Thoughts on Today’s Lessons for Sunday, Feb. 2, 2014

First Reading: Micah 6:1-8
The prophet Micah imagines humanity standing before God as a defendant in a trial, pleading our case before the almighty Judge. God “has a controversy with us,” the prophet warns. God has done so much for us since bringing the people out of Egypt to the promised land. How are we to respond? Not with burnt offering or sacrifice, but, in Micah’s memorable terms, simply by doing justice, loving kindness and walking humbly with God.

Psalm: Psalm 15
Historically, bible scholars believe, this short Psalm may depict ancient Temple liturgy and practice, questions to be asked and answered as the priests led the people in procession up to the doors. Who may enter? those who do right, speak truth, don’t slander or reproach and do no evil. These are rules to live by in any age. Surely there are echoes of Micah in, “Walk blamelessly, do what is right, and speak the truth from [your] heart.”

Second Reading: 1 Corinthians 1:18-31
Paul, continuing his lecture to the quarreling factions in the church at Corinth, repeats the verse that concluded last Sunday’s reading: Jesus’ death on the cross – a horrific form of execution reserved by Rome for the worst criminals – “is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.” Yet God chose this way to celebrate the weak, the poor and the despised and to shame the powerful and the strong through Jesus, who gives us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification and redemption.

Gospel: Matthew 5:1-12
Ah, the Beatitudes! Jesus’s loving verses in the Sermon on the Mount are central to Christian thinking, so much so that it is easy to hear them with more affection than deep reflection. But beatitudes – a Scriptural genre found also in Psalms and Proverbs – reward deeper thought. In eight quick phrases, Jesus turns the world upside down: The poor are blessed, not the rich. Mourners, the meek, the hungry; the merciful, the pure in heart, the peacemakers, the oppressed win God’s blessing. This should come as no surprise to those who follow Jesus: “He has cast down the mighty from their thrones, and has lifted up the lowly. He has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he has sent away empty.”