Now that John has been arrested, Jesus begins his ministry. He travels to Capernaum--Matthew ties this move as fulling the words of Isaiah (9:1-2) describing where the light would dawn on people who had been sitting in the dark.
Despite the arrest of John, Jesus continues the proclamation, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near."
Thomas Long in his Westminster Bible commentary on Matthew points out a crucial difference:
When John said the kingdom had come near, it was like a person pointing to a rain cloud on the horizon and saying that refreshing showers would soon come. When Jesus says the kingdom had drawn near, it meant that the hoped-for kingdom was beginning to happen in and through him. In the inauguration of his ministry, in his words and deeds, the cloudburst of the kingdom had begun."
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