The Kingdom Is Near: A Homily for the Third Sunday after the Epiphany.

Preached on Sunday, January 25th, 2026, at All Saints, Collingwood, Anglican Diocese of Toronto.   Readings for this Sunday: Isaiah 9:1-4; Psalm 27:1, 5-13; 1 Corinthians 1:10-18; Matthew 4:12-23

“From that time Jesus began to proclaim, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” (Mt 4.17)

In Matthew’s gospel, before Jesus calls his disciples, and before he does any miracles, he preached, and the message that he preached was this:  “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near” (Mt 4.17).    Because this message is the first action of Jesus’ ministry, we could say that it is foundational to his very purpose and mission, that Jesus was all about showing us the kingdom of heaven as something that could and should change our lives.

If we want to learn more about the kingdom of heaven, then we need, like the fishermen, to hear his call, follow him, and learn from him as we do next Sunday when we hear part of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. 

 Indeed, the Christian life could be called a long and continuous pilgrimage towards the kingdom of heaven, though strangely it’s not a very long journey.   Paul says that the God “is near to you, on your lips and in your heart”, and in Luke’s gospel Jesus says that “the kingdom of God is among you” (Lk 17.21).   So it may very well be that the kingdom of God is something that was always there before us, we just needed the right eyes to see it or the right ears to hear it.

We can also understand the kingdom of heaven by seeing it in contrast to the world we know, the kingdoms of earth.   Just before the events of today’s gospel reading, Matthew describes Jesus’ testing by Satan in the desert.  Satan as you recall offers Jesus “all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor” but their price is that in return for this power, Jesus must worship the devil, which of course he refuses to do.    The implication here is that either Satan is lying and this is a prize he can’t deliver, or worse, that earthly power and authority somehow falls within the devil’s sphere of influence.

The possibility that the latter is true, that the kingdoms of earth are within the realm of evil or at least susceptible to it, is suggested in the first detail of our gospel reading today, that John the Baptist has been arrested by Herod, and as we know, John will later be executed in prison.    Earlier in Matthew’s gospel we learned that Herod’s father ordered the massacre of the boy children in Bethlehem when he heard about the birth of Jesus, so Matthew has already taught us to be suspicious of what earthly kings will do.

Yesterday we learned a further lesson of how evil can flourish in earthly kingdoms.   Alex Pretti was shot by federal agents while restrained and lying on the ground.   He was an ICU nurse and had been filming the actions of ICE agents.  He is the second civilian killed in Minneapolis in several weeks, and is part of a larger pattern of violence.   In 2025, immigration agents shot 27 people, killing 7, and also in 2025, 32 people have died while in immigration detention.   As someone who has served in a disciplined, professional military, I can only conclude that these are the actions of violent, untrained goons in military uniforms, whose job is to spread terror and repression.

This last week as well, 100 Christian clergy and at least one rabbi were arrested and briefly detained after protesting at the airport in Minneapolis.  Several told reporters that they were there to protest against immorality.   I like to think that I would have joined them had I been closer.   I think these clergy, like the tens of thousands in the streets, are good people who sense the presence of evil but who also sense the nearness of the kingdom of heaven.

So what can we say about the kingdom of heaven as we see it in Matthew?   While we could derive a longer answer from reading the whole gospel, I think we can come up with a clear idea even from what little we hear in today’s reading.   Specifically we can say three things about the kingdom of heaven.  First, the kingdom of heaven is formed in communities, where a group of people come together because they follow Jesus.  Second, we can say that the kingdom of heaven is formed wherever acts of mercy are displayed.  Finally, we can say that the kingdom of heaven is the triumph of life over the powers of death.

First, community.  The most inspiring stories we’ve heard coming out of Minneapolis have to do with neighbours coming together to help and protect neighbours.    Families that don’t dare leave their homes and apartments have groceries delivered, and laundry picked up, washed, and returned.   Often these efforts are organized by churches and faith groups.     The call of the kingdom of heaven is heard collectively.  The disciples are called in ones and twos, but they become the twelve, and the twelve found the church.    As Paul reminds the Corinthian church in our second reading, the Christian life is lived fully when people discard their factions and petty allegiances and live in a Christ-focused community.

Second, mercy.  The kingdom of heaven is visible wherever mercy is shown.  At the end of our gospel reading, we hear that Jesus combines his preaching ministry with a healing ministry, “curing every disease and every sickness among the people” (Mt 4.23).  Jesus’ healing miracles are, as Father Gordon said last night at our Après Ski service, used to bring us back to wholeness.   Healing in scripture is not just medical, it brings lepers and madmen back into the community and it reconciles sinners and offenders to God.    Our little food pantry, which I’ve seen emptied in hours, is a sign of mercy, a small sign of care and mercy for those who suffer cold and hunger and homelessness.

