The light has dawned in the darkness: Is 8, 9; 1 Cor 1 and the first disciples in Mt 4.

Populus, qui sedebat in tenebris, vidit lucem magnam.
Is 9:1 / Mt 4:16

The Third Sunday in Ordinary Time of Year A brings together three texts around the beginning of Jesus’ public mission in Galilee. Is 8:23b-9:3 announces the great light that will dawn in the region of darkness; Matthew will see in this prophecy the fulfillment of Jesus’ preaching in Galilee. 1 Cor 1:10-13, 17 appeals for the unity of the faithful of Corinth, divided by loyalties to different preachers, recalling that Christ was not crucified in fractions. Mt 4:12-23 recounts the beginning of Jesus’ Galilean ministry: after John’s imprisonment, Jesus goes to Capernaum, begins to preach repentance and calls the first four disciples beside the lake. The three texts describe the dynamic of the Kingdom that is beginning: the light that dispels the darkness, the unity that overcomes divisions, the call that creates those who are sent.

I. The First Reading: Is 8:23b-9:3

Isaiah announces a light that will come after the obscurity: “The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light. Upon those who dwelt in the land of the shadow of death, a light has shone” (Is 9:1). The historical context is the Galilee of the Nations, a territory that suffered the Assyrian invasion and that will be glorified (Is 8:23b). The joy that will come is compared to the joy of the harvest and to the joy of the warrior who divides the spoil (v.2). The reason: “For the yoke that oppressed him, the bar upon his shoulders and the rod of his oppressor, you have broken as on the day of Midian” (v.3). Isaiah speaks of the future with the certainty of the past: the victory is so certain that it can be narrated in the prophetic past. Matthew will read this text as fulfilled at the moment when Jesus establishes His base in Capernaum, “in the territories of Zebulun and Naphtali” (Mt 4:13): the light that Isaiah promised for Galilee is Jesus.

II. The Second Reading: 1 Cor 1:10-13, 17

Paul appeals to the Corinthians in the name of Christ: “Let there be no divisions among you, and may you be united in the same mind and in the same purpose” (1 Cor 1:10). The concrete situation: some say “I belong to Paul,” others “I belong to Apollos,” others “I belong to Cephas,” others “I belong to Christ” (v.12). Paul answers with irony: “Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul?” (v.13). The preaching of the Gospel cannot be a cause of fracture: Christ did not send Paul to baptize, but to evangelize, and not with the wisdom of words, so that the cross of Christ might not be emptied of its power (v.17). The unity of the faithful is not an option of convenience: it is the reflection of the indivisibility of Christ. The factions of Corinth betray the Gospel they proclaim.

III. Evangelium: Mt 4:12-23

On learning that John had been arrested, Jesus withdrew to Galilee and went to dwell in Capernaum, beside the lake, in the territories of Zebulun and Naphtali (Mt 4:12-13). Matthew sees the fulfillment of Is 8:23-9:1: “The people who lived in darkness have seen a great light” (v.16). And Jesus begins to preach: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (v.17). Passing beside the lake, He sees two brothers, Simon called Peter and Andrew, casting their net, and He calls them: “Come after me and I will make you fishers of men” (v.19). They immediately leave their nets and follow Him (v.20). Farther on, He sees two other brothers, James and John, the sons of Zebedee, mending their nets in the boat with their father, and He calls them. They leave the boat and their father and follow Him (vv.21-22). Jesus goes throughout all Galilee teaching, proclaiming the Gospel of the Kingdom and healing every disease and every infirmity among the people (v.23). Matthew’s account of the call is structured as a mirror: Jesus sees, He calls, they leave and they follow. The immediate abandonment of the nets and of the father is not irresponsibility: it is the recognition that the light Isaiah promised has arrived.

IV. Mary and the Light of Galilee

Isaiah announces the great light for the “Galilee of the nations.” Nazareth, where Mary lived, is a town of Galilee: Mary is literally the daughter of the land to which Isaiah promises the light. She who lived in Nazareth all her life, who raised Jesus in that Galilean town, is the first inhabitant of Galilee upon whom the great light dawned. The Annunciation took place in Nazareth: the light came to Galilee first through Mary, before Jesus began to preach in Capernaum. 1 Cor 1 appeals for unity against divisions: Mary never created a faction around herself. She who said “let it be done according to your word” did not place herself at the center; she placed the Son there. Her life is the anti-model of the divisions of Corinth: in her there is no “I belong to Mary” against “I belong to Christ,” because Mary exists only to point to Christ. The call of the first disciples in Mt 4 has a silent precedent: Mary was called before any of them, at the Annunciation. She left her own logic of life — “How shall this be, since I do not know man?” — to follow the logic of God. She is the first to “leave the nets” and follow.