Third Sunday after the Epiphany

Third Sunday after the Epiphany (A)

January 22, 2023

Text: Matt. 4:12-25

            The darkness was palpable in the land of Zebulun and Naphtali.  The way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, the northernmost reaches of Israel… this is where the Assyrians invaded, and coopted the land into their empire.  They carved three Assyrian provinces out of the Northern Kingdom, renamed them, and repopulated them with the conquered peoples of other nations, people who did not know the LORD, people who worshipped other gods.  Thus, “Galilee of the Gentiles” (Matt. 4:15; ESV; Cf. Is. 9:1).  The Prophet Isaiah, looking back on that Assyrian invasion of the North, knows there is yet more darkness to come via the same route: The Babylonians, Nebuchadnezzar, will conquer Judah, the Southern Kingdom.  And they will sack Jerusalem, destroy the Temple, and lead the people away into captivity in 586 B.C.  Darkness, indeed.  And if that were the end of the story, the exiles may as well give up hope, give up on God, and resign themselves to lives of misery and enslavement to the raw power of their oppressors. 

            But, Isaiah says (though all around him is deep, dark shadow and shade): “The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shined” (Is. 9:2).  And Matthew’s quotation of the verse in just this place shows us that that Light is none other than Jesus Christ Himself!  It is He who comes into the darkness, the Son of God incarnate, born of the Virgin Mary.  Jesus Christ is the Light of the world (John 8:12), the Light no darkness can overcome (John 1:5).  And He even singles out Zebulun and Naphtali, in fulfillment of the prophecy.  Nazareth is in the former territory of Zebulun.  Capernaum is in the former territory of Naphtali.  The way of the sea, that is, the Sea of Galilee.  Galilee of the Gentiles, because the Light born of Israel will invade even the darkness of the Gentiles, and most of us here this morning are a testament to that.  A Light to lighten the Gentiles and the glory of Thy people Israel (Nunc Dimittis, Luke 2:32). 

            And how does He shine His Light into the pervading darkness?  He preaches.  His first recorded words in Matthew: “From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand’” (Matt. 4:17).  Repent.  Turn away from the darkness.  Sin.  Rebellion.  Idolatry.  The ways of the pagan nations.  Come into the Light.  Be justified by it, declared righteous on account of the righteousness of Messiah.  Be restored to God.  Walk in the Way of God, the Way of Light, the Way of Jesus Christ.  “For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed.  But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God” (John 3:20-21).  He calls His disciples to come to the Light, to follow Him.  And he calls them by name.  He calls them as He is walking beside the Sea.  First, Simon Peter and his brother Andrew.  Then, James and his brother John.  And then you.  He calls you by name at the Sea of the font.  “Come follow me,” He says.  Leave your old life behind.  Repent of all that and walk in My Way. 

            And repent, why? … For the kingdom of heaven is at hand (Matt. 4:17).  Notice, it is not, “Repent, so that the Kingdom of heaven may be at hand, or come to you,” but “for the Kingdom of heaven is at hand.”  It is at hand already.  Not just near, but here.  For the King is here, Jesus Christ, our Savior, the Son of God.  Where He is, there is His Kingdom.  We repent for that very reason.  He has come to us, right here in the darkness, to chase it away with His unconquerable Light. 

            And to show us that this is not a matter of mere words, He scatters the darkness in concrete ways.  As He proclaims the Gospel of the Kingdom, he heals every disease and affliction.  He casts out demons and stops death dead in its tracks.  The Creator has come to His creation to heal it of its brokenness (Just).  Great Light, indeed.  The dawning of a New Day.  The Light of Jesus Christ roots out the darkness far as the curse is found.  Relentlessly, He pursues the darkness all the way through the valley of the shadow, the cross, death, the grave.  He gives Himself to be ingested by it, swallowed up by the darkness, that in the very pit of hell, the Light may burst forth alive!  He cracks the very foundation of the darkness from the inside out.  The tomb is no longer sealed.  Jesus Christ is risen from the dead.  That is the Kingdom which is now at hand.  That is the Kingdom that has arrived.  “Scatter the darkness, break the gloom” (LSB 481:1).  “Light dawns in the darkness for the upright” (Ps. 112:4); that is, those justified by the Light, those justified by Jesus.

