Third Sunday after the Epiphany: January 23, 2005.

Isaiah 9:1-4

Psalm 27

1 Corinthians 1:10-18

Matthew 4:12-23

First Reading

The appointed passage from the prophet Isaiah (9:1-4) is part of a larger section concerned with the Immanuel sign given to Ahaz and the coming child's impact upon Judah (7:1-9:7). Verse 9:1 (8:23 in the Tanakh) forms a link between the prophet's rejection of idolatry in favor of waiting for the LORD and the consequence of the LORD's deliverance to be affected by a future ruler, perhaps Hezekiah or Josiah, as announced in the oracle of the coming king.

The mention of Zebulun and Naphtali as those brought into contempt may be linked historically to their acquisition by Assyria in 733 B.C.E. These small tribes, traditionally among the least significant of the Twelve, stand in heightened contrast to the emerging power of Assyria in the wake of the collapsed Syro-Ephramatic coalition. Their later redemption, as the future ruler brings light and deliverance, making glorious all of Galilee, is a theopolitical event that raises hopes for the reemergence of a unified Davidic kingdom. (Ah! The good ol' days!) Hence, the celebration in the oracle that follows, akin to the joy of a bountiful harvest and lustful abandon at the spoils of war, examples of the safe and abundant life enjoyed by God's people as their oppressors are defeated--a point reinforced by the recollection of their deliverance from the Midianites under the leadership of Gideon.

In Psalm 27, we are treated again to the language of light, salvation, and deliverance from enemies in the form of confession and petition. The portion appointed for this day (vv. 1, 5-13 LBW) begins with the central premise of faith--unmitigated trust in the LORD. This is followed by a first petition that the psalmist may enjoy the protection of dwelling in Zion, acknowledging that the safety the psalmist seeks is in the LORD's presence. The psalmist's offering in exchange for this safety is the gift of praise. The second petition (incomplete) promises the psalmist's diligence in pursuing God's favor and the psalmist's confidence in God's continued help.

Paul writes to the Corinthians (1:10-18) with grave concern for their unity in Christ. A diverse community of faith since its founding, divisions are now manifest along the lines of those regarded as the teachers of the gospel. So Paul rehearses his list of who belongs to whom and questions the name in which the Corinthians were baptized, and not without a little humor concerning his own baptismal practices. More to the point, Paul regards the power of the cross as the central and unifying explication of God's work in Jesus Christ. The Corinthians must understand that nothing else--especially not the identity of a teacher or baptizer--can divide the people from their common heritage in the power of God made evident in the foolishness of the cross.

It has been suggested that Paul's limited initial success and the persecutions he endured in Philippi, Thessalonica, Beroea, and Athens (Acts 16-17) lie at the root of Paul's radical concern for the unity of Corinth. If indeed Paul arrives at Corinth exhausted from his conflicts with the synagogues and the intelligentsia, his exclusive focus on "Christ and him crucified" (2:2) is understandable as the core of his proclamation and consequently as a challenge to any community of believers that might be tempted to seek its identity in some lesser place.

For purposes of our analysis, the lesson from Matthew 4:12-23 is divided into two sections. The first part provides both context and message for the beginning of Jesus' public ministry; the second part recounts the calling of Jesus' first disciples.

The trigger for these events is the arrest (literally, the "handing over") of John, Jesus' forerunner and baptizer. Jesus withdraws into Galilee in a move that could initially have been interpreted as running for the safety of home, except that Jesus does not remain in Nazareth (the hometown cited as Joseph's choice in 2:23). Instead Jesus settles in Capernaum, a fishing village along the Sea of Galilee. Matthew interprets this move in light of Isaiah's pronouncements that those regions, Zebulun and Naphtali, which were first to succumb to the darkness of Assyrian bondage (see above) would be the first to celebrate the coming of God's saving light.

It is helpful to remember, too, that Galilee is not an exclusively Jewish territory but a place whose mixed population reflected its nature as a crossroads of the eastern Mediterranean. Amidst this diversity Jesus begins to preach: "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near." These words repeat John's earlier proclamation (3:2) but are spoken now to an audience that is potentially much broader. Robert Smith sees this as "prefiguring the universality [Jesus] would later proclaim" (Matthew: Augsburg Commentary on the New Testament, 69).

The content of this proclamation includes a call to [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII]. More than a mere changing of the mind, this is a call to reconsider the direction one is headed. This imperative is followed by an indicative: "The kingdom of heaven is at hand." In pairing this proclamation with the references to Isaiah, Matthew seems to indicate that this kingdom presence is realized in Jesus, a claim further explicated by the teaching and healing ministry that Jesus undertakes and ultimately revealed in Jesus' death and resurrection.

In the calling of Jesus' first disciples we see an immediate reaction to this proclamation. While it was the practice for students to seek out noted rabbis with whom to study, here Jesus turns the tables and approaches those whom he would call--fishers who leave behind their vocation and sons who leave behind a father. Both calls are deeply significant, because vital relationships are severed for the sake of new vocation and new family. The overwhelmingly positive reaction to Jesus continues as his ministry in Galilee unfolds in continued proclamation, teaching, and healing.

Pastoral Reflection

The folks in the congregation I serve are good people who come to church--many of them quite faithfully--to give thanks and praise to God and to find strength and inspiration for the living of these days. They are also a broken and vulnerable people (much like their pastor) who are lured and sometimes seduced by myriad lesser gospels that likewise promise strength and inspiration for the journey. They know what it's like to work hard to get what they need and want, and they're not afraid of that hard work. They also know what it's like to fail and to be deceived, sometimes even to the point of despair and cynicism.

So it is with care and a good bit of tenderness that I call them to repentance. Not a revivalist preacher by style, I find myself leaning toward the indicative in Jesus' proclamation first so that the possibility of the imperative might become evident. Good news! The kingdom of heaven is at hand in the person of Jesus. Good news! Our God not only keeps promises but stoops to keep them by knowing our sickness, our struggle, our darkness ... even to the point of death on the cross, which marks us all. Good news! Here is light and illumination for a way of life that delivers us from the bondage of the anxious, acquisitive self. Good news! Here is something that is worthy of the turning of human life and ambition ... that repentant turning itself a gracious gift of the one who is God's kingdom come near to us. "Land of Zebulun, land of Naphtali, land of Elmore on the road to Toledo ... the people who sat in darkness have seen a great light...."

But to leave the proposition there would do both the people and the texts a disservice. For like the first disciples whom Jesus called and those who came after them through their proclamation and the work of the Holy Spirit, we are enabled by Jesus' calling to lay aside our old understandings of human purpose and to follow after Jesus with renewed vocation. The fishers of old dragged their catch from life in the sea to death on the shore--a kind of reverse baptism, if you will. As Jesus' disciples in this generation, we continue to draw in the nets, bringing those who are caught up in the proclamation of the good news to the death we all share in Jesus' cross and the new life which is ours in Jesus' resurrection. More good news! We who often find ourselves lost and defeated have been remade in Christ's image to share the work that he began--to be bearers of light and hope to the dark places of our age.

Here is a call worth applying our God-given energies and skills to, and not simply for our own sake but to the glory of God and for the continuing deliverance of this whole creation from darkness into light, from death into life. DLN