Third Sunday after the Epiphany
READINGS FOR THE COMING WEEK
- First reading
- Isaiah 9:1-4
- Psalm
- Psalm 27:1, 4-9
- Second reading
- 1 Corinthians 1:10-18
- Gospel
- Matthew 4:12-23
The gospel from Matthew:
Now when Jesus heard that John had been arrested, he withdrew to Galilee. He left Nazareth and made his home in Capernaum by the sea, in the territory of Zebulun and Naphtali, so that what had been spoken through the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled: “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.” From that time Jesus began to proclaim, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.”
As he walked by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea for they were fishermen. And he said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fish for people.” Immediately they left their nets and followed him.
As he went from there, he saw two other brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John, in the boat with their father Zebedee, mending their nets, and he called them. Immediately they left the boat and their father, and followed him.
1308-1311 Duccio, di Buoninsegna
National Gallery of Art (U.S.)
Washington, DC
Country:
United States
https://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu
Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and curing every disease and every sickness among the people.
Notes:
In this panel from the Maesta Altarpiece of Siena now separate and in the National Gallery of Art in Washington, the power of “call” is made present. The following description of this back and forth action between Christ, Peter and Andrew comes from one of the spirituality author and BBC religious affairs producer Michael Ford’s books, Song of the Nightingale: a Modern Spiritual Canticle.
“In his painting The Calling of the Apostles Peter and Andrew…the great Italian artist Duccio de Buoninsegna shows the brothers like twins, “a single apostolate with two dimensions.” This insight is helpful in understanding “the companionship” that exists between my respective dual vocations which have been lived out on the edge of the church, just as Christ calls Peter and Andrew from the shoreline. Yet for all their togetherness and compatibility, there is also aloneness and an uncomfortable sense of difference….a uniqueness that has been divinely bestowed.”