“The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; upon those who dwelt in the land of gloom a light has shone.”1 The last time we heard these words from our first reading was during Mass at Night on Christmas.
If we take our Gospel reading from Matthew as the context for the rest of our readings, the context is the beginning of Jesus’s ministry, which, according to Matthew’s chronology, comes after his baptism by John in the Jordan and after his forty days of fasting, praying, and being tempted by the devil in the wilderness.
Upon emerging from his sojourn in the wilderness and returning to his native Nazareth, Jesus proclaims his message: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”2 After this, Matthew has Jesus leaving his hometown and going south to Capernaum, which is still in the province of Galilee. Capernaum is located on northwest corner of the Sea of Galilee. This “sea” is a large freshwater lake, to which the scriptures also refer as Lake Gennesaret.
Once there, Jesus sets about summoning followers. Being located on the shore of a large lake, Capernaum was no doubt home to a large number of fishermen. It is along the lakeshore that Jesus went in search of disciples. As a result, he called two sets of brothers: Simon, whom he will later rename Cephas, or Peter, and Andrew along with James and John, the sons of Zebedee. As this call is conveyed, both sets of brothers saw Jesus as the light because they dropped everything and walked toward the light.
That this kind of scriptural background is important to preaching is highlighted by the fact that last year, in his Apostolic Letter, Aperuit Illis (i.e., “He opened”), Pope Francis designated the Third Sunday in Ordinary Time as “Word of God Sunday.”3 Normally, a homily requires some exegesis of the readings that are proclaimed. By “exegesis” I mean some explanation about what the scriptures the mean in themselves and how the readings relate to one another before jumping to how what we’ve heard proclaimed applies to our lives. Failing to do this often results in a homily that has little or nothing to do with the scriptures proclaimed. he great Church father and Bible translator, Saint Jerome, asserted- “ignorance of Scripture is ignorance of Christ.”4
It is easy to see from the first encounter Peter, Andrew, James, and John have with Jesus that the Lord’s call to discipleship always carries a sense of urgency. To one who is called, nothing is more important or urgent than following the Lord. Anyone who has truly encountered Jesus has experienced this. Encountering Jesus is life-altering. You do not need to worry about whether or not you are called. If you are baptized, you are called. What needs to concern you is whether you’ve responded to the Lord’s call in all its urgency and totality.
For our young people preparing for confirmation as well as our Catechumens preparing for full Christian initiation at the Easter Vigil, you are answering the Lord’s call. While he will certainly impart grace to you through the sacrament(s) you will receive, Jesus will not take away your agency, your freedom. He will not unduly interfere with your response. After all, it is pointless to make somebody love you. Love always require freedom. Therefore, love always involves taking a risk.
In this regard, it bears noting that God has no grandchildren, only children. While Christian parents should certainly seek to impart the faith to our children- something we all solemnly promised God and the Church we would do when had our infant children baptized- only God can give the gift of faith.
Once again, it is not a question as to whether or not God desires to give the gift of faith to someone. He does! As scripture teaches: God “wills everyone to be saved and to come to knowledge of the truth.”5 But it is the nature of a gift to be offered and not forced upon the recipient. In short, a gift can be refused.
You share your faith by demonstrating the difference knowing Christ makes in your life. By showing how being a Christian affects your actions, words, and thoughts along with the decisions you make in life. You share faith by showing the importance of giving thanks to God for what he has done for you in and through Christ. “Eucharist” is a Greek word that simply means “thanksgiving.” Rather than pretending to be perfect, the very idea of which undercuts the central thesis of Christianity (i.e., “all have sinned and are deprived of the glory of God”), you demonstrate the importance of faith by confessing your sins, thus showing both the importance and accessibility of God’s mercy.6
At the risk of sounding dramatic, choosing to follow Christ is the choice between life and death. In a short story, “Versio Occidente” (i.e., “Heading West”), Auschwitz survivor Primo Levi takes on the question, “Why live?” The story’s main characters start out by investigating why lemmings readily commit mass suicide. Walter, one of the characters, astoundingly asserts: “Life does not have purpose; pain always prevails over joy; we are all condemned to death,” even if the date of our passing is unknown; “we are condemned to watch the end of those dearest to us.”7
Later on in the story, the characters go in search of an Amazonian tribe that once inhabited a large territory but now, due largely to a high rate of suicide, live in a single village. In discussing the tribe’s plight with the tribal elder, Walter learns that this tribe has “never had metaphysical convictions.”8 As a result, they value survival very little, either personal or tribal. As we read in Proverbs: “Without a vision the people lose restraint.”9
As one of my favorite hymns puts it:
Be Thou my Vision, O Lord of my heart/The land of gloom is the land over which the shadow of death hangs. By his resurrection, Christ is the light that illumines the valley of death. Apart from being one who remembers “that life is like a flower that blossoms in the morning, but withers in the evening,” a Christian is someone who notices and basks in the ray of eternal life: Jesus Christ.11 Elsewhere in Matthew’s Gospel, the Lord tells his disciples “you are the light of the world.”12 Therefore, he continues, “your light must shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your heavenly Father.”13
Naught be all else to me, save that Thou art/
Thou my best Thought, by day or by night/
Waking or sleeping, Thy presence my light10
In our reading from First Corinthians, we hear that being a Christian is an inherently communal endeavor. Jesus did call one follower but from the beginning of his ministry, he assembled a community. This community is the Church. Our faith aims at making us “one body, one spirit in Christ.”14 While the grace we receive by communing together is necessary to realize Christ’s prayerful desire that we become one with each other as he is one with the Father, it also requires that we desire this as well and work toward realizing it by sticking together through thick and thin.15 You can’t be an accidental of Jesus. Discipleship is intentional. It’s no great secret that the Church is passing through a perilous time, something largely due to her own failings. But we can be confident that Christ continues to lead us along even this difficult part of the path.
Following Jesus, you know your destination. But like those he called on the shore of the Sea of Galilee, you have no idea the path along which he will take you. But Jesus doesn’t just lead you to the cross, he takes you beyond it. Because, as Paul insists, you died and rose to new life with Christ in baptism, you need not fear the rocky, steep path. Because you have died and risen, “you… must think of yourselves as [being] dead to sin and living for God in Christ Jesus.”16 This is the call Jesus issued to his first followers when he said, “Come after me.”17 Today Jesus calls you to walk the path of life everlasting.
1 Isaiah 9:1.↩
2 Matthew 4:17.↩
3 Pope Francis, Aperuit Illis, sec. 3; Luke 24:45.↩
4 Saint Jerome, Prologue of the commentary on Isaiah, n.1, CCL 73, 1.↩
5 1 Timothy 2:4.↩
6 Romans 3:23.↩
7 Primo Levi, “Heading West” in The Complete Works of Primo Levi, Vol. I [586-595], 589.↩
8 “Heading West,” 593.↩
9 Proverbs 29:18.↩
10 "Be Thou My Vision."↩
11 Liturgy of the Hours, Vol. III- Week II, Intercession for Wednesday, Evening Prayer, 815.↩
12 Matthew 5:14.↩
13 Matthew 5:16.↩
14 Roman Missal, The Order of Mass, Eucharistic Prayer III, sec. 113.↩
15 John 17:21.↩
16 Romans 6:11.↩
17 Matthew 4:19.↩
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