Other Sunday and Holy Day Readings
3rd SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME (Cycle A)
THE FEAST OF THE WORD OF GOD
Readings:
Isaiah 8:23-9:3
Psalm 27:1, 4, 13, 14
1 Corinthians 1:10-13, 17
Matthew 4:12-23
Abbreviations: NABRE (New American Bible Revised Edition), NJB (New Jerusalem Bible), IBHE (Interlinear Bible Hebrew-English), IBGE (Interlinear Bible Greek-English), or LXX (Greek Septuagint Old Testament translation). CCC designates a citation from the Catechism of the Catholic Church. The word LORD or GOD rendered in all capital letters is, in the Hebrew text, God's Divine Name YHWH (Yahweh).
The two Testaments reveal God's divine plan for humanity and why we read and relive the events of salvation history contained in the Old and New Testaments in the Church's Liturgy. The Catechism teaches that the Liturgy reveals the unfolding mystery of God's plan as we read the Old Testament in light of the New and the New Testament in light of the Old (CCC 1094-1095).
Pope Francis established the Feast of the Word of God in his Apostolic Letter, Aperuit Illis, published on September 30, 2019. He wrote: "I hereby declare that the Third Sunday in Ordinary Time is to be devoted to the celebration, study, and dissemination of the word of God." The Latin phrase, aperuit illis ("opened to them") comes from Jesus's words to His Church on Resurrection Sunday when, in the company of the disciples, He opened [to them] their minds to understand the Scriptures (Luke 24:45). Pope Francis also wrote: "A day devoted to the Bible should not be seen as a yearly event, but rather a year-long event," as he encouraged clergy and the laity to seek a deeper understanding of Sacred Scripture.
The Theme of the Readings: Faith in God's Promises and Discipleship
From the time of man's fall from grace in the Garden
Sanctuary of Eden, God had a divine plan to rescue humanity from sin and death.
At times in the turbulence of history, it seemed to the covenant people that
God had forgotten them and His promises of restoration and salvation. However,
God has never abandoned His people, nor has He ever forgotten His promises.
In the First Reading, God called the prophet Isaiah to warn the covenant people of Israel of God's coming divine retribution for their many sins. Yet, God softened the prophecy of judgment with the promise of future restoration and salvation that would begin in the tribal lands of Zebulun and Naphtali in Galilee. That was where the Assyrians first conquered and then exiled the people into distant lands several decades after Isaiah's mission in the 8th century BC.
In the Responsorial Psalm, the psalmist celebrates his visit to Yahweh's Temple in Jerusalem by proclaiming his joy in his Lord and the confidence that God is his guiding light on the path to salvation. As long as he has the Lord as his refuge, he knows he has nothing to fear. He also professes his confidence that God will save him from spiritual death and that one day, he will see the Lord in the heavenly Temple, which is the "land of the living."
In the Second Reading, St. Paul received a letter from the Christians of Chloe's household in Corinth, Greece. She was probably a Christian widow in whose house a New Covenant community met to pray, worship, and receive the Eucharist. They wrote to Paul because of their concern that there were divisions within the Christian community at Corinth instead of unity. In response to the letter, Paul appealed to the Christians of Corinth as brothers and sisters in Christ to him and one another. He reminded the Corinthian Christians that they are related to fellow Christians not because they are members of the same community or follow individual Christian teachers who may have baptized them but because Christ died for them. And because of their baptism, they have received spiritual rebirth in the name of Jesus Christ. Paul reminds the Corinthian Christians and us that Christ infuses us with His life in Christian baptism and unifies us in the Church, which is the "Body of Christ."
St. Matthew quotes Isaiah's prophecy of restoration in our Gospel Reading as fulfilled in the mission of Jesus the Messiah. Jesus began to fulfill Isaiah's prophecy to spiritually restore the covenant people in Galilee, where the tearing apart of Israel and the exile of the people started centuries earlier. It was where He gathered the first of His disciples around Him. He was a "light" to the people, as Isaiah prophesied, and the psalmist joyfully sang in Psalm 27. And as St. Paul reminded the Corinthians in the second reading, Jesus calls all people, both Jews, and Gentiles, to an undivided unity of purpose within His Kingdom of the Church in spreading the Gospel of salvation.
