Sermon for January 25, 2026, Third Sunday after the Epiphany

Matthew 4:12-25 (Third Sunday after the Epiphany—Series A)

“Alight in Christ’s Priorities”

Lutheran Church of Our Redeemer, Enfield, CT

January 25, 2026

Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.

Our text is the Gospel Reading recorded in Matthew 4:

¹²Now when [Jesus] heard that John had been arrested, He went away into Galilee. ¹³And after He had left Nazareth He came and lived in Capernaum by the sea in the region of Zebulun and Naphtali, ¹⁴so that the word through Isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled, saying, ¹⁵“Land of Zebulun and land of Naphtali, the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles, ¹⁶the people dwelling in darkness have seen a great light, and on those dwelling in the region and shadow of death, on them light has dawned.” ¹⁷From then Jesus began to preach and to say, “Repent, for the reign of heaven stands near.” ¹⁸And while walking along the Sea of Galilee He saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. ¹⁹And He said to them, “Come follow me, and I will make you fishers of people.” ²⁰And they immediately left their nets and followed Him. ²¹And going on from there He saw another two brothers, James the son of Zebedee and his brother John, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets, and He called them. ²²And immediately they left the boat and their father and followed Him. ²³And He began to go around in all of Galilee teaching in their synagogues and preaching the Good News of the reign of God and healing every disease and every sickness among the people. ²⁴And the report about Him spread into all of Syria and they brought to Him all those afflicted with various diseases and pains, those oppressed by demons, and those having seizures and paralytics, and He healed them. ²⁵And great crowds followed Him from Galilee and the Decapolis and Jerusalem and Judea and from beyond the Jordan.

          A group of friends went deer hunting and paired off in two’s for the day. That night one of the hunters returned alone, staggering under an eight-point buck. “Where's Harry?”  “Harry had a stroke of some kind. He’s a couple of miles back up the trail.” “You left Harry laying there, and carried the deer back?” “A tough call,” nodded the hunter, “but I figured no one is going to steal Harry.” 

          Do you think somebody’s priorities were a little off? This little story reminds us that you and I need to take a closer look at our priorities because they can easily get off track. There are moments in life that even force us to change our priorities.

          At various times, the Lord may use moments in the lives of His people—both good and bad—to call us back to right priorities, to His priorities. We do get off track and need to make course corrections. We do set up things as important when they really shouldn’t be our primary focus.

          It’s our human nature to do so. It’s who we are as sinners that we think primarily about ourselves, our needs, our wants, our desires, our goals. We are turned in on ourselves and therefore each person becomes their own priority. Why do marriages typically fall apart? Because at least one person in the relationship is thinking only about their wants and needs and not the Biblical covenant made with their husband or wife. Why do people steal? Because they are concerned about getting what they want and think that they deserve. Why do athletes take drugs to enhance their performance? Because they need to be the winners at all costs. What motivates you and me to lie and cheat, to swear unnecessary and casual oaths, to disobey our parents and others in authority? Our sinful priorities of “me first.” “I want things to be the way I want them to be, when I want them to be, and how I want them to be and nobody else had better say anything different!”

          But, if I’m the priority, that means my wife isn’t. If I’m the priority, that means that my children are not. If I’m the priority, then other people really don’t count for all that much. If I’m the priority, then God is out of the picture because I have taken over His role in my life. If I’m the priority, I act as if I’m god of my life and I fear, love, and trust in myself most of all. 

          Now, what happens if tragedy strikes? I would have to turn to myself for answers and help. And what happens when I can’t provide them? I might lash out at others and blame them for messing up my life’s priorities. I might turn to despair. Do you want to talk about living in a land of deep darkness? This is it. If you’re looking for an example of living in the very heart of darkness and death’s shadow, this is what it looks like. If my priorities are such that I am the god of my life it’s all over. Life becomes like a black hole, swallowing up everything in sin’s gravitational pull, with me powerless to stop it. 

          But thankfully I am not God. Thankfully, although all of us behave at times as if we are the god of our life, the one true God does not hand us over to darkness and death. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. . . . And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us” (John 1:1-5, 14). 

