John has just been arrested for accusing Herod of marrying his sister's wife. So Jesus moves north into Galilee and begins His public mission. Matthew sees this as a clear fulfilment of a prophecy from Isaiah. Jesus is the fulfilment of all that is promised in the Old Testament.

The essence of His teaching is to proclaim the coming of God's Kingdom into the world. That is why He came. And it begins in Himself - Jesus in His whole way of being and behaving is the living embodiment of the Kingdom. He calls on all to leave behind their old thinking, their old ways in order to surrender themselves entirely to the Way of Jesus, the true Way to Life. That Way leads to the realisation of the Kingdom.

And right away, we see four fishermen - Simon and Andrew, James and John - turn their back on their whole way of life and, in a spirit of total trust, follow Jesus and become His disciples.

From now on, they will join Him in proclaiming the coming of the Kingdom, which is illustrated so clearly by Jesus bringing healing and wholeness into people's lives.