Illuminations on the Lectionary readings for Jan. 25, 2026 (Epiphany 3A)

Calling the Apostles Peter and Andrew at the Fish Market (c.1608), oil painting on panel by Jan Brueghel the Elder (1568-1625). Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia. (Click image to enlarge.)

First Reading: Isaiah 9:1-4

“The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light.” As we live through the dark, short days of winter, we can feel the joy that gracious light brings in the darkness. This is the joy that Isaiah and Matthew share in Sunday’s readings. Our first reading from Isaiah recalls the hard time when Israel’s Northern Kingdom – the lands of Zebulon and Naphtali that Jesus will later know as Galilee – had fallen to the Assyrian Empire, and the nation’s fate was in doubt. But the future holds no gloom for those who are in anguish now, Isaiah proclaims: God will bring the people back to a world of bounty and joy.

Psalm: Psalm 27:1, 5-13

In words that echo both the ideas and the emotions of the Isaiah reading, the Psalmist shouts with triumphant confidence that God is indeed our light, so there is nothing to fear. This is not just a happy-clappy praise song, though: Bad things indeed can happen, even to God’s own people. Enemies may surround them. But knowing that God is our light, our stronghold, and our salvation, we need not fear. We call on God to hear us, love us, protect us, and keep us safe.

Second Reading: 1 Corinthians 1:10-18

Last week in the opening verses of 1 Corinthians, we heard Paul assure the people of this little community that they had already received gifts that made them strong in faith. Now, in the following verses, we learn that this little church was troubled, breaking into factions and quarreling among themselves. Remember to stand steadfast in faith, Paul reminds them; and do so even when their Gentile neighbors call them foolish for worshiping a crucified criminal. Baptism brings all together in unity in Christ, Paul says. The cross represents the power of God to us as we are saved by it.

Gospel: Matthew 4:12-23

Jesus, grieving the murder of his cousin John and very likely fearing for his own life, leaves his home in Nazareth to go to Capernaum, a larger city on the shore in Galilee. This was the ancient region of Zebulon and Naphtali that Isaiah referenced in the first reading. There Jesus begins his public life, preaching with the same words that John so often spoke: “‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” Jesus then calls four fishermen – Peter and Andrew, and James and John, the sons of Zebedee. All four men eagerly dropped their nets and followed Jesus as he preached, taught, and healed.