3rd Sunday of Epiphany 2026

Sermon: 3rd Sunday of Epiphany 2026

Texts: Matthew 4:12-23, Isaiah 9:1-4, 1 Corinthians 1:10-18

Grace, Peace, and Mercy from Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

For many of us that have been paying attention to the news, everything feels overwhelming. Beloved, I do not desire to cause concern. But this sanctuary is where we are called to lay down our burdens, and walk out with a renewed sense of purpose, a freedom gained by God’s grace, and it is within this atmosphere of grace that I speak to you, alongside my responsibility to preach the Gospel to you. Beloved, I cannot hide the feeling, and I know you have felt it too in your own hearts, that there is a sensation that things are breaking apart in the country, if not on the local level. I can only thank God that here at House of Prayer we are a community that lives by Jesus’ commandment: we love each other. That is a gift that we should never forget, and it is the reason I can speak with my heart to you all as I always do when preaching the Gospel. I will also not hide the feeling that I’ve been haunted by the thought of things getting worse than what we are seeing right now. The murders in Minneapolis, the cruelty we are witnessing in the inhumane detention of migrants across the country is a situation that cries before God’s presence. A darkness has crept over our society, a kind of moral confusion has set in where the definition of what is true and right and justifiable has been muddled, and we wonder where and when the light will break in to clear things up. But if we listen to the message preached in Epiphany, we affirm that the light is shining through right now. The light breaks in from the bold faith of the Church in the Light of the World Jesus Christ. Whatever we believe regarding the politics of this moment, beloved, I believe the Church itself has a voice in all this. The

Church is not a passive observer, or at least should not be, of the decisions taken by the powerful. As Christians, we represent a Kingdom, the Kingdom of Heaven. We have one Lord, Jesus Christ. And we have a mission and purpose, to proclaim the liberating Gospel of Christ to all people, and to love and serve the least of these as Christ commanded us to do. Unlike the nations of the world, the Kingdom of Heaven is not marked by borders, for God is the all encompassing nationality of us all. It is as the Nicaraguan poet, Ernesto Cardenal proclaimed: “Dios es la patria de todos los hombres. Es la única nostalgia.” Which translates to (God is the homeland of every human being. Our only nostalgia). Therefore, if we proclaim the reign of God, we undoubtedly see the presence of God hidden within every human person, even within the ones we consider enemies. It is the tragedy of sin that human beings should revel in their hatreds and thus hide the person God calls them to be. The voice of the Church is inherently plural, speaking from within the hearts of all the worlds cultures. It is all human cultures shining with the light of God’s love in Christ. And thus it is our vocation to speak and draw out the call of God that is whispering within every human heart.

The Canadian Prime Minister, Mark Carney, in what scholars and analysts have defined as an era-defining speech last week in Switzerland, used a word that has been circulating in my mind as I reflected about today’s readings and the state of our world, and that word is “rupture”. Carney used that word to describe the current state of our international political order. From now on, he implies, a new political and economic order needs to step up to fill the gap left by this “rupture”. My purpose with mentioning this is that I want to borrow his use of this word “rupture” to describe our

Gospel today. Today, Jesus proclaims the fulfilment of a “rupture”. The Gospel of Matthew begins by declaring from the prophet Isaiah: “Land of Zebulun, land of Naphtali, on the road by the sea, across the Jordan, Galilee of the gentiles–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”. The rupture Jesus is prophesying about is the light of God’s Kingdom rupturing the darkness. It is God’s order, rooted within the hearts of the oppressed Israelites expressed as the promised-for liberation from violent imperial rule. And even more than that, the liberation from sin and death, and then expanding beyond borders to include all peoples within the promise of this liberation. It is no wonder we read this during Epiphany, because this season is marked by the light that ruptures the darkness: it is the revelation of the truth rupturing the cloud of unknowing, it is the fulfilment of promise when there was the uncertainty of waiting, it is the clarification of our existential condition when we thought life was meaningless. Jesus’ life is the ever-new framework of our lives, we come to life held within the expansiveness of His contours. At the appearance of this rupture, Jesus proclaims: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” At the nearness of God’s Kingdom, Jesus demands a renewing of our hearts and minds that is rooted in the light that is revealed. No longer should our lives be oriented by our sinful ways of domination, but rather we are to be led by a new way rooted in Jesus’ radical love. There is a before and after Jesus. Jesus marks the rupture with the domination of sin and death, it is now the reign of life that God promises that has the final word. And if we continue to hear what Jesus teaches throughout the Gospels we find out that we are called to rupture the reign of injustice and sin, because living according to the

values of our true homeland, God Himself, we would not be persecuting our neighbors. Indeed, Jesus’ life was the sign of light rupturing the darkness.

In the same way that the world challenges us with its absolute darkness, Jesus asks us to follow Him in the absoluteness of the rupturing light. In the calling of the first disciples, the Scriptures say: “Follow me, and I will make you fisher of people. Immediately they left their nets and followed him.” As Jesus calls the disciples where they were to follow Him, we are also called wherever we find ourselves, in whatever occupation, in whatever language, in whichever place or station in life, Christ calls us to follow Him and immediately drop our nets. This “follow me” of Jesus, when accepted, is a demand. The Kingdom of God is not lukewarm when it comes to discipleship. It is abundant in forgiveness, endlessly so. And it also asks of us everything that we are. To follow Him is not to apportion a part of ourselves to Him, it is to give Him the totality of our life. This does not mean that we are supposed to be at church everyday or be super pious. It is about a real commitment to the way of life Jesus shows us. It is to define our lives according to His. It is that our love and compassion reflect Him. That our community life reflects His joy, that our prayers reflect His attentive gaze upon the plight of the suffering ones, it is that our forgiveness and mercy mirror His. It is that our lives may become part of this rupturing light over the darkness, to find Our way by following Jesus instead of the world.

The apostle Paul exhorts us so clearly as he did the Corinthian church, that we should stake our lives on Christ and nobody else: “Has Christ been divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul?” The church has suffered much these days with many people clinging to names other than Christ, or pinning the

authority of Christ upon other names. The demand Jesus asks is given instead to another as if that other was Lord over life and death. But only Christ died and was risen for you. Only in Him are we called to serve the vulnerable. Only in Him are we united with the rest of Humanity in bonds of love and mercy. Only through Him are we empowered to take up the love that can withstand the temptation to hate and destroy.

So beloved, do not despair that there is no light in the darkness, for the light that the darkness cannot overcome shines within you. Be not afraid, because in here you will undoubtedly hear the words that reaffirm the liberation of life, the rupture of the shackles of slavery. Here you will always receive the food and drink that unite you to the universal community, that unites you to the only homeland humanity truly has: God Himself. Here you will always be reminded that You belong, that you are loved beyond measure, that you have a family that extends beyond every boundary, that your love is more capable, your mercy more expansive, your peace more unshakeable, your truth-telling more audacious, your moral compass more certain. Here begins the rupture with death and destruction. Here begins your life made new, the fullness of life you are called to live, a life like Jesus’: a life for others. Let us pray: