First Reading

A reading from the first letter of the apostle Saint John

1 John 3:22–4:6

Dear children: Since we keep his commandments and do what pleases him, we will certainly receive from him whatever we ask. And this is his commandment: that we believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and love one another as he commanded us. Whoever keeps his commandments remains in him, and he in them. And by this we know that he remains in us, by the Spirit he has given us.

My brothers, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. You can know the Spirit of God in this way: Every spirit that acknowledges Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God. Every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming; well, here it is already in the world.

You belong to God, little children, and you have conquered them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. They are from the world; they speak of the world, and the world listens to them. We are from God, and whoever knows God listens to us; but whoever is not from God does not listen to us. This is how we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of falsehood.

Gospel

A reading from the holy Gospel according to Saint Matthew

Matthew 4:12-17, 23-25

When Jesus heard that John had been arrested, he withdrew to Galilee. He left Nazareth and went to live in Capernaum by the sea, in the region of Zebulun and Naphtali, so that what had been said through the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled:

Land of Zebulun and land of Naphtali, the way to the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles, the people who sit in darkness have seen a great light, on those dwelling in a land overshadowed by death light has arisen.

From that time on, Jesus began to preach and say, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” He went around all of Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, and curing every disease and illness among the people.

His fame spread throughout all Syria, and they brought to him all who were sick with various diseases and racked with pain, those who were possessed, lunatics, and paralytics, and he cured them. And great crowds from Galilee, the Decapolis, Jerusalem, and Judea, and from beyond the Jordan followed him.