Sean C. Capparuccia

8 February 2026

Isaiah 9:1-4; Psalm 27; I Corinthians 1:10-18; Matthew 4:12-22

            There is a lot of thought about this ‘light’ that people see at the moment of death, or as they are nearing death. It seems to be a fairly common scene in movies when someone dies; the screen goes white with a great light and the person finds themselves on the ‘other side’ surrounded by flowers and trees and other beautiful scenery. But in the passages we read just now we see that we don’t have to wait for death to see light for our Light has come!

“The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light,” is a well recited Advent verse because it is Messianic; it speaks of the One who will come. But what does it really mean? In Isaiah, the prophet is speaking to the inhabitants of Judah, the southern kingdom, who have rebelled against God; who have fallen into disbelief and rejected God. In a short time, they will be carried off to Assyria as God’s judgement falls upon them. The significance in this passage is that it mentions the lands of Zebulon and Naphtali. These were the northernmost lands in the northern kingdom, Israel. Of course, both Israel and Judah were judged and desolated, but let us remember that Assyria was in the north. These areas of Zebulon and Naphtali – on the northern shores of the Sea of Chinnereth, later called the Sea of Gennesaret, and still later renamed the Sea of Galilee – would be the first lines of defense and probably the worst hit by the Assyrian armies. It would be like if we were ever attacked by the Canadians, God forbid, our brothers in Michigan and New York would be among the first to fall. Oh jeez, that would be terrible, ay?

            Isaiah says, “The people who walk in darkness.” Walking means “following after”, “continuing in;” the people were not just in darkness, they were following after it. But with God’s judgment, comes grace, to those whom He favors, and He had set the descendants of Abraham, Issac, and Jacob apart for Himself. So, as the prophecy of the imminent destruction is spoken against Judah, Isaiah says that Zebulon and Naphtali shall “be made glorious.”  “The people who walk in darkness will see a great light” (9:2) and that light will shine greatest in the very lands that suffered the most.[1]  Specifically, this light will burst forth “on the other side of the Jordan, in Galilee of the Gentiles” (9:1). (And if you’re looking in your Bibles, just beyond these verses to verse 6 you see the continuation of the prophecy, “For unto us a child is born, unto us a Son is given,” which makes perfect sense to us who know the rest of the story.)

The term “Galilee of the Gentiles” has meaning for us in this: this area, the northern tip of Israel, the land of God’s people, bordered Gentile nations, so naturally there was a lot of mixing. Border lands are always mixed areas as business and trade and relationships carry on. And this was part of the problem, this was partly why these people were walking in darkness; they were supposed to be holy as God is holy – set apart – and yet they were doing what the pagans were doing. Even worse, they were doing what the pagans were doing and mixing it with what they should be doing.

~Leviticus 19:2 “Speak to all the congregation of the people of Israel and say to them, You shall be holy, for I the LORD your God am holy;”

~ and 20:26 “You shall be holy to me, for I the LORD am holy and have separated you from the peoples, that you should be mine.”

God’s people are to be separated, set apart, to be under a different authority than the rest of the nations. But here they were mingling and diluting their holy culture with the ways of the Gentiles. We call this syncretism.

Psalm 1 lays it out in very plain language: “Do not walk in the counsel of the wicked; do not stand in the path of sinners; and do not sit in the seat of scoffers.” When God’s people do these things, they are dimming the light of truth until darkness soon sets in.

            In Matthew, then, who reveals the fulfilment of this ancient prophecy, we see how it has come about. Jesus, who grew up in Nazareth, leaves Nazareth and sets up His base-camp in Galilee. As you know, people from Galilee were not seen as very favorable by the people in Jerusalem. Galilee is a rough place and now, hundreds of years after Isaiah, is even more mingled with the pagan influences of other nations and peoples. Matthew says, when quoting Isaiah, “The people sitting in darkness.” I find that interesting. In Isaiah, they were walking in darkness, now they are sitting in darkness. In Isaiah they were dwelling in the land of the shadow of death” (Isaiah 9:2), in Matthew they are “sitting in the land of the shadow of death” (4:16). This posture of sitting carries with it a feeling of resignation. Spiritually, the inhabitants of Galilee were, in a sense, just drifting. Just going along. They had their synagogues and they had their Torahs, but with all of the pagan cultural influences they were primarily engaging in “a form of righteousness.” They weren’t necessarily bad people, just a people who for so long had been under ungodly influences. I think this speaks to our own culture quite a bit. Left to oneself, the child of God can get very tired of trying to be holy, can’t they? Being constantly bombarded by ungodliness can take its toll. It becomes easy at some point to just throw up your hands and say, “Whatever!”

            But now the Light has come! The Messiah has set up his HQ in Galilee and sets to work. The first thing we hear Jesus say in Matthew’s Gospel is an echo of John the Baptist, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”  John was spreading this message much further south, so now the message is being carried north. To the Jew first, then to the Gentile; beginning “in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8).

            The Light has come! The people didn’t go searching for the Light, it came upon them. Let it be noted here that the Light comes to you, you don’t by nature go towards the Light. Jesus told Nicodemus in John’s Gospel, “the light shines in the darkness and the darkness did not comprehend it,” and “the light is come into the world and men loved the darkness rather than the light” (John 1:5, 3:19). No, we don’t walk naturally toward the light of Christ; no one seeks God by His own accord – the child of God is drawn to God by His Spirit. The dead do not seek or hunger or thirst for righteousness, they sit in darkness. When the Spirit brings the dead to life, then they seek and hunger and thirst for righteousness. Faith is awakened from its sleep; it is stirred to life.

