Sermon by Pastor Robert Green, 3rd Sunday after Epiphany, Yr. A, No. 856, Ascension Lutheran Church, Harrisburg, Grace Through Christ, Lewisburg, PA, W.E.L.S., based on Matthew 4:12–23 (NIV84)
The season of Epiphany emphasizes the appearance or manifestation of the Son of God as the Savior of all people whether Jew and Gentile. He came as the Light shining in the darkness as the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. God promises us free and complete salvation through faith in Jesus. Such a simple beautiful promise and yet God understands the human heart and how it can be hard to believe that our salvation comes simply through faith in the Savior. Therefore, God in his wisdom and love provided his Word to us to give us encouragement and reason again and again to believe.
In the reading for today God assures us we can believe Jesus is our Savior for Christ our Savior has come manifested by calling his disciples; manifested as the Great Light; and manifested by his preaching the Good News! Hear the reassuring words of our God from Matthew 4:12-23, “When Jesus heard that John had been put in prison, he returned to Galilee. 13 Leaving Nazareth, he went and lived in Capernaum, which was by the lake in the area of Zebulun and Naphtali— 14 to fulfill what was said through the prophet Isaiah: 15 “Land of Zebulun and land of Naphtali, the way to the sea, along the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles— 16 the people living in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned.” 17 From that time on Jesus began to preach, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near.” 18 As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, he fishermen. 19 “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will make you fishers of men.” 20 At once they left their nets and followed him. 21 Going on from there, he saw two other brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John. They were in a boat with their father Zebedee, preparing their nets. Jesus called them, 22 and immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him. 23 Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people.”
Christ our Savior has come
- Manifested by calling his disciples;
Although Matthew records these events as if they happened right after Jesus' baptism and temptation in the wilderness, actually a year had nearly gone by. As you heard in last week’s Gospel already Jesus had called his first disciples, Andrew and Peter, James and John to faith, but had not yet called them as full time apostles. After that initial calling, Jesus had performed his first miracle at Cana north of Capernaum in Zebulun and Napthali and went to Jerusalem where he cleared the Temple the first time. All the while John Baptist was still preaching. After clearing the Temple, Jesus had then returned to the north to Galilee stopping on the way in Samaria with the Samaritan women at the well of Jacob.
After Jesus had left Samaria went to Nazareth and was rejected by the people of his home town. It was then that he heard that John the Baptist was in prison. This is where the reading begins in which we see Jesus going to Capernaum this time to live, having left for good his hometown of Nazareth. Here, almost a year later, we see his calling again of Andrew, Peter, James and John. But this time he calls the disciples to the full time work of being apostles. That is why they left their livelihood of fishing. This was not the picture of a sudden conversion and following of Christ for they had been with him on and off and had returned to their labors.
But now the time had come for his disciples to follow him full-time and to in doing so to be trained to be fishers of men, the picture of catching the soul. The only way to catch the spirit of a man is through the preaching and teaching of his Word by which souls are caught and brought to faith. Only God could make a mere man such a spiritual fisher of men and thus in his calling and making his disciples spiritual fishers of men, Jesus manifested himself as our Savior God. Dear believer, this gives you reason to believe in Jesus. Yet, God in his grace and mercy did not stop with the first disciples but he calls us all to be part of his evangelism plan and so makes us all fishers of men as we share the Gospel, encouraging the faithful preaching and teaching of his Word.
- manifested as the great light;
That Jesus returned to the ancient tribal lands of Zebulun and Napthali was no accident, but happened to fulfill Scripture. Recall that when Israel first occupied the Promised Land of Israel, through Joshua God divided the land into twelve parcels, one each for each tribe. To show that he would save mankind his way and not the way of man, all along the way God made prophesies to reveal and then prove his Word and promise of salvation through the Messiah. In the Old Testament reading from Isaiah, quoted by Jesus in the Gospel reading for today, God gave such a prophecy, concerning the lands of Zebulun and Napthali in the land of Galilee.
Isaiah worked in Israel as a prophet at a time when many of the people had stopped trusting in God and had fallen into despair and gloom because two kings, King Pekah of the Northern Kingdom of Israel and King Rezin of Damascus joined forces to conquer Judah. The threat by Kings Rezin and Pekah became more and more menacing. Isaiah told Ahaz, king of Judah, that Rezin and Pekah would not succeed and then said, “If you do not stand firm in your faith, you will not stand at all.” But Ahaz refused to believe and doom, gloom and distress filled the land.