          In the person of God the Son, “the people dwelling in darkness have seen a great light, and on those dwelling in the region and shadow of death, on them light has dawned.” When the Twelve Tribes of Israel conquered the Promised Land under Joshua, the tribes of Zebulun and Naphtali received their allotments on the northern fringe of Israel, near the Sea of Galilee. As a result, they were often invaded, and pagan neighbors were a constant temptation to idolatry. The Israelites easily succumbed to that spiritual darkness. But Isaiah promised that one day these people, who were often viewed with contempt by other Israelites, would see a great light.

          “Now when [Jesus] heard that John had been arrested, He went away into Galilee. And after He had left Nazareth He came and lived in Capernaum by the sea in the region of Zebulun and Naphtali, so that the word through Isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled, saying, ‘Land of Zebulun and land of Naphtali, the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles, the people dwelling in darkness have seen a great light, and on those dwelling in the region and shadow of death, on them light has dawned.’” The people in the region of Galilee saw the Light of the Lord’s Christ. Matthew tells us, “[Jesus] began to go around in all of Galilee teaching in their synagogues and preaching the Good News of the reign of God and healing every disease and every sickness among the people. And the report about Him spread into all of Syria and they brought to Him all those afflicted with various diseases and pains, those oppressed by demons, and those having seizures and paralytics, and He healed them.”

Not only did the people of Galilee see the light of the Son of God in human flesh, but we do as well through His preaching and teaching us in His holy Word. The Word that is Christ is real Light that dispels the darkness of our sinful, mistaken, backward priorities. The Light of the world, Jesus Christ, comes to you and me with His Word of forgiveness and life.

God’s reign in Jesus has broken into a dark and sinful world, to our world, to reclaim and save it, and finally renew it. Notice that Jesus went away into Galilee. He went to the people “living in darkness.” Notice that God gave His light to us in Jesus by not taking us out of the darkness, but by coming into our darkness, by being enveloped in the darkness of our sin and death. On the cross, Jesus experienced the darkness of sin and death for us. He went into our darkness so that we might become light. He suffered death for us so that we might live eternally.

Because of Christ’s perfect life, death, and resurrection, you and I no longer live in the darkness of sin and death. We have been claimed and called by Jesus, graciously and freely through Holy Baptism and the Gospel Word. We bask in the Light, in the Life, in the goodness and wisdom of Christ. We are called with the authoritative voice of the Son of God into a relationship of discipleship with Him as our Lord and Master. Like the four fishermen, Andrew, Peter, James, and John, Jesus gives us through the preaching and teaching of His Word the understanding that none of our old priorities will ever be the same or will ever again possess primary importance. 

          We who have been called by Christ to be His disciples through Baptism and the teaching of the Word are graciously given new lives and a whole new set of priorities—God’s priorities! 2 Corinthians 5:17 tells us, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.” We are forgiven for all of our sinful and misplaced priorities. “In Christ, God was reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them” (2 Cor. 5:19). By the mercies of God in Christ Jesus, His new priorities enable us to more faithfully fear, love, and trust in God above all things, “to present our bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.” We are no longer conformed to the world’s evil and messed up priorities, but we are “transformed by the renewal of [our] mind, that by testing [we] may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect” (Rom. 12:1-2).

          As we travel life’s road, the priorities and patterns of the world work like ruts into which we slip. They pull us down into the ways of self-righteousness, self-interest, and bitterness. Only God can pull us out and so transform us through the mercies of His Gospel. And once we have been transformed, God calls us to greater service as disciples of Jesus. We serve the Lord as He enables us to do so with His set of priorities. Listen to how St. Paul elaborates on our priorities as disciples of Jesus Christ: “For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. . . . Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good. Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor.  Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer. Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality” (Rom. 12:3-13).

          Those are God’s priorities for you and me in Christ. And along with each one of those priorities, the Lord Himself gives us the ability to keep them as priorities in our lives and to accomplish them. By God’s grace alone, you and I can and do respond to the call of Christ through Word and Sacrament with faith in Him. Through Baptism, you are a new creation with a whole new set of priorities. They are the Lord’s priorities, and they have become yours through faith in Jesus by the power of the Holy Spirit. Amen.