The people who sat in darkness have seen a great light

 Now when Jesus heard that John had been put in prison, He departed to Galilee.  And leaving Nazareth, He came and dwelt in Capernaum, which is by the sea, in the regions of Zebulun and Naphtali, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying:

"The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali,
By the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan,
Galilee of the Gentiles:
The people who sat in darkness have seen a great light,
And upon those who sat in the region and shadow of death
Light has dawned."

From that time Jesus began to preach and to say, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand."

- Matthew 4:12-17

Yesterday, we were told that after His baptism in the Jordan, Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.  And when He had fasted forty days and forty nights, afterward He was hungry.  Now when the tempter came to Him, he said, "If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread."   But He answered and said, "It is written,  'Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.'"  Then the devil took Him up into the holy city, set Him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to Him, "If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down.  For it is written:  'He shall give His angels charge over you,' and, 'In their hands they shall bear you up, lest you dash your foot against a stone.'"  Jesus said to him, "It is written again, 'You shall not tempt the LORD your God.'"  Again, the devil took Him up on an exceedingly high mountain, and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory.  And he said to Him, "All these things I will give You if You will fall down and worship me."  Then Jesus said to him, "Away with you, Satan!  For it is written, 'You shall worship the LORD your God, and Him only you shall serve.'"  Then the devil left Him, and behold, angels came and ministered to Him.

  Now when Jesus heard that John had been put in prison, He departed to Galilee.   My study bible says that Jesus begins His ministry in Galilee, "for the common people on the edge of Jewish territory are more receptive to His teaching than the Jewish leadership in Jerusalem."  We notice that He departs to Galilee when John is put in prison.  There is a time for all things, each requiring the discernment of where God seeks us to be.  The time for confrontation with the leadership is not at the beginning of His ministry.

And leaving Nazareth, He came and dwelt in Capernaum, which is by the sea, in the regions of Zebulun and Naphtali, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying:  "The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, by the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan,  Galilee of the Gentiles. . .    The entire quotation in today's reading is from Isaiah.  My study bible tells us that the term "Galilee of the Gentiles indicates that many non-Jews lived in this region, which became an Assyrian province in 734 B.C.  By Jesus' time it had a mixed population and was not considered a genuinely Jewish land, even though many non-Jewish residents had converted to Judaism in the Maccabean period.  Even the Jews who inhabited this area were influenced by Greek culture and were considered second-class by the Jews of Judea."

The people who sat in darkness have seen a great light, and upon those who sat in the region and shadow of death light has dawned."    A note tells us here that darkness means ungodliness.  "To sit in darkness means to be overcome by spiritual ignorance and death.  The great light shines on these people, anticipating the gospel being preached to all after the Resurrection."  We are reminded of Jesus' many sayings regarding light, especially in the Gospel of John.  Perhaps no verse sums up what is written here as those in John's prologue:  "In Him was light, and the light was the life of men.  The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it."

From that time Jesus began to preach and to say, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand."  My study bible teaches that "Christ's first word, like that of John the Baptist, is repent, because repentance is necessary to enter and continue in His new way of life.  Repentance is man's turning from himself to God.  The kingdom of heaven is synonymous with 'the kingdom of God'; it is present in Christ (12:28)."  A more literal way of reading Jesus' words is to say, "The kingdom of heaven has come near."  

Again, the first message -- as with John the Baptist -- is repent.  To repent is to "change one's mind" literally in the Greek.  It's as if something so startling, so eye-opening, is at hand that one must "change one's mind" to take it in, to prepare to meet it.  And that's the way that we greet Christ.  The light dawning in the quotation teaches us that it is a kind of morning, dawn is breaking, and we need to really open up our eyes to meet this light, to take it in, to start to prepare ourselves for the new.  And that's really the powerful impact of Jesus' ministry.  In the three Synoptic Gospels Jesus teaches that new wine must be put into new wineskins, reflecting the newness of this ministry, of this new light that dawns, that draws near.  The kingdom of heaven is something startling and illuminating, so much so that it requires our repentance to meet it.  So the question here is to ask ourselves each morning how we're going to meet this Kingdom that has been brought near here.  It's not a question of the time for which Jesus' ministry has been preached in the world.  It's really a question of the work of this Kingdom in us and in our lives.  It will always call us via this light to meet a new dawn, to embrace something new, because the light that forms it isn't something containable and defined, but something that keeps giving, and is continually new, and calling for renewal in us all the time.  This light will always be so startling that it can't be limited to what we already know; it is full of mystery, it keeps on giving and leading us forward in new ways if we let it guide us.  So repentance, change of mind, becomes a preparation and also a way.  It becomes a way of keeping our minds -- our eyes, so to speak -- wide open to meet this Kingdom every day.  The light shines in the darkness, and Christ (who is sometimes called the East) dawns for us every day, bringing a light filled with good things to give us new light every day.  A new light to light our way, to show us new things, and to challenge us to change our minds, to reflect His light within ourselves, in our own lives.  Christ is the Morning Star that rises each day for us to incorporate that light into our lives, so that we may become the new wine which fills new wineskins, which continually expands.  To do that we need to "change our minds" -- to prepare for what the light brings us each day, for the Kingdom of heaven that is at hand and will always be greater than we can take in, surprising and challenging.  Today's light calls you forward.