Readings (Year A):
Isaiah 8:23—9:3
Psalm 27:1, 4, 13-14
1 Corinthians 1:10-13, 17
Matthew 4:12-23 or 4:12-17
Reflection: Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand
The gospel readings this week focus on the beginning of Jesus’ ministry: how he left Nazareth, where he was raised, and moved to Galilee to start his public preaching in order to fulfill the prophecy of Isaiah.
What struck me reading the passage this time around, however, was what sparked that move. “When Jesus heard that John had been arrested, he withdrew to Galilee,” the author of Matthew tells us. “From that time on, Jesus began to preach and say, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.’”
The Gospel of Matthew doesn’t tell us why John was arrested. It doesn’t say very much about the arrest at all. It doesn’t tell us if there is a trial or if people protest his arrest: He simply disappears from the narrative. The previous chapter is all about John’s ministry and his baptism of Jesus, but in Matthew 3 Jesus starts his ministry, and for the rest of the gospel, he is the focus of the story.
We have to look outside of Matthew for more clues about John’s arrest. The Gospel of Luke, which follows a very similar timeline to Matthew—John the Baptist preaches, Jesus is baptized, then goes into the wilderness to be tested for 40 days, then returns and starts his public ministry after John’s arrest—gives us a few more details. In Luke 3, the author tells us that John had been public about his criticism of Herod, both for marrying his brother’s wife and for “all the evil things that Herod had done,” and, as a result, Herod had shut John in prison. Mark 6 goes into even more detail about John’s imprisonment and death: It is here we read about Herod’s wife, Herodias, having a grudge against John and manipulating her daughter into having him put to death. But in today’s reading, we aren’t even told that Herod was behind it.
Matthew’s silence is striking compared to the other two gospels. The author could have named Herod. He could have explained why John went to prison—for speaking against the evils of a political leader. But instead, he quickly moves on: John is arrested, and Jesus begins to preach. The focus is not on how a ruler silenced a prophet, but rather how another prophet—Jesus Christ—stood up and called out that unjust act. “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”
When Jesus did this—when the arrest of his cousin inspired him to enter the public ministry he knew was his purpose in life—he didn’t go to the doors of Herod’s palace. He didn’t call for merely Herod to repent. Instead, his message was to an entire society. For it is not merely one man’s actions that caused John’s death; an entire society and culture allowed this governance to continue and create a world where innocent people could be disappeared into prison.
Reading this gospel today, in January 2026, it is hard not to draw parallels between John’s arrest and the recent arrest of so many innocent people—citizens and noncitizens alike—by Immigrations and Customs Enforcement officers. Like John, these people are ripped out of their work and lives and imprisoned. One might also see a connection between John, murdered for simply calling out political injustice, and Renee Good, murdered for observing ICE agents while sitting in her car.
Following Jesus, our response should not be withdrawal or despair, but instead proclamation and a call to repentance. Repentance, in this sense, is not about public guilt. Rather, it is a public turn, a refusal to accept the cruelty as normal. It is a call to examine the systems we live within and too often tolerate because we benefit from them. Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
