Our first reading today brings us back to the 8th Century BC and the musings of the Prophet Isaiah. A century before the time of Isaiah, the Assyrian warriors had attacked the northern part of Israel and had carried off a lot of the people and those who remained were subjected to oppression. One of the areas that was hit the hardest is this oppression was Zebulun and Naphtali, northern part of the territory, near the Sea of Galilee. The prophet foresees that from the land of gloom and darkness a light will come: “The people …shone”. This is a historical reference to the oppression of the Assyrians and the people the prophet was peaking to, knew exactly what he was talking about. In the Gospel St. Matthew applies this passage from Isaiah to the emergence of Jesus. Coming from Nazareth he is from the northern regions of the country. Galilee was always looked on with suspicion, especially by those in the south around the capital Jerusalem. If you remember that passage in St. John’s gospel when they told Nathanael that they had found the Messiah and that he was from Nazareth; can anything good come from Nazareth? The point that St. Mathew is making here is that precisely out of this dark and suspicious place a light has come. God has a tendency to bring the best from the worst, to bring the most wonderful from the least expected place. We see this over and over in the Bible; Abraham was over a 100 and his wife Sarah, they could not have children, yet he was called to lead his people, Moses was not very eloquent but yet he was called to lead his people out of Egypt, David was the youngest son of Jesse and not considered suitable for a King, yet he was the chosen one to be the King of Israel, Peter James and John were humble simple fisherman yet they were the cornerstone of the church. A crucified criminal hanging on the cross is the son of God. This is the logic that runs relentlessly through the Bible. In Gods logic light tends to come from darkness, grace breaks through the doom and gloom. The world teaches us a different logic: success builds on success, those who are rich and famous and good looking, the celebrities, these are the ones the world looks up to and shuns and rejects failure, suffering and weakness. The logic of the world is not Gods logic. The deepest experience of God comes through suffering, failure and weakness. Here is the question for all of us: What is the Zebulun and Naphtali of your life? What is the place of gloom and darkness in your life? It may be a physical illness, it may be a psychological suffering, it may be the way you worry about your children, the loss of a job, a deep injustice, and old grudge, the loss of a loved one you can’t seem to get over, a profound failure you can’t come to terms with. This is your Zebulun and Naphtali. This might be the very place where the light will dawn. Precisely in this place where you are most vulnerable, most lost this is the place that Christ is working, watch out for this light