The First Reading Isaiah 8:23-9:3 ~ God's Promise of the
Restoration of Israel
8:23 First, the LORD degraded the land of Zebulun and the
land of Naphtali; but in the end, he has glorified the seaward road, the land
west of the Jordan, the District of the Gentiles. Anguish has taken wing,
dispelled is darkness: for there is no gloom where but now there was distress. 9:1
The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; upon those who dwelt
in the land of gloom, a light has shone. 2 You have brought them abundant joy
and great rejoicing, as they rejoice before you as at the harvest, as people
make merry when dividing spoils. 3 For the yoke that burdened them, the pole on
their shoulder, and the rod of their taskmaster you have smashed, as on the day
of Midian.
In the late 11th/early 10th century BC, God made a royal grant (unconditional) covenant with His servant King David of Israel in which He promised a Davidic descendant would rule David's kingdom forever (2 Sam 7:8-16; 23:5; Sir 45:25). However, as time passed, covenant unity began to fall apart. The Kingdom of Israel became embroiled in a civil war after the death of David's son King Solomon, dividing into two kingdoms: the Northern Kingdom of Israel and the Southern Kingdom of Judah.
Nine dynastic families ruled the Northern Kingdom, but the Southern Kingdom of Judah remained faithful to the Davidic kings. All the kings of the Northern Kingdom were bad kings who led the people astray into worshipping false gods. Some kings of Judah were faithful to the covenant with Yahweh, while others led the people into sin. It seemed that God had forgotten His promise to David of an eternal kingdom.
In Chapter 7 of the Book of Isaiah, the 8th century BC prophet promised that God would deliver Davidic king Ahaz of the Southern Kingdom of Judah from his enemies (our reading on the 4th Sunday of Advent). However, a year later, neither of the kingdoms of Israel nor Judah remembered God's merciful intervention, and their sins then caused the prophet to condemn them to judgment with the nation of Assyria as the means of their punishment.
According to Isaiah's prophecy, the first blow would fall on the region of Galilee. In the division of the land of Canaan, the tribes of Zebulun and Naphtali occupied the territory north and west of the Sea of Galilee (Josh 19:10-16; 32-39). When the United Monarchy failed after the death of King Solomon, Zebulun and Naphtali became part of the Northern Kingdom of the ten tribes of Israel. The fulfillment of Isaiah's prophecies began a few years later when in 733-32 BC, the Assyrian king Tiglath-Pileser invaded Galilee. The tribes of Zebulun and Naphtali became the first Israelites conquered by a foreign power and taken into exile (2 Kng 15:27-29).
The annals of the Assyrians record that the final conquest of the Northern Kingdom came in the destruction of the capital of Samaria in 722 BC. In addition to those killed in the fighting, 27,290 Israelites were forcibly removed and resettled in Assyrian lands to the east. They were resettled in towns such as Halah and Gozan in the Assyrian heartland of northern Mesopotamia. Others were taken farther away into the highlands of Media of northwest Iran, never to return (Annals of Sargon II). The Prophet Isaiah describes that terrible time to come as "darkness" and "death" (Is 8:20-23).
However, God promised through Isaiah that after the judgment of the Assyrian invasion and exile of the ten northern tribes of Israel and later the judgment against the two tribes of the Southern Kingdom of Judah in the Babylonian invasion and exile (586 BC), there would be a future restoration that would be like a "great light" and a "rising light." Isaiah wrote: First the LORD degraded the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali; but in the end, he has glorified the seaward road, the land west of the Jordan, the District of the Gentiles. Anguish has taken wing, dispelled is darkness: for there is no gloom where but now there was distress. 9:1 The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; upon those who dwelt in the land of gloom a light has shone (Is 8:23-9:1). The victory would be like Israel's great victory over Midian in the era of the Judges when a small, select number of men chosen by God defeated the forces of a powerful enemy (Judg 7:15-25).
