The Third Sunday in Ordinary Time, January 25, 2026

Matthew 4, 12–23

When Jesus heard that John had been arrested, he withdrew to Galilee. He left Nazareth and went to live in Capernaum by the sea, in the region of Zebulun and Naphtali, that what had been said through Isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled: Land of Zebulun and land of Naphtali, the way to the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles, the people who sit in darkness have seen a great light, on those dwelling in a land overshadowed by death light has arisen. From that time on, Jesus began to preach and say, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”  As he was walking by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon who is called Peter, and his brother Andrew, casting a net into the sea; they were fishermen. He said to them, “Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men.” At once they left their nets and followed him. He walked along from there and saw two other brothers, James, the son of Zebedee, and his brother John. They were in a boat, with their father Zebedee, mending their nets. He called them, and immediately they left their boat and their father and followed him. He went around all of Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, and curing every disease and illness among the people.

Im prying for everyone’s safety during this time of rough weather.

As St. Matthew tells it, the Lord Jesus began his ministry only after hearing that John the Baptist had been arrested.  This was his impression as one of the last called of the Apostles.  John the Apostle, who was with both Jesus and John the Baptist, remembered a brief period in which their ministries overlapped.  In his Gospel, he noted that at a time before John the Baptist was arrested, some of his disciples said to him, “Rabbi, he that was with you beyond the Jordan, to whom you gave testimony: behold, he baptizes and all men come to him” (John 3, 26).  It would seem that while Jesus had begun his preaching ministry, it was limited in scope until the arrest of John the Baptist, and with the exception of the miracle at the wedding in Cana, he was not yet performing miracles, at least in the open. 

“The people who sit in darkness have seen a great light, on those dwelling in a land overshadowed by death light has arisen.”  Isaiah was foreseeing two events, here.  The first involved the return of northern Israel to Judaism.  After the Assyrians conquered the northern kingdom of Israel, they largely depopulated the land, driving most of its inhabitants into exile.  They brought in Gentiles from other lands they had conquered to live there, and some of those who lived north of Israel eventually migrated down.  Not until a few hundred years later did the Jews in the south attempt to make the land Jewish again, and they did this through resettling it, but also by converting those already living there.  And so, for the people in the northern part of Israel, “a great light” dawned — they became children of the Covenant.  Secondly, this prophecy refers to the Lord, who was born to a family descended from migrants from the south.  These Jews were always looked upon by the Jewish leaders of Jerusalem as somehow second class, even as outsiders.  This explains some of their initial hostility to the Lord.  They did not enjoy criticism or a potential challenge to their power from anyone, let alone from a Jew who came from outside Judea, with his odd clothing and accent, his lack of scholarly education, and his suspect orthodoxy in matters of religion.  

The Lord’s message was a simple one: “Repent, for the Kingdom of heaven is at hand.”  According to the Greek, this should read, “for the Kingdom of heaven has drawn near” or “has approached”.  The Kingdom has come to the people, for without grace they cannot come to it.  God so desires the human race to fill the everlasting hills (cf. Genesis 49, 26) with his loved ones that he comes down to us.  The condition for entering the Kingdom is repentance: sincere contrition for sin, the resolution never to sin again in any way, and the desire to make up for these sins — to make restitution and to do penance.  This making restitution is no small thing, to be put off as long as possible since it is inconvenient and humiliating, for it is when Zacchaeus the tax collector tells the Lord, “Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor; and if I have wronged any man of any thing, I restore him fourfold” (Luke 19, 8), that Jesus says to him, “Salvation has come to this house.”

“Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men.” The Lord could have chosen to spread the message of the Kingdom alone, a solitary herald going through the world, but in his marvelous plan for our salvation he wills for those to be saved to be involved in their own saving, and in the saving of others. And all of us who are baptized are called to this work as “fishers of men” so that we who are already caught by him may be the means of catching others. It is a great work to do and a great privilege for us to do it.