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.
No comments:
Post a Comment