Mt 4:12-17, 23-25
12When he heard that John had been arrested, [Jesus] withdrew to Galilee. 13He left Nazareth and went to live in Capernaum by the sea, in the region of Zebulun and Naphtali, 14that what had been said through Isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled: 15“Land of Zebulun and land of Naphtali,/ the way to the sea, beyond the Jordan,/ Galilee of the Gentiles,/ 16the people who sit in darkness/ have seen a great light,/ on those dwelling in a land overshadowed by death/ light has arisen.”
17From that time on, Jesus began to preach and say, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”
23He went around all of Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, and curing every disease and illness among the people. 24His fame spread to all of Syria, and they brought to him all who were sick with various diseases and racked with pain, those who were possessed, lunatics, and paralytics, and he cured them. 25And great crowds from Galilee, the Decapolis, Jerusalem, and Judea, and from beyond the Jordan followed him.
GALILEE OF THE GENTILES: Epiphany celebrates the appearance of a star to the Magi from the east. The Gospel takes up the theme: Jesus’ presence and teaching in Galilee are like the star of his birth. Jesus is the light that has arisen in Galilee populated by both Jews and pagans.
Galilee, the region of northern Palestine, came under the Assyrians in 722 BC. Many of the inhabitants were exiled to Nineveh, and pagan foreigners were brought in to settle in the land. The region experienced more foreign influence than Judea, and its inhabitants intermarried with the pagans. The prophet Isaiah referred to it as gelil haggoyim—“Galilee of the Gentiles” (Is 8:23) precisely because of pagan elements. The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali refer to the area west of Lake Galilee where the descendants of the tribes of Zebulun and Naphtali settled. Galilee was part of the kingdom of Herod the Great and part of the tetrarchy of Herod Antipas. Prior to his public ministry, Jesus lived in Nazareth in Lower Galilee. He devoted the first portion of his ministry in the northwest bank of the Sea of Galilee: Chorazin, Bethsaida, and Capernaum.
The Jewish religious leaders in Jerusalem considered Galileans of impure race and of suspect orthodoxy. They thought that no prophet would arise from Galilee and concluded that Jesus, who was a Galilean, could not be a prophet or the Messiah (Jn 7:52). But the Synoptics present Jesus beginning his prophetic mission in Galilee; for Matthew, Jesus’ presence there marks the new dawn of hope.