Jesus to come yet a third time.  Rather, it seems to be the healing of the son plus the testimony of the father that convinced the household.

Jesus in Nazareth (Luke 4:16-30)

Jesus goes to the synagogue in Nazareth and reads from the scroll in Isaiah 61.  The quoted portion describes a man who is anointed by God to preach the good news, heal the blind, and free people.  Jesus sits back down and says that this is fulfilled.  

The people are eager for miracles and ask Jesus to do what he had done in Capernaum.  So, word about the healing of the child remotely had spread in the area.  

Jesus declines because prophets are not welcome in their hometown.  Jesus tells the story about how Elijah healed the Syrian leper although there were other lepers in Israel.  

This angers the crowd who take him to a cliff to throw him off.  At the top, Jesus walks through the crowd and leaves.  This last portion is stated as if it were a miracle, so we can probably imagine that either the mob was supernaturally quelled or perhaps even an invisible force field protected Jesus at the last minute.  If I had to speculate, I would say it was the former, but the text is silent about further details on how the mob let Jesus go.

It is interesting that they took Jesus to the top of the mountain to kill him.  They seem to believe in Jesus might be a powerful prophet.  Although they echo surprise that this man came from their hometown, they had heard about the Capernaum healing.  So, they are taking their lives into their own hands by trying to kill him.  Jesus had just talked about Elijah who had called down fire from God on the groups of soldiers coming to arrest him.  So, if Jesus is the real deal, they might be killed themselves by trying to kill Jesus.

Overall, I read the story as both a farewell from Jesus to his hometown of Nazareth as well as an invitation for them to follow him.  Jesus is saying that he will not concentrate his ministry on Nazareth, but that does not preclude them from following him.

Jesus calls Simon, Andrew, John, and James (Mark 1:16-20; Matthew 4:18-22)

Jesus is by the sea of Galilee when he sees Simon and Andrew.  Jesus encountered them before when Andrew was a disciple of John the Baptist and Andrew had gone to bring Simon to Jesus (see John 1:35-41).  Simon and Andrew have returned to fishing now that their leader is in jail.  Jumping ahead, they will return to fishing after Jesus is executed, but before they know he is risen.  Jesus also sees the sons of Zebedee, James and John, fishing nearby.  He invites them and they leave Zebedee to follow Jesus.

Jesus calls to them and officially invites them to become disciples of himself.  Specifically, Jesus makes the analogy that Jesus will teach them to become fishers of men.  They drop their nets and follow Jesus.