Significantly, Isaiah mentions the great trade route from Egypt into Asia Minor and Mesopotamia. The "seaward road" that went along the Mediterranean coast was called the "Way of Horus" by the Egyptians, and the "Way of the Sea" or the "Via Maris" (by the Romans). That great ancient trade route passed through Galilee. It is also significant that Isaiah mentioned the Gentile peoples living in Galilee. According to Isaiah's prophecy, divine restoration and salvation would not be limited to Israel but would also include the Gentiles who were not in a covenant relationship with Yahweh. This was the prophecy that the Messiah would fulfill. As the Gospel of Matthew records, Jesus of Nazareth began His ministry proclaiming the coming of the restored Kingdom in Galilee.
Jesus began His restoration of the Kingdom in the very place where the Assyrians first tore the Kingdom of the people of God asunder! Jesus is the "Light," as He proclaimed Himself in John 8:12, saying: "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life." The restored Kingdom of the new Israel would be the universal Church of Jesus Christ (CCC 877), the true Davidic King. And as prophesied by the prophet Daniel, it was destined to last forever (Dan 2:44). Jesus is the king of whom Isaiah prophesied, born of a virgin, is the son born to us, and the "Emmanuel" = "God with us" (Is 7:14) whose throne-name is also Wonder-Counselor, Mighty-God, Eternal-Father, Prince of Peace and his dominion is over the throne of David and over his kingdom to make it secure and sustain it in fair judgment and integrity from this time onward and forever (Is 9:5-6 NJB). Jesus would lead a force of chosen disciples to conquer Satan, humanity's enemy, and lead humanity to eternal salvation.
Responsorial Psalm 27:1, 4, 13, 14 ~ A True Disciple Believes
in the Promises of the Lord
The response is: "The Lord is my light and my salvation."
1 The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom should I
fear? The LORD is my life's refuge; of whom should I be afraid?
Response:
4 One thing I ask of the LORD; this I seek: to dwell in
the house of the LORD all the days of my life, that I may gaze on the
loveliness of the LORD and contemplate his Temple.
Response:
13 I believe that I shall see the bounty of the LORD in
the land of the living. 14 Wait for the LORD with courage; be stouthearted, and
wait for the LORD.
Response:
The psalmist celebrates his visit to Yahweh's Temple in Jerusalem (verse 4) by proclaiming his joy in his Lord and the confidence that God is his guiding light on the path to salvation. As long as he has the Lord as his refuge, he knows he has nothing to fear (verse 1). He also professes his confidence that God will save him from spiritual death, and one day he will see the Lord in the heavenly Temple, which is the "land of the living" (verse 13). In the meantime, he encourages others who trust God to have courage and be patient as they "wait for Yahweh" in faith for the promised day of salvation (verse 14).
Christians read the phrase "The LORD is my light and my salvation" (verse 1) as a connection to the announcement Jesus made in the Jerusalem Temple during the Feast of Tabernacles when He proclaimed: "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life" (Jn 8:12). The risen Christ also fulfills the hope in verse 13 for "the land of the living" since it is Heaven that is the true Sanctuary of God that Jesus has made possible for all who believe in Him as Lord and Savior (CCC 1026).
The Second Reading 1 Corinthians 1:10-13, 17 ~ Those Who
Call Themselves Christian Disciples Must Strive for Unity in Christ
10 I urge you, brothers and sisters, in the name of our
Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree in what you say, and that there be no
divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and in the same
purpose. 11 For it has been reported to me about you, my brothers and sisters,
by Chloe's people [household] that there are rivalries among you. 12 I mean
that each of you is saying, "I belong to Paul," or "I belong to Apollos," or "I
belong to Cephas," or "I belong to Christ." 13 Is "Christ divided? Was Paul
crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul? 17 For Christ did
not send me to baptize but to preach the Gospel, and not with the wisdom of
human eloquence, so that the cross of Christ might not be emptied of its
meaning.
St. Paul had received a letter from the Christians of Chloe's household concerning quarreling among members of the Christian community (1 Cor 1:11). Chloe was probably a Christian widow of Corinth, Greece, in whose house a New Covenant community gathered to pray, worship, and receive the Eucharist. The faith community who worshiped in her home was concerned that there were divisions in the Christian community at Corinth instead of unity. In response to the letter, Paul appealed to the Christians of Corinth as "brothers/sisters" in Christ to him and one another.
