Jesus is the only light that shines in our dark world!

Whether you have been fishing or not, you understand that the fish do not want to be caught. God created fish to live in water, so they do not want to leave the water. He also created many of them to be tasty, so we want to get them out of the water and onto a plate. It would be strange if you caught a fish and once off your line it picked up your extra pole, started fishing with you and told you where to catch more fish.

Jesus went to unexpected places to catch people lost in the darkness. In our Gospel reading from Matthew 4, we hear where Jesus went, 12 When Jesus heard that John had been put in prison, he withdrew to Galilee. 13 Leaving Nazareth, he went and lived in Capernaum, which was by the lake in the area of Zebulun and Naphtali. Last week in our Gospel reading from John 1, we heard about John the Baptist pointing to Jesus as 29 … “the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” John testified to the truth that Jesus is the Savior because of what he heard God the Father say and saw the Holy Spirit do when he baptized Jesus. Our Gospel reading today from Matthew 4 picks up with Jesus almost a year later. During that past year, John the Baptist had been put into prison for speaking out against Herod the tetrarch, son of Herod the Great who ruled when Jesus was born, because he had married his brother’s wife, while they were still married and he himself was married. Jesus left Judea in the South going past Samaria to minister in Galilee. He briefly went to Nazareth but settled in Capernaum on the Northwest coast of the Sea of Galilee. Galilee was an unexpected place for Jesus to do ministry since the Temple was in Jerusalem in Judea to the South while Galilee was mostly Gentiles or non-Jewish people with an unfamiliar or distorted view of God, Scripture and the promised Messiah.

Jesus went beyond the places people expected him to because he came as the Savior of all people. As we read on in Matthew 4, we read that Jesus went to Capernaum:

14 to fulfill what was said through the prophet Isaiah: 15 “Land of Zebulun and land of Naphtali, the Way of the Sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles—16 the people living in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned.”

Matthew 4: 14-16

Jesus fulfilled the prophesy quoted here in Matthew 4 from today’s Old Testament reading from Isaiah 9 by going to Capernaum in the area once occupied by the Israelite tribes Zebulun and Naphtali. Jesus went as a light of truth and revelation of things unknown so that people in the darkness of unbelief, sin and death would know God sent Jesus to give them hope, forgiveness and eternal life.

The darkness of sin and unbelief Jesus encountered is dangerous. It is like being at the zoo at night in the dark without any lights, where you might touch something soft, warm and fuzzy, so you cuddle up to it only to find out it is a tiger that will eat you. Or you might touch something ice cold and sticky, so you avoid it only to find out later it was the ice cream cart. God calls sin and unbelief darkness because those lost in it cannot see; they spend their lives searching for something, grasping at things that may hurt them or holding onto things that feel good for a while, but in the end lead to death. Jesus exposed the darkness of sin with his light of truth, which is why he was rejected by the Jews. And it was not so much their individual sins, which he did expose, but their sin of rejecting him as the Savior, the sin of unbelief, the sin of loving darkness rather than light. He exposed their sin of believing darkness can somehow produce light, that somehow life can come from death, that somehow good can come from evil, none of which are possible. It was their trust in themselves and rejection of God’s Messiah that Jesus’ light exposed.

To free people from darkness, Jesus continued with the same message of repentance John the Baptist had preached. In our Gospel reading from Matthew 4, we read, 17 From that time on Jesus began to preach, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” The kingdom of heaven is God’s rule in our hearts. It is what we pray for in the Lord’s Prayer recorded in Matthew 6, 10 “your kingdom come.” God makes us citizens of his kingdom through his word by the power of the Holy Spirit. Jesus called people to faith, to be members of his eternal heavenly kingdom with the word, “Repent.” Through this word he called people to see their sin and impending judgment and put their hope in his forgiveness. We continue to call one another to repentance so that we are not lost again to the darkness of sin, unbelief and eternal death in hell. In our New Testament reading from 1 John 2, we get a specific warning against the sin of hatred, 9 “Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates a brother or sister is still in the darkness. 10 Anyone who loves their brother and sister lives in the light, and there is nothing in them to make them stumble.” When you see that person representing a different red, white and blue animal, holding hands with someone you would not approve of and when you dismiss someone because of what they have done to you in the past, those are a few examples of hatred. And this is not about accepting sinful things people do. This is about loving people who are searching in darkness and you withholding the only Light. Hatred prevents someone from hearing about Jesus’ forgiveness or experiencing the patience, healing, honesty, truth, gentleness, love, etc. of Jesus. The only way for us to be free from hatred, sin and darkness is the forgiveness of Jesus. When hatred fills your heart, “Repent,” and Jesus is always there to forgive. He is always there to remind us that he died for our sins on the cross and on the third day rose from the dead, and his perfect record, a record free of hatred, his righteousness is yours. You were lost in the darkness. And the only way to become light is for the Light to make us light.

Jesus ended our searching in the darkness because he is the Light. We see the effect Jesus has on people as we continue in our Gospel reading from Matthew 4:

18 As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. 19 “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will send you out to fish for people.” 20 At once they left their nets and followed him.

Matthew 4:18-20

Simon and Andrew were fisherman, not well-trained religious scholars. Yet, Jesus called them to follow him and fish for people. Jesus went on to call James and John to follow him, then we read, 23 Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people. Fishers love to fish, even if they do not catch anything. Jesus and his disciples loved to shine the light of the good news of the kingdom. You are light because of Jesus. You live a life of repentance placing your hope in Jesus. You get to fish for people by sharing Jesus with your spouse of 40 years, with your college age kid questioning faith, your classmates or coworkers who claim to be Christians but have never had the truth about sin and grace explained from Scripture, and you will not always bring up a net full of fish. But anyone who has fished knows they call it fishing, not catching for a reason. Your joy comes because Jesus’ light saved you from the darkness, and one way your joy expresses itself is to shine the message of Jesus to others and whether they listen or not is in God’s hands.

Whether you have been fishing or not, you understand that the fish do not want to be caught. It would be strange if you caught a fish and once off your line it picked up your extra pole, started fishing with you and told you where to catch more fish. Jesus caught you out of the darkness and pulled you into his light of forgiveness and eternal life. Shine the light of Jesus on those living in darkness and pray they come to share your joy that Jesus is the only light that shines in our dark world. Amen.