Gathering God’s People
26 January 2020 –– Third Sunday after the Epiphany
Matthew 4:12-23
Jesus could have gone to the temple and invited the priests to follow him, for they were “professionals” who could easily lead people. Jesus could have gone into a library and invited the biblical scholars, the scribes, to follow him, for they knew the Bible and could easily explain it to others. Why then did Jesus go to a lake and invite fishermen to follow him?
People who fish know that bait, time and place, and patience are essential for catching fish. Jesus knew that these three things are also essential to catch people for God’s reign. You need good bait to catch fish, something that attracts fish, and that often means different bait for different types of fish. You need good bait to catch people. The bait is a simple message: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near” (Matthew 4:17). Simply stated, “You need a change of heart and mind because God’s reign is here!’’ How we make this simple message attractive to different people today will depend on our audience. . . Although the message remains the same, the way in which we present the call to repentance and the coming of God’s reign will vary. –– John Paul Salay
Isaiah 9:1-4
When Jesus echoes the words of the prophet Isaiah, proclaiming that ‘‘the people who walk in darkness have seen a great light, ’’ he is speaking about darkness that is even more frightening than a dark room or street. The darkness to which he refers is a deeper, more threatening darkness: the darkness of despair and hopelessness. . . .
Did you notice? Neither of them says, “the people who sat in darkness will see a great light.” Both proclaim that “the people who sat in darkness” (that would be us) have seen a great light. We do not have to sit in the darkness, waiting for someone to show us where the light switch is. We already know and have already seen, at least once, the shadows disappear. –– Daphne Burt
1 Corinthians 1:10-18
Chloe’s people have communicated with Paul about divisions in the church at Corinth. In a game of one-upmanship, various members of the community are claiming status based upon who baptized them—Paul, Apollos, Cephas. . . Paul was very concerned about the divisions. In a city where many of the population were divided along philosophical lines (Cynics, Stoics, Epicureans), Paul understood the church to be a community. Paul was sent “to proclaim the gospel, and not with eloquent wisdom, so that the cross of Christ might not be emptied of its power.” The divisions in the church can do exactly that: empty the cross of its meaning.
. . . Verse 18 reads, “The message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.” Paradoxically, power is found where least expected—in the powerlessness of the crucified one. Where human thinking sees only foolishness, the believer finds the true wisdom of God. –– Joseph McHugh
Daphne Burt serves as the pastor at the Lutheran Church of the Good Shepherd in Hamden, Connecticut.
John Paul Salay is Loyola University’s Minister of Liturgy and the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults (RCIA).
Joseph McHugh is a freelance writer from New Jersey, and a former weekly newspaper columnist writing on lectionary readings whose writing includes a revision of Rev. Melvin L Farrell’s Getting to Know the Bible (ACTA Publications, 2003).
Homily Service 41, no. 1 (2007): 111-120.