The community members were causing division by claiming unity with either Paul, Peter, or Apollos. Paul liked to refer to Peter in his letters using the Greek transliteration "Cephas" from the Aramaic "Kepha," the title "Rock" that Jesus gave Simon-Peter. Apollos was a gifted Jewish-Christian orator who had spent time preaching in Corinth (Acts 18:24-28; 1 Cor 3:6; 16:12; Titus 3:13). St. Paul reminded the Corinthians that they were related to fellow Christians not because they were members of the same community or followed individual Christian teachers. Their unity was in Christ, who died for them, and in whose name they received new life in Christian baptism. Then and now, Christ infuses us with His life and unifies us in His Kingdom of the Church, which is the "Body of Christ" (Rom 12:4-5; 1 Cor 10:16-17; 12:12-27; etc.).
The Gospel of Matthew 4:12-23 ~ Jesus Began to Fulfill
the Prophecies of the Prophets by Proclaiming the Gospel of the Kingdom and Calling
His First Disciples
12 When he heard that John had been arrested, he withdrew
to Galilee. 13 He left Nazareth and went to live in Capernaum by the sea, in
the region of Zebulun and Naphtali, 14 that what had been said through Isaiah
the prophet might be fulfilled: 15 "Land of Zebulun and land of Naphtali, the
way to the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles, 16 the peoples who
sit in darkness have seen a great light, on those dwelling in a land overshadowed
by death a light has risen. 17 From that time on, Jesus began to preach and
say, "Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand." 18 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. 19 He said to
them, "Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men." 20 At once they left
their nets and followed him. 21 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, 22 and
immediately they left their boat and their father and followed him. 23 He went
around all of Galilee, teaching in the synagogues, proclaiming the Gospel of
the Kingdom, and curing every disease and illness among the people.
After St. John the Baptist baptized Jesus in the Jordan River, Jesus stayed in Judea and Perea until Herod Antipas had St. John arrested and imprisoned. It was the signal that John's ministry had come to an end and was time for Jesus's mission to begin.
13 He left
Nazareth and went to live in Capernaum by the sea
Jesus returned to His boyhood town of Nazareth in Galilee,
but when the people rejected Him (Lk 4:16-30), He left Nazareth and went to
make Capernaum His home and the headquarters of His ministry. Capernaum was a
major port for the fishing industry on the north shore of the Sea of Galilee,
about 23 miles from Nazareth. One of the reasons Jesus relocated to Capernaum
may have been because of its strategic location near the Via Maris, the major
trade route extending from Egypt, passing through Galilee, and continuing to
other centers of trade in Syria, Asia Minor, and Mesopotamia. It was the "seaward
road" mentioned in Isaiah 8:23. Jesus didn't have to go the people; they came
to Him on the Via Maris.
13b in the region of Zebulun and Naphtali, 14 that what
had been said through Isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled: 15 "Land of
Zebulun and land of Naphtali, the way to the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of
the Gentiles, 16 the peoples who sit in darkness have seen a great light, on
those dwelling in a land overshadowed by death a light has risen.
Matthew uses a "fulfillment formula" (see previous fulfillment
statements in Mt 1:22; 2:15, 17, 23),
this time quoting Isaiah 8:23-9:1 (from
our First Reading). Jesus is the "light;" He arose from His baptism in the
Jordan River to become the "rising light" that came to renew and restore His
people in the place where Israel was first torn apart by the Assyrians in the 8th
century BC. Jesus is also the fulfillment of the rest of Isaiah's prophecies: He
is the child born to Israel from David's line, from "the virgin" and "upon
whose shoulder dominion rests." And He will be called "Wonder-Counselor,
God-Hero, Father-Forever, Prince of Peace." He is the child who is "God with
us/Emmanuel," prophesied in Isaiah 7:14.
