Monday after Epiphany

Readings: 1 John 3.22-4.6; Psalm ; Matthew 4.12-17, 23-25

There is a poetic ring to the text of Isaiah quoted in today's gospel, words that are beautiful, images that. stir the imagination - land of Zebulun, land of Naphtali, way of the sea beyond Jordan, Galilee of the nations. Zebulun and Naphtali are two of the smaller tribes of Israel, who settled in the northern part of the land. They are in the beautiful region of Galilee where the first part of Jesus's public ministry is played out.  It is called 'Galilee of the nations', this area being near to the coastal regions and to Syria, an area through which much trade and communication took place.

The universalism we saw in the feast of Epiphany itself is continued here, Jesus beginning his ministry of teaching, preaching and healing in a crossroads of the world, almost we might say at the street corner, for anybody and everybody, and for Israel in its interaction with other nations for that was its mission from the start.

The First Letter of John tells us that they belong to God who acknowledge Jesus come in the flesh and who love each other as he loved his disciples. There are just these two criteria for belonging and nothing else is relevant, nothing racial or ethnic or linguistic or cultural. 'Come in the flesh' means born into our world, not just into a human body like ours, of blood and bones, but into human society and history, into a particular time and race and culture, with all that this entails.

He became one of us, only one of us, so that all of us might come to the new light which he is. The Messiah is given all the nations for his inheritance, his possession reaching to the ends of the earth. Once again this is confirmed in the adoration of the Magi, those seekers and searchers who have come from far away in order to do homage to the new king.

They followed the star to Bethlehem, the star being the first shining of a light that would grow ever stronger. But it is shining in the darkness and Jesus's ministry begins when he hears of the arrest of John the Baptist. So the shadow of darkness already falls across this beautiful landscape, the shadow of the cross which is this young prophet's destiny.

There is still a long road to be travelled, from Galilee of the nations to the community of disciples to which the First Letter of John is addressed. But we can say that this road is all about a light that grows ever brighter as it draws out the darkness there is in human affairs. And it will be in the moment of deepest darkness, Calvary, that the brightest light will shine, the glory that is his as the only son of the Father, revealing the depth of human sinfulness and the always greater reach of God's love. The Spirit we have received is the Spirit of Jesus that drove him into the wilderness and then to Galilee and then to Jerusalem, to his death and resurrection. The light come into the world with the birth of Jesus does not simply illuminate our situation, it transforms it, giving those who believe in him the power to become children of God.

This is the light that dawns over Bethlehem, the light that begins to radiate in Galilee. It still shines in our world in spite of the many darknesses in which we are immersed, always calling us forward to acknowledge him and to learn from him how to love one another.