Sunday Reflections
3rd Sunday of Year A
Together, we are stronger
✠ A reading from the Holy Gospel according to Matthew 4:12-23
Hearing that John had been arrested, Jesus went back to Galilee, and, leaving Nazareth, he went and settled in Capernaum, a lakeside town on the borders of Zebulun and Naphtali. In this way, the prophecy of Isaiah was to be fulfilled:
‘Land of Zebulun! Land of Naphtali!
Way of the sea on the far side of Jordan,
Galilee of the nations!
The people that lived in darkness have seen a great light;
on those who dwell in the land and shadow of death
a light has dawned.’
From that moment, Jesus began his preaching with the message, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is close at hand.’
As he was walking by the Sea of Galilee he saw two brothers, Simon, who was called Peter, and his brother Andrew; they were making a cast in the lake with their net, for they were fishermen. And he said to them, ‘Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.’ And they left their nets at once and followed him. Going on from there, he saw another pair of brothers, James, son of Zebedee, and his brother John; they were in their boat with their father Zebedee, mending their nets, and he called them. At once, leaving the boat and their father, they followed him.
He went round the whole of Galilee teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the Good News of the kingdom and curing all kinds of diseases and sickness among the people.
1. We celebrate today as the Sunday of the Word of God. It is also the day we end the prayer for Christian unity. Today’s first reading is partly quoted in today’s gospel. It is the evangelists’ way of affirming that the prophecy of God’s promise of turning a situation around, made to the people of Galilee, is fulfilled with the advent of Jesus. Isaiah made this prophecy in 739 BC after the fall of the Northan Kingdom before the mighty Assyrian army. It was feared that the invading army would repeat the same act in Zebulum and Nephtali. These two cities had border with the Northern kingdom, regarded by the people of Jerusalem as pagan territory. The cross-border interaction made the exchange of culture, religious practices, and marriages between the two people possible. The result was that the people of Galilee were despised by their compatriots. The good news was that the imagined invasion didn’t take place.
2. Surprisingly, when Jesus began his earthly ministry, he chose Galilee as his headquarters. It was there that he performed his first miracle. It was equally there that he picked his first disciples. This is not a coincidence. It was prophecy fulfilled: those who sit in darkness have seen a great light. Jesus was deliberate in all that he did. He knew that he came to save the good and the bad. Thus, the ideal place to start his mission was the place where both Jews and the gentiles lived and met together. Galilee of the Gentiles was that ideal place. He came to build bridges to unit divided people. He began his mission by calling people to change of heart: repent for the kingdom of God is close at hand. The first change of heart should be treating others with respect.
3. From the early time of the Church, some Christians have looked down on others. Instead of working for unity for which Christ came, they form cliques to divide the community. Some specialize in idolizing certain personalities and looking down on others. Today’s second reading gives a vivid example with the Church of Corrinth. The Corrinthian Church was of great diversity with many rich people mixed with the poor, professionals with peasants, Jews with Gentiles, all together in the same community. Instead of bonding together, some people started forming cliques. “I am for Paul,” or “I am for Apollos”or “I am for Cephas.” Paul condemned this division, reminding them that Christ is the Church and not any disciple.
4. Today, the Corinthian problem has not left the Church. In some parishes, we still find people who are for or against this or that priest or that group. Instead of accepting the messengers sent to them, they idolize one priest and look down on another. Among Christians of different denominations, the story is still the same. Some Catholics look down on Protestants and vice versa.There was a story of a little girl who was asked in a catechism class by a religious to say what she would like to be when she grows up. The girl said that she would like to be a prostitute. The religious reported the matter to the parish priest who asked her to bring the girl to him. He then asked the girl the same question and she gave the same answer. Turning to the religious, the priest said: “I am much relieved. I thought you said that she wants to be a Protestant.” The religious was shocked. For the priest, being a prostitute was better than being a Protestant. This is how so many people reason when the seed of division has been sown in the community. People become irrational independently of their status.
5. Through today’s readings, especially the gospel, the Lord calls us to repentance from our divisions when he deliberately chose to begin his ministry in Galilee, a city that was despised because Jews and Gentiles intermingle in it. We should repent from the division in our families. Some families can no longer stay together. Such families are challenged today to heal their division. We should repent from the divisions in our personal relationships. We should repent in our ways of looking down on others. Like Jesus, let us strive to sow the seed of unity and not division.
@Vitalis Anaehobi
25/01/26
