4 January 2027 · Latin Rite
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“From that time Jesus began to proclaim, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.”” Matthew 4:17
After the Epiphany the Gospel shows the light moving out into the world. Jesus leaves Nazareth and settles in Capernaum, in “Galilee of the Gentiles”, a border land mixed with pagans. Matthew sees Isaiah fulfilled: “the people who sat in darkness have seen a great light.” The first word of his preaching is “Repent”, turn around, because the kingdom has come near. Then he goes through Galilee teaching, proclaiming and curing “every disease and every sickness”, and crowds come even from the Decapolis and beyond the Jordan.
St John gives a rule for discernment: “do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits.” The test is Christ: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God. Many voices offer light today; not all lead to the Light. And John adds a word of courage to the small community: “the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.”
Theme: “The people who sat in darkness have seen a great light.”
The light moves out into Galilee; conversion and discernment.
“I am the LORD, I have called you in righteousness, I have taken you by the hand and kept you; I have given you as a covenant to the people, a light to the nations, to open the eyes that are blind, to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon, from the prison those who sit in darkness.” Isaiah 42:6–7
“the people who sat in darkness have seen a great light, and for those who sat in the region and shadow of death light has dawned.” Matthew 4:16
Apply: Visit or call someone who lives on the margins of your parish.
“Cast away from you all the transgressions that you have committed against me, and get yourselves a new heart and a new spirit! Why will you die, O house of Israel?” Ezekiel 18:31
“From that time Jesus began to proclaim, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.”” Matthew 4:17
Apply: Go to confession this month.
“I will tell of the decree of the LORD: He said to me, “You are my son; today I have begotten you.” Psalm 2:7
“Little children, you are from God, and have conquered them; for the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.” 1 John 4:4
Apply: Check one religious message against Church teaching before sharing it.
The light that the Magi saw now walks through Galilee.
Turn to it, and test every other light by it.
Take-home resolution: Read Matthew 4 slowly this evening and pray for those in darkness.
Dear friends, after the Epiphany the Church follows the light as it spreads. Jesus leaves Nazareth and makes his home in Capernaum, by the Sea of Galilee. Matthew calls this region Galilee of the Gentiles, a border land where Jews and pagans lived side by side.
There Isaiah's words come true: the people who sat in darkness have seen a great light (Matthew 4:16). Jesus does not start in Jerusalem, among the important people. He starts on the margins, where people felt far from God.
His first word is: repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near (Matthew 4:17). To repent means to turn around. God has come close; we must turn to face him. Then Jesus heals every disease and sickness, and crowds come from everywhere.
St John warns us to test the spirits (1 John 4:1). Not every voice that speaks of God leads to God. The test is simple: does it confess Jesus Christ come in the flesh? Does it lead to the Church, the sacraments, love of neighbour?
Let us welcome the light today. Let us turn from one thing that keeps us in darkness. And let us take courage: the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world (1 John 4:4). Amen.
Children, Jesus is like a big light that came to people who were in the dark. When we say sorry and do good, we let his light shine in us!
Lord Jesus, light of the nations, you began your preaching in Galilee of the Gentiles. Shine into the dark places of my life, turn my heart back to you, and teach me to recognise your Spirit. Amen.
The light of Epiphany now begins its work. John tells his readers to test every spirit by one question: do they confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh? Matthew shows that same Jesus settling in “Galilee of the Gentiles”, and a people in darkness sees a great light. Faith has content, and the light has a place on the map.
Setting.
The letter's community has suffered a split, and those who left claimed the Spirit for their teaching. Many scholars think that they played down the real, bodily humanity of Jesus. In this reading John joins two things: the commandment (believe and love), and the discernment of spirits. The whole of the Christian life is summed up in 3:23.
Structure.
Key words.
Verse by verse.
“And this is his commandment, that we should believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another,” (3:23)
“Commandment” is in the singular, with two parts. To believe without loving is empty, and to love without believing loses its source.
“Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God;” (4:1)
He says this to those he loves. Strong feelings or great eloquence do not prove that something is from God.
“every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God,” (4:2)
The test concerns a Person and his real body. The Catechism calls belief in the true Incarnation “the distinctive sign of Christian faith”, and quotes this verse (CCC 463).
“for the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.” (4:4)
The little community is not told that it is strong. It is told that God who dwells in it is greater.
How the Church reads it.
St Paul gives the same rule: “test everything; hold fast to what is good” (1 Thessalonians 5:21). The Second Vatican Council teaches that the gifts of the Spirit are to be received with thanks, and that judging their genuineness belongs to those who lead the Church, who are not to quench the Spirit (Lumen Gentium 12). Discernment in the Church is not done alone. It takes place within the faith received from the apostles.
Setting.
With the arrest of John the Baptist, Jesus begins. He settles at Capernaum, a lakeside town in Galilee. Matthew sees this as fulfilling Isaiah 9:1–2. Those northern lands of Zebulun and Naphtali were among the first to fall to Assyria in the eighth century BC, and many foreigners lived there; hence “Galilee of the Gentiles”. The reading then leaps to Matthew's summary of the ministry (vv. 23–25), which introduces the Sermon on the Mount.
Structure.
Key words.
Verse by verse.
“the people who sat in darkness have seen a great light,” (4:16)
The day after the feast of the star, the same light. Isaiah's verse is about a people in defeat and shame. The light comes first to the lands that had suffered longest.
“From that time Jesus began to proclaim, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.”” (4:17)
The order matters: the light comes first and then the call. We turn because something has appeared, not so that it may appear.
“Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and curing every disease and every sickness among the people.” (4:23)
Matthew repeats this almost word for word at 9:35. Between the two verses he shows Jesus teaching (chapters 5–7) and healing (chapters 8–9).
How the Church reads it.
The Catechism quotes v. 17 when it says that the first work of the grace of the Holy Spirit is conversion (CCC 1989). St Paul VI wrote that Christ, as evangelizer, first of all proclaims a kingdom, and that everything else is “given in addition” (Evangelii Nuntiandi 8). The people in v. 24 bring him the sick from the whole region: the Church's care for the sick has its pattern here.
How can I test the spirits today, with so many voices and preachers?
John's test still holds: what does this voice say about Jesus Christ, truly God and truly man? Then look at the fruit: does it lead to love of others, humility and peace in the Church (Galatians 5:22–23)? Stay close to Scripture, the Creed and the Church's pastors, and ask for help from a confessor or a spiritual guide.