Matthew quotes from the reading in Isaiah when, in the midst of all this gloom, Isaiah prophesied some of the sweetest words of the Gospel ever preached to comfort his people., saying in Isaiah 9:1-2, “Nevertheless, there will be no more gloom for those who were in distress. In the past he humbled the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the future he will honor Galilee of the Gentiles, by the way of the sea, along the Jordan— 2 The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned.” These words were written to encourage all to believe, but these words fell on many deaf ears, even in the time of Christ.
One reason why many Jews did not believe in Jesus was reliance on human reason rather than Scripture to identify the Christ. Many reasoned that the Savior would surely come as a great king to save the nation in a worldly sense by driving out the occupation forces of Rome. Under this reasoning many thought the Messiah or Christ would center his work in the holy city of Jerusalem, the capital of Israel and the home of the kings. Many could not fathom Jesus being the Savior for he spent surprisingly little time in Jerusalem. Indeed, most of his first year of public ministry was spent in the most unexpected place, Galilee. Galilee was in the north, in the area of what was once Northern Israel. Remember that over seven hundred years before most of the Jews of the North had been deported by Assyria and new peoples were brought in to stay. The new peoples intermarried with some of the remaining Jews resulting in a mixed of bloodline. There was also a synthesizing or combing of religious thought resulting in an altered religion being practice as true Judaism. By the time of Christ most of the north were considered to be impure in bloodline and belief and they were despised. Thus, any concept that the Messiah would speed any appreciable time in the land of the north, in Galilee was rejected and so many rejected Jesus as the Messiah.
Through Isaiah God comforted his people by prophesizing the Messiah would come to Zebulun and Napthali and in his coming there would be no more gloom for those in distress. Through Matthew God gave reason to all who would listen to believe that Jesus as the Messiah bringing comfort to those in the gloom and distress of sin through the forgiveness of all sin. Matthew shows all of who are walking in the darkness of unbelief and in the darkness of struggling with faith the great light of Jesus as Savior. The great light dawning on the people of Galilee is the picture of Jesus being manifested as the Christ
Those who believed in Jesus were comforted as their gloom and distress over sin and death were driven away. They could be sure of this simply by listening to the prophecy, seeing its fulfillment and trusting God’s Word. God wants no less for you and me. God assures us that Jesus is our Savior by fulfilling this prophecy of Isaiah showing us the great light in Christ. God wants us to trust in his Word no less. Dear believer, in those moments of doubt and struggle over faith in Christ, turn back to Isaiah and race forward to Matthew and once again be assured Jesus was manifested as the Great light, your Savior.
- and manifested by his preaching the Good News!
Take to heart that the greatest comfort in the deepest gloom and distress of life is to see the light of Christ in Jesus our Savior! For as Matthew tells us, that after going to Galilee, “From that time on Jesus began to preach, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near” and “Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people.” It is worthy to note that Jesus preached the idea of repenting as an on-going act. This is the Good News that we have forgiveness as long as we have faith and repentance in the heart. If that does not relief gloom and distress, what will?
Repentance is to have not only sorrow over sin but also trust in forgiveness. Rather than fall into the despair of thinking that in no way will God forgive us once we fall back into sin, Jesus preached repentance as an on-going act of faith. This is the Good News. He calls us to repentance for the kingdom of heaven is near to us both in the sense it is a heartbeat away, but even more so that it is as near as the heart, the picture of faith within which trusts in Jesus as our Savior.
Jesus showed he was the great light of Isaiah and revealed the great light by preaching the Good News of the kingdom, which is the promise of forgiveness through faith, and by healing every disease and sickness among the people. His power to heal the physical disease, every one of them, proved his power to announce the forgiveness of sins for just as only God can cure every disease and sickness, so only God can forgive sins. In his healing Jesus revealed or manifested himself to be our Savior.
You do not have to have been living in the land of Galilee for the great light to dawn on you. All you need is to see your sin and need for a Savior and believe in Jesus. Christ the great light has dawned on us as well for we once walked in the darkness of unbelief but now we see and believe. Trust God’s Word that Christ our Savior has come manifested by calling his disciples; manifested as the Great Light; and manifested by his preaching the Good News! To God be all glory, amen!