            And as we mentioned in our last sermon, faith comes by hearing, not by osmosis. Would that God had simply poured out regenerating faith into the atmosphere so that all men could just soak it up and be saved. But that is not how He did it – He chose a more intimate and personal plan that would use His people, His Church, to do it. He would use disciples.  

            Jesus called His first disciples, Simon and Andrew, James and John. But listen, we need to look at the other Gospels to get the fuller story. In John’s Gospel, we see that at His baptism, Jesus called Andrew and John. He invited Andrew and John to come with Him. Andrew went and “found his brother Simon and said to him, ‘We have found the Messiah” (John 1:41).  John did the same with his brother, James. After this initial contact they went back to Galilee and continued with their fishing business. So, this here in Matthew, “Follow Me…” is the decisive call – “Follow Me.” It’s not a question, “Will you follow Me?” but a command, “You, follow Me.” And notice, they don’t waver. When Christ calls, no one wavers, they follow. Maybe not always in full obedience but they do follow. The Holy Spirit does not awaken your spirit for nothing.

            Jesus tells them, “I will will make you fishers of men.” I think a lot could be said for this statement. Jesus will use the skills that Andrew and Simon already have and apply them to His kingdom. Each of us have our bents, our proclivities, and when we come to Christ in faith, He uses those skills, and our experiences, to serve Him, isn’t that right? This is why we have so many Christian non-profits; people in one business or another come to Christ and are led to use those skills to further the kingdom of God. This doesn’t imply that every person who comes to faith needs to start a non-profit, but it does imply that a business owned by a Christian becomes set apart by its adherence to Christian principles. Before coming to Christ, we think that all we have is ours. But when we come to Christ, we realize that all belongs to Him and it becomes our mission to use what we have – what He has given us, what He has entrusted us with – to be put to use for Him.

            “Come, follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.”  Here, then, is the next step after coming to Christ: to be remade, to be molded, to be reformed, to be discipled.  One commentator wrote, “Simon the fickle must become Peter the rock.” This is why we must separate the doctrines of justification and sanctification. They are not synonymous. Justification is coming alive, being regenerated, coming to faith; the rest of life is sanctification by the Holy Spirit – being molded by God.

            I don’t know how many of you are artists in one way or another, but you know that artists are perfectionists.  It is pretty rare that an artist creates something and says, “Oh, my, that is perfect!” There is always something that could have been, should have been, would have been better in the artist’s eye. Now, everyone else looking at it will say, “Wow! That is perfect! That is beautiful.” But the artist says, “Yeah, I don’t know, I should have put more red in it,” or, “That chord in the middle of the verse sounds a little off to me.”  God is the artist of your life in Christ. He knows what He wants and He will perfect each one of us even if it takes our whole life long because He will present to the Son a perfect bride.

            Here’s a little story for you: One night a farmer noticed a light in his barn. He went to see what it was and he found his farmhand dressed up and holding a lantern. “Why are you all dressed up and with a lantern?” he asked.  “I’m going to call on my girlfriend,” the farmhand answered, “And I’ve got to go through the woods and it’s dark.”  The farmer said, “You know, when I was your age and calling on my wife for the first time I went through them woods without a lantern.”  “I know,” said the farmhand, “but look what you got.” 

            In the light of Christ, everything becomes visible. In the light of the Son, the Spirit works on us from within, making us an unblemished and perfect bride.

            And who is the Bride of Christ but the Redeemed.

And how are they redeemed? By faith in Christ.

And Who is the Author of faith? The Father.

And how is faith awakened in a dead soul? By the Holy Spirit.

And by what instrument does the Holy spirit work in a dead soul? Through His ears, by hearing.

And what does he hear? The Gospel, the Truth of Christ.

And who is it that tells him? So, far every answer has been easy. This is the single most difficult question to answer, isn’t it?

And who is it that tells him? Who tells her the Gospel? Who speaks to them the words of Christ, the truth of Scripture?    You. The disciples. Those who are called by Christ Himself to spread the message.

  Here’s a thought that I might revisit in a few months, but have you ever thought of making disciples as kind of a game? It’s like Easter egg hunting. They’re out there, we just go out a find them. God has placed the elect all over the earth. But of course, it doesn’t end there, does it?  It’s not just about finding disciples, but making disciples. Teaching them. It is a student-teacher relationship. You know Christ, you teach Christ. This is following in Jesus’ footsteps. Coming beside someone and teaching them. We learn in here and then we go out there. We bring them in here, then they go out there. This is how the Gospel spread from the Jordan to Galilee, from Galilee to Jerusalem, to Judea, to Samaria, to the world. And now, in 2026, we see what happens when we stop doing that – we have to do it again. It’s a cycle: being a disciple and making disciples. You know, one of the best ways to learn is to teach. You take what you know and teach it and that reinforces it in your own heart and mind.

So, since the Light has come, not only into the world but into your heart, go and share that Light with others. Go and teach. And bring them here to come and worship our blessed Savior.

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[1] Something could be said that this was spoken to Judah, in whose land Zebulon and Naphtali did not belong. Though the prophecy is not meant to incite jealousy among the two kingdoms, for Judah to hear that Israel will receive the highest glory at some future time would be somewhat unsettling.