Year A
Epiphany
Third Sunday after the Epiphany
Matthew 4:12-23

Contextual Background:

After John’s arrest, Jesus relocates to Capernaum. Isaiah’s promise of light in “Zebulun and Naphtali” frames his launch. He proclaims, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near,” calls fishers, and begins a ministry of teaching, healing, and gathering. Jesus begins his ministry with full knowledge of the risk he is taking as revealed by John’s arrest.

The Roman Empire claimed right of ownership of waters and all in them. Simply, fishing is taking fish out of the water. Fishing for people, is taking them out of Roman control and ownership.

The image of water also evokes the image of the waters of chaos within which the earth is formed. This image of chaos (tehom) was also a reference to the Babylonian captivity – another domination culture.

Within the Jewish Tradition:

Isaiah 9’s “people who walked in darkness” signals covenant hope breaking into Galilee of the Gentiles. Prophetic vocation often begins at the margins; God’s reign gathers scattered people into restored community. The idea here is not necessarily the Gentiles being converted to a particular religion, but rather from the Kindom of Domination to God’s reign of Mutuality / the Kindom of God.

The Challenge Then:

Leave nets, boats, kinship economies—recenter identity around Jesus’ mission. Trust that God’s light is arriving through ordinary work and relationships.

The Challenge Now:

Our religio measures worth by productivity and winning. Jesus calls apprenticeship that reorders loyalties and evaluates systems by outcomes: are people healed, taught, gathered into dignity?

Implications for Leaders & Communities:

• Leaders: cultivate “come and see” pathways and shared practices, not just beliefs.
• Communities: organize small cohorts for prayer, learning, service; measure ministry by healing and belonging.

What I Am Learning:

Call precedes competence; Jesus forms us on the way.

Jesus calls us out of the domination cultures of our day, he fishes us out of them and offers us the costly freedom of new life in baptism.

The Question I’m Sitting With:

How do I continue to swim in domination cultures of our society?