Finally, life.    When Matthew tells us that Jesus goes to Galilee to bring light to “those who sat in the region and sharow of death” (Mt 4.16), he’s elaborating on the prophesy  of Isaiah that we heard in our first lesson.  The light isn’t just the knowledge of Jesus that will come to benighted Gentiles who didn’t previously know God, though it is that.  It’s also the light of Easter morning, the dawn of the resurrection that floods into the tomb.   The powers of earth may kill citizens on the street, they may blow up boats and whole cities, but history shows us that all blood soaked regimes have their day and are brought low because God’s justice is always opposed to tyranny and death.  I think the uniformed goons on the streets of Minneapolis know that they are part of the kingdom of death, and I think that knowledge must secretly torment them.

The season of Lent begins soon in February.  Once again we’ll be invited to take up Jesus’ call to repent and seek the kingdom of God.  This year repentance might mean  letting go of the fears and hatreds that make the kingdoms of this world such deadly and lifeless places.   And the good news is that we don’t have to look far to find the kingdom of heaven because it is very close.  The kingdom of heaven is wherever we see a community that practices mercy and chooses to follow Jesus, the lord of life and light.  The kingdom of heaven is within these walls.

God Above Comes As A Dove: A Homily for the Second Sunday of Epiphany

 Preached at All Saints, Collingwood, Anglican Diocese of Toronto, 18 Januarey, 2026, the Second Sunday of Epiphany.  Texts for this day:  ISAIAH 49:1-7; PSALM 40:1-12; 1 CORINTHIANS 1:1-9; JOHN 1:29-42

And John testified, “I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him’ (Jn 1.32)

How many of you have a birdfeeder outside your house?   How many of you have two?  Or three?   We currently have three on the go, and keeping them stocked is an expensive job, especially if you shop at one of those fancy bird stores.   We don’t mind the expense.  Someone once said that birdfeeders are basically TV for old people, and I won’t deny that we’ve reached that point in life.   There’s something about the fragility of small birds, especially in the winter, the joy of seeing their quick movements and colours, and the satisfaction that comes from providing for them.

I think we feel a connection to wild birds that’s perhaps a closer connection to nature than we get from our house pets.  Wild birds, like the other creatures we see on hikes in the forest, are in their proper environment,  they are truly part of nature, or as people of faith would say, they are one with God’s creation.

My mind has been going in this direction with our gospel reading today because of the dove and the other nature imagery (thanks to Cody Saunders for noticing this - https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/second-sunday-after-epiphany/commentary-on-john-129-42-7)

John the Baptist testifies that “I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him”.    The dove is a common feature of all four accounts of Jesus’ baptism, though in this gospel, we don’t see the baptism,  we just hear John the Baptist describe it.  However, all four gospels describe the Spirit of God being present all say that it was  like a dove.  The Greek word translated as like, hõsei, is an adverb that is often used for similes (something is described by a comparison to something else).   For example, when Jesus sees the crowd in the wilderness, they are described as being “like/as sheep without a shepherd” (Mt 9.36).

So why am I geeking out about a Greek adverb?   Because similes, working as they do, suggest that X is sort of like Y, but is really X.   So in the case of the dove, is it actually a dove, or is it just the Holy Spirit in a dove costume?    Again I hear you thinking, why is this important?    I think it’s important because it leads us to think about something we’ve heard about quite a bit over Christmas, the Incarnation, where as John’s gospel puts it, the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.

If I say to you, Jesus was just God pretending to be human, then to me at least, it makes it all sound a bit of a cheat.  If Jesus was just masquerading as human, why did he need to be born as a human, did he really die on the cross, and was he really resurrected if he was never really dead?   On the other hand, if Jesus as a person of the Trinity actually became human, then I can relate to a God who wants to know what my life and my death are like, and who can understand my human failings and sins and take them away from me.   

So, if the Holy Spirit somehow is a dove, that’s important (at least to me) because it reinforces the connection between God the creator and the created world, what we call nature.   Yesterday, at Sheila Dixon’s funeral, we sang at her request the hymn “All Things Bright and Beautiful”.  That hymn ends with the prayer that we truly see creation and so praise God for making “all things well”.   So if God has made creation and done a good job at it, does it not follow that we God should be invested in it, or even present in it?

There’s a habit in Christianity of saying that everything physical is just a way of talking about the spiritual, but think about how important the natural world is in the stories (and legends) of the Nativity.  Mary rides to Bethlehem on a donkey.   Jesus is laid in a manger, warmed by the breaths of barn animals.   Shepherds come from the hills, lit by a starlight.   Magi come on camels (or whatever their ride was).  Presumably the same donkey carries Mary and Jesus to safety in Egypt.   None of this natural imagery would happen if Jesus has been born in a palace.

Likewise in the baptism accounts, besides the Spirit/Dove, John the Baptist greets Jesus as the “Lamb of God”.   To be sure this a  figure of speech, Jesus is not actually a lamb, but John sees something of Jesus’ role as the pure and sinless sacrifice.  Lambs play a huge role in the Jewish scriptures, from the story of Abraham and Isaac (the ram caught in the thicket) to the lamb’s blood that allows the firstborn of Israel to be spared on the Passover.    Lambs, like doves, are creatures of Temple sacrifice, and their blood speaks to the long and futile quest to deal with human sinfulness through the blood of innocent animals.

