Third Sunday after the Epiphany

Third Sunday after the Epiphany (A)

January 21, 2017

Text: Matt. 4:12-25

            “The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shone” (Is. 9:2; ESV).  Darkness descended upon all creation when our first parents sinned in the Garden.  Not a darkness blinding your bodily eyes, but a deep spiritual darkness that has as its source the twisted tongue of the serpent.  It is the black shade of death, the valley of the shadow.  It is sin, that mortal disease that infects us all since Adam, and the sins we commit as symptoms of that deep corruption of our nature.  It is physical death and all the reminders we have along the way that we are all mortal: disease, injury, trauma, violence, broken hearts, broken relationships, war, famine, natural disaster, depression, and the grief of lowering a loved one into the grave.  Finally, this darkness is unbelief and a perverted to desire for God to leave us alone.  That is the natural state into which you are born as a son or daughter of Adam.  You are born spiritually blind, dead, and an enemy of God.  And now, this isn’t a nice thing to think about, but it is a truth vital for you to know: As one born in sin, you are born in the spiritual kingdom of the very prince of darkness, the devil.  And it is so dark in this kingdom, and you are so blind in your fallen nature, you don’t even know you are in the darkness.  You cannot see it, and even when you begin to suspect, you refuse to believe.  That is the state of things outside of Christ.

            But, beloved, Jesus Christ is the Light of the world, the light no darkness can overcome.  And He breaks into this very darkness in our human flesh.  God is a man.  This man is God.  God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God, begotten, not made, of one substance with the Father, by whom all things were made… He breaks in to the things He made very good, but which have been enveloped by a foreign darkness.  He breaks in to be one with His creatures, one with man, conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary.  Why?  For us men, and for our salvation.  To rescue us from the darkness.  To conquer the devil.  To forgive our sins and give us life.  The Light dawns in Bethlehem, and it spreads by, of all things, preaching.  “From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matt. 4:17).  That is the content of the preaching.  Repentance and the Gospel that the Kingdom has arrived in Jesus.  You are saved by Jesus.  Your sins are forgiven on account of Jesus.  The Light has broken into the darkness in the coming of Jesus.  All Christian preaching is the delivery of this Light: Jesus Himself.  In preaching and in Sacrament, the Light breaks into the darkness to rescue you.  Jesus comes to you.  To forgive your sins and give you life. 

            See how the Light breaks in in our text.  Jesus preaches in fulfillment of this very prophecy: “the people dwelling in darkness have seen a great light” (Matt. 4:16).  Then, in continuity with His preaching (“Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand”) He calls individuals to faith and discipleship, and in the case of our text, into the Office of the Holy Ministry.  He calls the first men He would send as His Apostles to preach the very same sermon to the world.  “Follow me,” He says to them, “and I will make you fishers of men” (v. 19).  “You will catch others out of the swirling sea of darkness and bring them into the Light by preaching.”  So they do.  They leave everything behind, their business, their boats, and poor father Zebedee, not because there can’t be Christian fishermen, not because a Christian has to leave his vocation in this world behind to follow Jesus, but because these men in specific are called to a new vocation: Apostle, preacher, pastor.  This is actually a Holy Ministry text.  Because Jesus gives us pastors to proclaim the Light of Christ in a world of darkness. 

            Now Jesus and His Apostles-in-training go through all Galilee, and what is Jesus doing?  Teaching, preaching, and healing.  He goes right into the heart of darkness, bursting through with light and life.  “And he went throughout all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction among the people… they brought to him all the sick, those afflicted with various diseases and pains, those oppressed by demons, epileptics, and paralytics, and he healed them” (vv. 23-24).  Jesus, the Light, goes to the people in their deepest darkness.  He doesn’t wait around for them to come to the Light themselves.  He goes to them.  And He preaches.  He teaches and proclaims the Gospel.  Then He heals and casts out the demons (Light breaking through the darkness!).  And then the people who hear the preaching and receive the healing go out and tell others about it.  “So his fame spread throughout all Syria… And great crowds followed him from Galilee and the Decapolis, and from Jerusalem and Judea, and from beyond the Jordan” (vv. 24-25).  By the preaching, Jesus gathers around Himself a congregation as the Light spreads from one believing soul to another.  If the Apostles and the pastors who follow after them were sent to be fishers of men in the preaching, so also the members of the congregation are given to speak the Light of Jesus into the darkness so that His fame spreads to all the corners of the earth and more and more people are gathered into His congregation.

            And have you noticed there is a pattern in all of this that continues in the Church right up to this present moment?  Jesus taught and proclaimed the Gospel, and then confirmed His preaching with signs of healing and casting out demons.  The signs are tangible evidence of the Gospel truth.  What happens at Church in the Divine Service?  There is teaching and proclamation of the Gospel.  And there are tangible signs of the preaching: Baptism and the Supper of our Lord’s body and blood.  There, in the signs, you are cleansed and healed and the demons are put to flight.  No, it isn’t as dramatic as the healings and exorcisms Jesus performed in Galilee, but in all its mundane ordinariness, the healing bestowed in preaching and Sacrament is the greater healing.  For it lasts for eternity.  It applies the medicine of immortality that is Jesus’ death and resurrection to you, tangibly.  And it delivers you from the darkness all the way to Jesus’ second coming and the resurrection of your body from the dead.  Word and Sacrament, Baptism, preaching, and Supper.  That is the pattern.  The preacher preaches the same sermon every Sunday.  It is the one Jesus preached: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”  Then comes the sign: “Take, eat, the very body of Jesus, given for you for the forgiveness of sins.  Take, drink, the true blood of Jesus, shed for you for the forgiveness of sins.”  The Light enters your ears and your mouth and takes possession of you, body and soul.  And now you are lucifers!  No, not little devils.  Light bearers!  You bear Jesus in your mind and heart and soul.  His blood courses through your veins.  And you go to your neighbor in the darkness and speak that light and do the signs of service and love that back the message up.  And you invite your neighbor to gather here around Jesus, the Light, in the Christian congregation. 

            Light, beloved, is here for you now in the person of Jesus.  He makes His face shine upon you and is gracious unto you!  He is here now, hidden under His means of grace, to do this very thing.  Therefore, no more groping around in darkness.  Repent of your sins.  Repent of groping for light in all that is not Jesus Christ.  The devil is a liar.  The Light exposes him for what he is.  Tell that snake to go to hell.  Your sin is at an end in the blood and death of Jesus Christ.  Death is defeated by His resurrection on the Third Day.  All the symptoms of darkness that afflict us in this life are but the death throes of death and hell.  Death, mourning, crying, pain?  These things are passing away.  God will wipe every tear from your eyes (Rev. 21:4) on that Day.  The Light has come.  The darkness is dispelled.  The Kingdom of heaven is here for you in the flesh and blood of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.  In the Name of the Father, and of the Son (+), and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.