A reading from the first letter of saint John (3:22-4:6)
Whatever we ask
we shall receive from him,
because we keep his commandments
and do what is pleasing to him.
His commandment is this,
that we should believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ
and that we should love one another
as he commanded us.
Whoever keeps his commandments
abides in God, and God in that person.
And by this we know that he abides in us,
by the Spirit that he has given us.
My dear friends,
do not trust every spirit,
but test the spirits to see whether they are from God,
for many false prophets have gone out into the world.
By this you know the spirit of God:
any spirit that acknowledges Jesus Christ has come in the flesh
is from God,
and every spirit which fails to acknowledge Jesus
is not from God,
but this is the spirit of Antichrist,
of whose coming you have heard.
He is already now in the world.
Children, you are from God
and have overcome them,
because the Spirit who is in you
is greater than the spirit who is in the world.
They are from the world;
therefore what they say is from the world,
and the world listens to them.
We are from God;
whoever knows God listens to us;
anyone who is not from God does not listen to us.
This is how we can know
the spirit of truth and the spirit of falsehood.
The ‘commandment’ has two parts: belief in the Son, and love of the brothers and sisters. These themes will be taken up again in what follows. Those who follow the commandments have the Spirit (pneuma) within them. The ‘spirit’ of the world by contrast does not confess that Jesus has come in the flesh. This is the spirit of antichrist mentioned earlier in the letter (2:18 and 22). The ‘children’ (teknia) addressed here are ‘from God’ and have ‘overcome’ (nikan). ‘Whoever knows God listens to us,’ the writer says. We are able to distinguish ‘the spirit of truth (aletheia)’ from ‘the spirit of falsehood (plane)’.
Psalm 2 The Son begotten by God will possess the ends of the earth.
A reading from the holy gospel according to Matthew (4:12-17, 23-25)
Hearing that John had been arrested he withdrew to Galilee, and leaving Nazara he went and settled in Capernaum, beside the lake, on the borders of Zebulun and Naphtali. This was to fulfil what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah:
Land of Zebulun! Land of Naphtali!
Way of the sea beyond Jordan.
Galilee of the nations!
The people that sat in darkness
have seen a great light;
on those who lived in a country and shadow of death
a light has dawned.
From then onwards Jesus began his proclamation with the message, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of Heaven is close at hand.’
He went round the whole of Galilee teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and curing all kinds of disease and illness among the people. His fame spread throughout Syria, and they brought to him all those who were suffering from diseases and painful complaints of one kind or another, the possessed, epileptics, the paralysed, and he cured them. Large crowds followed him, coming from Galilee, the Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judaea and beyond the Jordan.
Matthew’s account of the Galilee ministry of Jesus is introduced with a further fulfilment citation. Isaiah’s words about the lands of Zebulun and Naphtali are matched in the geographical note the evangelist gives, as Jesus makes his base in the lake-side town of Capernaum. ‘From then on he began (apo tote erxato)’, says the evangelist with some solemnity. Jesus began to call for repentance (metanoieite), and to announce the arrival of the kingdom of heaven (he basileia ton ouranon). Omitting the verses which concern the call of the first disciples, the gospel reading passes on to a summary of Jesus’ activity, as he is seen ‘teaching’ (didaskein), ‘proclaiming’ (kerussein) and ‘curing’ (therapeuein). There is an extensive list of the sick, and of the locations from which they travelled. The gospel proclaims the arrival of a ‘great light’ in the lives of ordinary people.
How does this gospel reading deepen our celebration of Christmas and Epiphany?
Jesus’ ministry begins far from Jerusalem, the religious centre.