St. Matthew 4:12-25
12 Now when He heard that John had been taken into custody, He withdrew into Galilee; 13 and leaving Nazareth, He came and settled in Capernaum, which is by the sea, in the region of Zebulun and Naphtali. 14 This was to fulfill what was spoken through Isaiah the prophet, saying, 15 "THE LAND OF ZEBULUN AND THE LAND OF NAPHTALI, BY THE WAY OF THE SEA, BEYOND THE JORDAN, GALILEE OF THE GENTILES– 16 "THE PEOPLE WHO WERE SITTING IN DARKNESS SAW A GREAT LIGHT, AND TO THOSE WHO WERE SITTING IN THE LAND AND SHADOW OF DEATH, UPON THEM A LIGHT DAWNED." 17 From that time Jesus began to preach and say, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." 18 And walking by the Sea of Galilee, He saw two brothers, Simon who was called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea; for they were fishermen. 19 And He said to them, "Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men." 20 And they immediately left the nets, and followed Him. 21 And going on from there He saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets; and He called them. 22 And they immediately left the boat and their father, and followed Him. 23 And Jesus was going about in all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every kind of disease and every kind of sickness among the people. 24 And the news about Him went out into all Syria; and they brought to Him all who were ill, taken with various diseases and pains, demoniacs, epileptics, paralytics; and He healed them. 25 And great multitudes followed Him from Galilee and Decapolis and Jerusalem and Judea and from beyond the Jordan.
One thing all of us need to recognize is that we are by nature creatures of darkness. We were conceived in darkness, born in darkness, we live in darkness, and we will die in darkness. At least that's the case for those who don't belong to Christ by grace through faith. They are enveloped by a darkness that has nothing to do with a lack of sunlight, but has everything to do with the absence of Jesus Christ, the Light of the world, the Light no darkness can overcome. Without Christ, we live in spiritual darkness, the darkness of death, which is the kind of darkness John wrote about when describing Judas Iscariot's departure from the Upper Room when he left to find a way to betray Jesus. John said, "Having received the piece of bread, he went out immediately. And it was night" (John 13:30). It wasn't just night according to the setting of the sun; it was night in the soul of the one who betrayed the Lord, for "supper being ended, the devil had already put into the heart of Judas to betray Him" (John 13:2). The light of Christ was not shining in the heart of His betrayer. Sure, Judas was remorseful for what he had done, but he was not repentant. He turned to the temple priests to remove his guilt, but not to the Lord, and He committed suicide, dying without the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit. He died in the darkness of eternal death. Such a death awaits everyone who lives apart from the light of Christ. Without faith in Christ, we are lost - lost in darkness - with no hope of escape, no hope of being saved.
But darkness is pervasive. Even for those of us who live in the light of Christ there are events that bring darkness into our lives, aren't there? Isn't it easy for us to get beaten down by the tragedies that surround us? We hear of wars and rumors of wars, and we have loved ones fighting in wars. We are afflicted with pain and sickness. We face financial crises. We mark the death of those we know and love. All of these experiences affect us tremendously. Oh, the vast repertoire the devil uses to weigh us down with misery and sin!
Certainly, this is not what God intended. Suffering is the result of sin - sin inherited from our parents and our first parents in the garden; sin which we ourselves have committed, brought on by the devil, the world, and our own sinful flesh, which we struggle against every day of our lives, "for we daily sin much and deserve nothing but punishment" [Fifth Petition].
Because of this - because of our sins we deserve to live in the darkness of eternal condemnation, to spend eternity in the pitch-blackness of hell. Oh yeah, hell is dark, even though there are flames raging there, for Satan is the prince of darkness. And even though hell may not be our destination that evil prince has a knack for causing his shadow to cross our path. How often have you found yourself smack dab in the middle of a foretaste of hell; sitting in darkness and in the land of the shadow of death? Believe me, brothers and sisters, it happens to us all.
And yet, even in the darkest of times, there is a light that shines on us, and from this light comes a voice - a voice that says, "Follow Me." This is the voice of the Good Shepherd, our Lord and our Savior, Jesus Christ. And faith - that gracious gift of God - hears His voice and clings to the promises He speaks. Of course, it's only by the power of the Holy Spirit that wecan follow Christ, for we confess - don't we? - that we cannot by our own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ our Lord or come to Him, but the Holy Spirit has called us by the Gospel, enlightened us with His gifts, sanctified and kept us in the one true faith [Third Article].
In this one true faith, dear friends, you can rest firmly and completely, trusting in your heavenly Father who loves you so much that He sent His only-begotten Son into the flesh to die for you, to earn for you the forgiveness of your sins. "The death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God" (Romans 6:10). To believe that Jesus Christ died for you, to believe that He shed His blood on the cross to take away your sins - this is the Christian Faith.
Do you have this faith? Oh, I pray that you do, for it enables you to believe the promises of Christ, to accept the gifts He gives through His Holy Word and Sacraments. In these unfathomable gifts you receive the forgiveness of sins, salvation, and life everlasting.
Remember: Jesus didn't justdie for you; He also rose from the dead for you! You're not only baptized into Jesus' death; you've also been baptized into His resurrection. Jesus Christ rose from the dead proving that He is the Champion over sin, death, and the power of the devil. What great news this is for us!
Had Christ who once was slain
Not burst His three-day prison
Our faith had been in vain
But now is Christ arisen!
The victory our Lord won on that first Easter is your victory too through faith in Him. By this faith you are children of light, despite the fact that you live in a land of darkness, for you are children of the heavenly Father, adopted by His grace in the waters of your baptism, where He marked you with the sign of the Holy Cross and made you His own. You have the promise of eternal life in the land where there is no darkness, your heavenly home, the New Jerusalem, "the city that has no need for the sun or the moon to shine in it, for the glory of God has illumined it. The Lamb is its light. There will be no night there: We will have no need for the light of a lamp or of the sun, for the Lord God will give us light. And we shall reign forever and ever" (Revelation 21:23; 22:5). Until then our Savior lights the way, leading us with His Word, which is a lamp to our feet and a light for our path (Psalm 119:105). God grant that we remain in His Light unto life everlasting. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen
