Jesus is the great light that those who walk in the dark see.  To follow him, to be his, means to be a bright light also. 

As John’s voice dies out, Jesus’ voice breaks out in such a way that he preaches as John, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”  Yet this takes place not in Judea but in Galilee.  For Jesus withdraws there and fulfills thus Isaiah’s prophecy about a bright light.

Hence, Jesus is the great light for folks of the North and of the Galilee of the Gentiles.  These folks run the risk of losing the true faith since they live with not a few Gentiles.  In other words, they dwell in lands of pagan shadows.

But, yes, through the bright light that Jesus is, God frees, saves, those in the dark.  And this light is greater than that of Gideon’s and his men’s freeing, saving, torches.

It is greater still, of course, than the great light of Isaiah’s prophecy.  For through the great light that Jesus is, God fully and definitively frees, saves, men and women.  Of all races, tongues, cultures, and nations.

And Matthew suggests that Jesus is the bright light since he goes about doing what is right and good.  That is, he seeks first the kingdom of God and his justice.  And he loves, he seeks the others’ good:  he teaches in the synagogues, he proclaims the Good News of the kingdom, he cures diseases and illnesses.

It is due to this, yes, that his light breaks like the dawn.  And the darkness of death cannot put it out.  For his body given up and his blood shed, after his earning the wrath of the unjust and selfish, light shines through:  it stays clear that he is God’s Son.

Needless to say, to folllow Jesus means to be a bright light like him.

Lord Jesus, the rising sun, be our bright light.  And make us follow you so that we do not walk in the shadow of death but have the light of life.  Grant that we grasp that where human prudence fails, the light of divine wisdom begins to dawn (SV.EN XII:399).  That you alone can make us pass from darkness into light.  And help us to overcome the darkness of divisions.

25 January 2026
3rd Sunday in O.T. (A)
Is 8, 23 – 9, 3; 1 Cor 1, 10-13. 17; Mt 4, 12-23