3rd Sunday Year A: Homily by Fr Isaac Chima

Theme: The restoration power of God’s word

Readings: Is 9:1–4; 1Cor 1:10–13,17; Gosp. Mtt. 4:12–23

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, the reflection on the readings of today continues the message of the light of Christ which we heard last week. Last Sunday, the Church urged us to make the light of Christ shine in all corners of the world through what we do in the society and also to preach Christ to our friends. Today, the prophet Isaiah and the gospel of Matthew told us what the light and the word of Christ are capable of doing; they are capable of restoring desolate lands and despised lives. This message is more apt today that the Church is celebrating the Sunday of the Word of God.

In the first reading, Isaiah made a prophesy about the restoration of the lands of Zebulum and Naphtali in Galilee. These two communities were destroyed by the Assyrians in 732 BC when they attacked Northern Israel where Galilee was. That attack left those two communities totally destroyed, neglected, desolate and despised.

Dear friends, it might interest you to know why the Assyrians were successful in their attacks and destruction of the northern kingdom of Israel. For many years, the kings and peoples of Northern Israel lived very sinful life and refused to listen to the voice of the prophets sent to them by God. When their sins and obstinacy became too much before God, God withdrew his protection from them and allowed their kingdom to be captured and destroyed by the Assyrians, and then the people taken away into slavery. This short story has an important lesson for us. It tells us that whenever we block our ears to the word of God, we lose God’s protection, attract God’s wrath and become defenseless before our enemies, because God is our mighty defender. If God does not watch over the city, in vain do the watchmen keep vigil according to the Psalmist. In fact, whoever refuses to listen and welcome the teaching of God’s word is indirectly sowing the seed of his own destruction.

However, dear friends, the anger of our God does not last forever. Our God does not forget his people forever, especially when they repent of their sins or call upon him with hearts full of repentance. After many years of lying desolate, the voices of the repentant people of Zebulum and Naphtali reached God. Thus, in the first reading of today, Isaiah proclaimed an oracle of God that the lands of Zebulum and Naphtali will be restored, that the light of God will shine upon them once more to dispel the shadows of darkness and destruction. Dear friends, anytime we sincerely repent of our sins and call upon God with repentant heart, he will hear us and restore us to his glories.

The oracle of Isaiah about the restoration of Zebulum and Naphtali is a message of hope and confidence of restoration for all Christians this year. Isaiah is assuring us that even if our lives have been full of disappointments or despised in the past years, we should not give up because God has not forgotten us. He is prophesying that the lives that have not been prosperous in the past years will see the light of God this year.

The prophesy of Isaiah about the restoration of the desolate lands of Zebulum and Naphtali came to fulfilment with the visit of Jesus to those lands to give them the light of the good news of God according to the gospel of today. The gospel of Matthew we read today told us that when Jesus heard of the arrest of John, he withdrew to the territory of Zebulum and Naphtali, and proclaimed the gospel there. Matthew said the proclamation of the gospel in those lands brought to fulfilment the prophesy of Isaiah that ‘upon the people who sat in darkness and in the shadow of death in the lands of Zebulum and Naphtali, the light has dawned’. The light and word of Christ healed the people of those lands of every disease and every infirmity, and restored them back to glory, as we read in the gospel.

My prayer is that the good news you are hearing in the church today will dispel the shadow of darkness in your heart and life today, and activate the dawn of God’s glory in your life.

So, dear friends, the gospel and the second reading of today are giving us an important lesson. They are telling us not to refuse opportunities of hearing the Word of God. They are telling us to always accept the teachings of the Word of God, because each time it is preached and welcomed, the shadow of darkness is dispelled. Earlier, the lands of Zebulum and Naphtali refused to listen to the word of God and such refusal led to their destruction. But when the word of God came to them again through Christ, they accepted it and it brought about the beginning of God’s grace and favours in their lives, it brought about their restoration. The acceptance of the Word of God brought to fulfilment the promises made to them long ago by God.

Dear friends, the church is telling all those whose hearts or lives have been devastated by past mistakes or sins, those whose lives have been shattered by disappointments and failures, those whose lives have been made miserable by inability to reach their goals and those whose lives have been despised not to lose hope; they should not lose hope in God. They should, rather, open their lives and hearts and accept Christ and his word. Christ’s Word has the capacity to restore the glories and successes of their lives. It happened for the people of Zebulum and Naphtali, we believe it will happen in their lives too.

Then, in the second reading of today, the church reminds us that division and rancor among Christians can be stumbling blocks to the work of restoration which the word of God is doing among them. Paul and other apostles preached the Word of God in Corinth and united Christians of Corinth with love through the word of God. However, the Corinthian Christians allowed themselves to be divided against themselves into small groups. In the passage we read today, St Paul cautioned them against every form of division. In the same way, the church challenges us to eschew all forms of division, hatred, and rancor in the church, in the family and in the society and, then, to work for peace and unity. Let us cooperate with the salvific work of dispelling the darkness of the world, the darkness of disappointments, and the darkness of past errors which the Word of God is doing in our midst.

Let us not stumbling blocks to the restoration, freedom, salvation, liberation, blessings, healings and favours which the word of God is bringing in our lives this year.

Peace be with you.

Fr Isaac Chinemerem Chima