Notice that Isaiah's prophecy describes Galilee as the "land of the Gentiles" (Is 8:23; Mt 4:15). Gentiles did not begin to populate Israelite territory in Galilee until the Assyrian invasion and the exile of the Israelite population in the 8th century BC. Gentile numbers did not become significant until the 2nd century BC. Jesus's messianic mission is to restore and renew Israel, as promised by the prophets. He has come to find the "lost sheep" of Israel (Ezek 34:11-16; Mt 15:24). It will be the men and women of the new Israel of the New Covenant that will carry the Gospel message of salvation to the Gentiles. Jesus's ministry in the multi-ethnic Galilee foreshadows the Church's later mission to call the peoples of all nations to salvation through the Gospel of Jesus Christ (see Mt 10:6; 15:24; 28:19).
17 From that time on, Jesus began to preach and say,
"Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand."
Verse 17 announces the official beginning of Jesus's
ministry. His message was the same as St. John the Baptist (Mt 3:1). The
formula saying, "from that time on Jesus began," found in 4:17 and 16:21, divides
Matthew's Gospel into three sections. The phrase in 4:17 signals the beginning
of Jesus's ministry and the proclamation of the Kingdom.
Matthew 4:18-22 ~ Jesus Calls His First Disciples
18 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. 19 He said to them, "Come after me, and I will
make you fishers of men." 20 At once they left their nets and followed him. 21 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, 22 and immediately they left their boat and their
father and followed him.
The first time these men came in contact with Jesus was when
He was still in the south after His baptism by John the Baptist on the eastern
shore of the Jordan River. After St. John the Baptist identified Jesus as the
Messiah, "the Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world" (Jn 1:29), the
four men spent time talking with Jesus. That day in Galilee, when He called
them to become His disciples, they had heard St. John's testimony of Jesus and
witnessed Jesus's supernatural powers in their miraculous fish harvest. It was
a demonstration that left little doubt for them about Jesus's true identity (see
Jn 1:25-42 and Lk 5:1-11). The fishermen's response to Jesus's call to
discipleship when they met Him a second time on the shore of the Sea of Galilee
was to leave everything in their former lives and follow Him.
The call of the four fishermen to leave their occupation as fishers of fish to become "fishers of men," as Jesus promised in 4:19, may be a fulfillment of a prophecy by the 6th century BC prophet Jeremiah. Jeremiah wrote: However, the days will surely come, says the LORD, when it will no longer be said, "As the LORD lives, who brought the Israelites out of Egypt"; but rather, "as the LORD lives, who brought the Israelites out of the land of the north and out of all the countries to which he had banished them." I will bring them back to the land which I gave their fathers. Look, I will send many fishermen, says the LORD, to catch them. After that, I will send many hunters to hunt them out from every mountain and hill and from the clefts of the rocks (Jer 16:14-16, underlining added for emphasis).
23 He went around all of Galilee, teaching in the
synagogues, proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, and curing every disease and
illness among the people.
Like other prophets of God before Him, Jesus cured the sick
and cast out demons. His healing miracles were signs that His authority was
from God and fulfilled the prophecies of the prophets, like those of the
Prophet Isaiah:
In our present age, Jesus continues to call disciples to follow Him by taking up the mission of the Gospel of Salvation, spreading His message of hope and love to the "ends of the earth" (Mt 28:19). Are you prepared to leave behind everything like Simon-Peter, Andrew, and James and John Zebedee if He should call you to make that sacrifice today for the sake of the Kingdom? Jesus doesn't expect all Christians to make that kind of sacrifice, but He does expect us to be willing and to put our love for Him and our obedience to Him above all earthly cares and concerns.
Catechism References (* indicated Scripture quoted or
paraphrased in the citation):
Isaiah 8:23-9:3 (CCC 243*, 522, 555*, 702*)
1 Corinthians 1:10-13, 17 (CCC 815*, 816, 855)
Matthew 4:17 (CCC 1720*, 1989); 4:19, 21 (CCC 878*)
Joy (CCC 30*, 163*, 301*, 736*, 1829, 1832*, 2015*, 2362)
Patience (CCC 227, 2613*, 2665, 2772*)
Jesus performs messianic signs (CCC 439*, 547*, 548*, 549*, 550*, 1751)
Michal E Hunt, Copyright © 2013; revised 2023 Agape Bible Study. Permissions All Rights Reserved.