            What is the darkness in your life?  Not the Assyrians, perhaps, nor the Babylonians, but, the same old enemy powers that were behind them.  Sin.  Death.  The devil.  The world.  Your own sinful nature.  And the brokenness.  Oh, the brokenness.  Of your body.  Of your mind.  Your heart.  Depression.  Despair.  The brokenness of your relationships.  In this community.  Even in this congregation.  Futility.  Defeat.  Exile.  From Eden.  From the Promised Land.  From heaven.  It is the same old story...  But so also, it is the same Great Light that shines. 

            Jesus does not just look down on you from up there and send a few scattered shafts of light to help you see your way.  He comes down into your darkness.  Jesus comes to you.  In the flesh.  Here and now.  In Moscow, Idaho.  At Augustana Lutheran Church.  At this very moment.  And in every moment of your life. 

            He shines His Light by His Word, in the Scriptures, and in preaching.  Have sins overtaken you?  Repent of them.  Not so that Christ can come to you.  But because He has.  The Kingdom of heaven is at hand, here, now, in the flesh of Jesus.  And you are baptized.  A citizen of His Kingdom.  A child of the heavenly Father.  Jesus makes it so.  He comes to you and makes His home with you.  He pitches His tent with you.  He dwells in flesh and blood with you. 

            He calls you by name in Holy Baptism, to follow Him.  To hear and treasure His teaching and His Word.  To walk in His Way, and to eat and drink with Him (remember, He is the One who eats and drinks with sinners!).  To receive His healing Word (Absolution!) and His healing touch (the Supper!).  To receive Him in all the places of darkness.  The Light invades every dark corner of your life.  To receive Him in all the places of brokenness.  He binds up what is broken.  He is your Great Physician.  He is your Creator come to heal you, whom He has created, whom He has redeemed, and whom He loves.

            Now, He may not heal you of every physical ailment.  Not yet, anyway.  He healed those in His earthly ministry as a sign of who He is, and what He has come to do.  Then again, He may heal you in the same way.  Who is to say how many times you’ve been healed, or how many sicknesses and pains you have not suffered, at the touch of His risen body to your lips?  And in any case, any time you’ve been sick and gotten better, or hurt and recovered, though it be with the help of medicine, it is due to His providential healing and care.  That is a concrete consequence of His redeeming work.  But you understand what I am saying.  You may not get your miraculous healing in the time and the way that you would prescribe to Him. 

            But He will heal you.  And He does.  He heals you, not just of hay fever and hangnails, cough and cancer, coronaries and catastrophic car accidents.  He heals you of death itself.  By forgiving your sins.  Death is the wages of sin.  But in Christ, who died for your sins, in your place, and who is risen from the dead, Life has the final word.  And the Day is coming, isn’t it, when He will heal you completely of your every affliction of body and soul.  When nothing can hurt you anymore.  When God will wipe away every tear from your eyes.  That is the final healing.  Every other healing will come undone.  You will still have to die.  But not on that Day.  And never again.  Jesus Christ will raise you from the dead. 

            And you know, you have that healing and resurrection already now, in a hidden way, because the risen Christ gives you His life and His Spirit.  That is how you know the Day is coming.  It has already dawned.  Right here in the darkness.  Right here in the region of the shadow of death.  Jesus comes.  He is here.  He is at hand.  Repent, and believe it.  The night is passing away.  The Morning Star is rising in the east.  Soon, beloved.  Soon.  We are coming out of exile and into the eternal Promised Land.  Christ, our Light, leads us all the Way.  In the Name of the Father, and of the Son X, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.