February 1, 2026 ☩ The Fourth Sunday after the Epiphany
on
1 Corinthians 1:18-31 & Matthew 5:1-12
“Be-Attitudes”
☩ ☩ ☩
Last Sunday’s observance of the Third Sunday after the Epiphany was stifled by severe snow in the morning. The Sunday prior, I employed a verse from Saint Paul’s letter to the Corithians which offers this: “Not I, but the grace of God that is with me.” [1 Cor. 15:10] This theme carries forward with us today.
Let us begin with the humbleness Saint Paul draws forth from the people of Corinth. In this first chapter of his first epistle (pastoral letter) to the Church at Corinth, Paul has opened with greetings, addressed divisions within the church based on which minister has ushered various people toward Christ (rather than remembering He to whom all these ministers, apostles, and disciples were pointing others toward), and now he continues with humility in today’s reading.
Saint Paul does not tell people to be perfect, to attain to specific positions of power, class or wealth, or even to gain power over others. If those were our goals, the focus of our lives would appear to be a struggle, as an individual, to move in power closer and closer to God. Not only is that unattainable, but it divides the community of the Church before us, and is not the desire of God. Paul explains: “Consider your own call, brothers and sisters: not many of you… were powerful, not many of noble birth. But… God chose what is low and despised in the world to shame the wise… so that no one might boast in the presence of God.” [1 Cor. 1:26-29]
Paul knew the success of our life was not about personal and individual achievement. The gate to heaven is not guarded by angels seeking a resume of successes on a social and cultural scale. Rather, those humble hearts who recognize their gifts and successes of this life – in all there forms, big or small – are the grace of God at work through them. By God’s grace we achieve redemption. By God’s very Spirit we attain perfection. Our boasting therefore is not for our own glory, yet to remind ourselves and others of the glory of God that shines forth from us.
Now, let us turn to the Gospel of Matthew and see the blessedness of meekness. Matthew’s Gospel has a clear focus on reaching the Jewish people. Matthew knows how to connect with the Jewish tradition and its expectations of spirituality and of the Messiah to highlight the fulfillment of the prophetic messages in Jesus. In today’s Gospel, we find ourselves near the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus teaches the seemingly paradoxical expectations of God in the Beatitudes.
Matthew has Jesus preaching from a mountain, elevated and up high. For this Gospel writer’s audience, this makes sense since Jesus is God and the Jewish people often went up mountains to pray, as they felt closer to God in physically elevated positions and even cherished mountains as holy places. (Compare this with Luke who has Jesus teaching in the Sermon on the Plains, meeting people where they are in the humanity of Jesus because Luke tries to connect with the literal poor and outcasts. Each Gospel holds their particular focus.) As Matthew embraces the model of understanding of where to find God, elevated upon a mountain, the people connect Jesus with the Word of God that instills hope and grace.
As we begin to read the Beatitudes ourselves, it is easy to glance them over and think, ‘how lovely to have all these blessings?’ For me, if I remain in the glance-mode, it leads to to wonder how I can associate with the conditions of the blessings so that I may also be blessed. As we sit with these words that Jesus shares, we come to find human achievement as measured by cultural understandings of financial wealth or social status do not seem to provide any benefit beyond this world. Eternal life, that provided for only by God, whereby no effort of ourselves can create or sustain, will bless those who now suffer. We hear that God was not made Incarnate in Jesus to make all things easy in this life, but to remind us to simply meet God where we are, to participate in the ministry of Jesus as his faithful disciple, and to allow God’s grace to work through us.
In these Beatitudes, Jesus does make us mindful of the downtrodden, those who are weak, and those to whom injustices are inflicted. Jesus also reminds the crowds, and us, that it is not necessarily a perfect credit score, or house, or car, that bless us in God’s kingdom. However, it is a pure heart, one that embraces the building up of one another [cf. 1 Thes. 5:11] where we find God more evident. This is how we are to see God in our lives: To live humbly, because it is the meek who put to shame the powerful of this world, and to remember that though we are imperfect, we are redeemed and sanctified by God, and therefore God’s grace and God’s very Spirit still produces perfection through us.
Matthew warns every reader of the reality Jesus knew – that living a righteous life does not mean we will be free from persecution. Often, Christian expectations cause friction by going against the grain of societal expectations. Yet, we are to remain steadfast in our moral conviction because of the reward that lies ahead for us in the kingdom of heaven.
May we ‘Be’ in alignment with the ‘Attitudes’ Jesus desires for us to cherish the inherent blessings of this life, through and around all sorts of circumstances, experiences, or dispositions. May our ‘Attitude’ outwardly ‘Be’ that which exudes the work of God’s Spirit in us. Be pure in heart, for then we will truly see, know, and feel God. Blessed are you who strive to know God more fully each day.
Amen.
