3rd Sunday in Ordinary Time

 

My dear parishioners,

God is Good!!!  All the time!!!  And all the time!!!  God is Good!!!

This reading amplifies the lesson in faith Isaiah drew out of King Ahaz’s failure to seek security in the Lord God. Instead of trusting in God, the king struck up an alliance with the Assyrian Empire. The consequences of this mistake are reflected in the opening lines of the reading.

Darkness. The king was blind to the ways of God. So, fittingly, Isaiah describes this lack of insight as darkness. Unfortunately this darkness enveloped the whole northern region of the Promised Land. The tribes of Zebulun and Naphtali sat on lands near the Sea of Galilee. These lands were productive for farming and grazing. They were also the first lands reached by invading armies; they were “degraded” by the army of Assyria when it marched out to secure its interests. But the prophet attributes this sad turn of events to God’s plan. It served as a tough lesson for the people, instructing them to turn to God rather than to powerful nations. Isaiah’s textbook on faith, written at God’s command, advised future generations to always seek the will of God (Is 8:16-20).

The ministry of Jesus follows immediately upon the arrest and eventual death of John the Baptist. Jesus leaves Nazareth and settles in Capernaum, which was a safer location. Matthew sees this as fulfilling the prophesy of Isaiah 8:22–9:1 which he quotes. The great light, which Isaiah refers to, is understood by Matthew to be Jesus himself.

The message. The central proclamation of Jesus is summarized in the words, “Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” This is based on the same message that John the Baptist preached when he was active. The difference is that for John the Baptist, the advent of the kingdom of heaven (God) was still a future reality. Jesus radicalizes John’s message by making the kingdom a present reality. It is already here, at least partially. This adds a sense of urgency to Jesus’ ministry.

Calling the disciples. From the very beginning, Jesus understood his ministry to be collaborative. It would be carried out in conjunction with others referred to as disciples. The way Jesus calls these disciples is very significant. He begins with four fishermen: Peter, Andrew, James, and John. The method for calling them to follow him is astonishing. Jesus simply walks up to the boats in which these four men were working and summons them to follow him. At once they leave everything and follow him. There is no indication that these men had ever heard of or seen Jesus previous to this moment. There are no questions asked and no discussion required. Why would they respond like this to a perfect stranger? Logic and reason do not suffice. It has nothing to do with knowledge or discernment. They are attracted to who Jesus really is even though at this moment they are not aware of this. All they can do is follow him.

 

Excerpts from “Sunday Homily Helps”, is used by permission of Franciscan Media. www.FranciscanMedia.org. All rights reserved

 

Sincerely in Christ,

Fr. Aloysius