Besides animal imagery, there is of course water imagery.   John baptizes with water at the River Jordan, and his ministry is predicted in Isaiah by the promise that God will make a way in the desert and springs in the wilderness (Isa 43.19).  The psalms of course are full of nature and water imagery.  In Psalm 72, for example, God’s reign of justice will be “like rain upon the mown field, like showers that water the earth”.  Abundant water in a desert country is a perfect way to show God’s care and concern for creation.

I think we’d all have to admit that God cares for creation more than we humans do.  I know it’s hard to believe in global warming in the midst of such a snowy winter, but we know that the earth is getting warmer and glaciers everywhere are receding.  Skiing is good here but in Europe the industry is in peril. The seas are getting warmer.  Yesterday the  Economist magazine reported that disease transmission will increase because more mosquito species are developing a taste for human blood.  Why?  Because as biodiversity decreases there are fewer other species for mosquitoes to feed on. So yes, we should be concerned about the fate of the Earth that God gave us.

In Romans 8, there is a famous verse where Paul describes all Creation as groaning for its salvation.  What if we thought of Jesus’ birth not just as God dwelling with us, but God dwelling with all creation?  What if the Spirit becoming a dove in all four gospels is a sign that Jesus is born to save not just us, but all the world?  And if that is truly God’s purpose, shouldn’t attention to creation be our purpose?

In the religions of Jesus time doves and lambs and other sacrificial animals paid the price for human sin.  Today we don’t sacrifice animals for religion, but we still sacrifice entire species for our greed.  Would our attitudes change if we believed that God was as present in the created, natural world as God is present in our lives?

Opening Meditation on God's Healing for the 2026 Après Ski Series

 

Opening Meditation for the All Saints Collingwood Après Ski services for 2026, by Father Michael.

If you joined our series last year, you may remember that the theme of our readings and meditations was on the Holy Family.  Tonight as part of this year’s Après Ski series we begin a series of readings and meditations on the theme of healing and Christian faith.  I’ve asked our clergy team to offer their thoughts and experiences on healing, and I’m looking forward to hearing what they have to say because I am very much not an expert on the subject, and, truth be told, I think that when it comes to healing I am like the man who tells Jesus “Lord, I believe, help my unbelief” (Mk 9:24).

I’ve had lots of experience with illness and with dying, as part of my training and work as a priest and as part of my own life history.   I’ve had no training in healing prayer, and while I’ve met a few people who’ve told me that God has healed their medical conditions, I’ve never been sure how to take these statements.  I believe that they believe they’ve been healed, but part of my rational, sceptical brain can’t help thinking that their stories are more belief than fact.

Where does this scepticism come from?    Partly it comes from what we call the secular, the whole weight of science, medicine, and technology that seems to drive God out of the world and into the corners of our personal belief.    After all, we believe in MRI machines, chemotherapy, psychotherapy, and all the other resources that promise us longer and better lives.    At the same time we have the whole wellness industry, that urges us to improve our bodies and our wellbeing through  healthy diets and  healthy habits.   None of these forces leave much room for God to act in our lives.

And yet, as we shall hear in the readings chosen for this series, Jewish and Christian scripture speaks with one voice to say that God can heal and wants to heal.     In Luke’s gospel, Jesus gives his disciples “power and authority over all demons and to cure diseases, and he sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal” (Lk 9:1-2).   I think many of us, myself included, interpret this broadly, so that healing the world and proclaiming the kingdom of God can be our outreach, our food ministries, our hospitality to strangers and to the lonely.      And indeed these are worthwhile things to do, they are part of our calling as followers of Jesus, but God wants to do more than that, God wants to heal, and heal through us.

Last fall, Rev. Amy led a few of us through a remarkable book by an Avery Brooke, an Anglican layperson.   She describes how a dozen retired women met regularly in Brooke’s Conneticut parish to learn about spiritual healing.    Over time, as they prayed and laid hands on others, remarkable things happened:  hands grew “hot as radiators” and  “small physical, psychological, and spiritual healings were occuring”.   

As Brooke described it, they learned  that making  “room for God … is at the crux of healing.  It is not our compassion that heals, it is God’s compassion.  It is not our words of prayer that heal, it is God using our words and hands and the energy flowing through us”.

I found Brooke’s advice very encouraging, because I think my disbelief is because my own ego, with all it’s learning and scpeticism and my pride in my sophistication can get in the way of God’s work.  We all know that there is a time to live and time to die, and that these times, like our souls, are in God’s hands, but what if there is also a time to  be healed?  

My hope for this series is that we will learn to more deeply appreciate some of the good things that we already do here, like the ministry of annointing, but that we will make room for God to do more healing in the midst of us, and through us.