Homily for the Third Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A

Decisive Call And Decisive Response

Rev. Marcel Divine Emeka Okwara, CSsR

Homily for the Third Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A

Church of St. Bridget of Minneapolis, MN

Sunday, January 25, 2026

In our first reading, Isaiah speaks about the lands of Zebulun and Naphtali. He describes it as a land degraded by the Lord, where “anguish has taken wing.” At that time, the lands of Zebulun and Naphtali were most threatened by the Assyrian empire, Israel's great enemy. Assyria was breathing heavily on this northern territory. But despite his negative prophecy regarding the two cities, Isaiah was optimistic when he said, “The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; upon those who dwelt in the land of gloom, a light has shone.” When was this prophecy fulfilled? Seven hundred years later, when Jesus, the Messiah, emerged in the lands of Zebulun and Naphtali at the beginning of his public ministry. There are several specific prophecies about the Messiah, the “anointed one,” in the Old Testament, and Jesus fulfilled every one of them in every detail. I tell you, no other religious founder ever fulfilled so many specific prophecies. Today’s first reading from Isaiah is one of them, and Matthew quotes it in today’s Gospel.

John the Baptist has been arrested and imprisoned. Jesus hears of it and withdraws to Galilee. Eventually, he leaves Nazareth and goes to live in Capernaum by the sea, in the region of Zebulun and Naphtali. Matthew says it is in fulfillment of the prophecy of Isaiah, which says: “Land of Zebulun and land of Naphtali, the way to the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles, the people who sit in darkness have seen a great light, on those dwelling in a land overshadowed by death light has arisen.” The Messiah appears in the land overshadowed by death, i.e., in our world. Not hovering above it. He appears in our dangerous world. May Jesus, the Messiah, appear in every sector of your life that is threatened, not in the right place, that has gone off kilter. Amen.

When he first appeared publicly, the first word from his mouth was “Repent!” I have spoken out strongly in the past against the domestication of Jesus. The secular-influenced culture wants to tame, sanitize, and minimize Jesus’ radical teachings and demanding call. It wants to reduce them to a comfortable, culturally palatable version that fits personal preferences, political views, or a lifestyle. The culture wants to remove the Lord’s challenging teaching and make it safe, self-fulfilling, and less transformative. But that’s not the biblical perspective. The first challenging word from the lips of Jesus was “Repent,” Change!” Stop being violent. Stop being self-absorbed. Stop allowing your sensual and emotional desires to dominate you. Stop ignoring the poor, the hungry, and the homeless. Change your life. I tell you, if Jesus is in your life, you will hear his voice  say, “Repent.” You can engage in self-praise as much as you want. You can gratify yourself with words like, “I am a good religious person, and I make Jesus the most important person in my life,” but if nothing in your life changes, if you are stuck in your old, sinful habits, you have not really changed. It is still you, not the Lord. When St. Paul embraced Jesus’ call to repent and change, he said, “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. And the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me.” And if Jesus is really active in your life, the persistent word you will hear is “Repent.”

As Jesus walked along the Sea of Galilee, he watched two brothers, Simon and Andrew, casting a net into the sea. They were fishermen. When he finally spoke to them, he said, “Come after me.” He was not primarily saying, “believe my doctrine,” “join my political party,” or “adopt my ideas.” What he said was more personal and existential: “Come after me,” meaning, “conform your life to mine. Walk as I walk. Think as I think. Behave as I behave. Get in line behind me.” God wants to be our friend. The great St. Thomas Aquinas said that the essence of the spiritual life is cultivating friendship with God. Sin, from Adam to the present day, is a rupture and suspension of that friendship. 

What are they coming after him to do? Jesus says, “I will make you fishers of men.” The two brothers were fishermen. They spent long hours at sea catching fish. Now, Jesus uses their trade as an allegory of what he wants them to be. What happens when we choose our will instead of God’s will? What happens when we travel the path of hatred, violence, and cruelty instead of the path of love, nonviolence, and compassion? We rupture our friendship with God. And when that happens, we rupture our relationship with everyone else and everything else in the cosmos. When we align with God, the creative source of everything that exists, we are necessarily aligned with everything else in the universe. But when that relationship with God is ruptured, we rupture our relationship with everything else, which is why sin is a scattering force. In the words of Origen, where there is division, there is sin. The name for the evil one is the Devil, from the Greek word “diabolos.” Diabolos means “one who throws things apart,” “the great scatterer.” So Jesus is saying to Simon, Andrew, and by extension all of us, “Come after me,” be conformed to me. Walk behind me. And I will make you gatherers again, fishers of men who will gather and bring people back to me. We are meant to draw people together in love. This is the beginning of evangelization. Previously, I said that proclaiming Christ to others is not an option. It is an obligation for all of us. 

What was Simon and Andrew’s response? Matthew says, “At once they left their nets and followed him.” A decisive call was met with a decisive response. What is keeping you from making this same response? Just as Jesus called Simon, Andrew, James, and John, so he calls us. What are you willing to leave behind to follow him wholeheartedly? Remember, it does not mean you have to be a priest or a nun. It means letting go of all those things that preoccupy you: money, power, who is in, who is out, who is up, and who is down, fame, etc. Today, you can drop all that and follow Jesus. No matter the state of your life, you can be a faithful and effective disciple of the Lord.

God bless you!