Fourth Sunday after Epiphany

1st February 2026

Reflection with readings below.

Today’s reading from the prophet Micah takes the form of a dialogue. God has  a bone to pick – ‘a controversy’ – with his people’. What, says God, have I done to you? How have I wearies you? Why is it, God is asking, are you so disenchanted with me, so uninterested in what I am to you, so disconnected?

And it is down to Micah to answer. In fact there is nothing God has failed to do, no fault that Micah can flag up. Rather Micah knows that it is the people who are at fault; they are the ones that have failed to maintain the relationship. So instead Micah replies by asking what can he – what can the people – give to show how much God really means, to rebuild the relationship. It’s not burnt sacrifices, nor offerings of vast numbers of rams nor gallons of oil, nor even the sacrifice of the first born. No, it is to what God has already asked: do justice, love kindness and walk humbly with God. 

The Psalmist asks pretty much the same question, what does God want of us? To speak truthfully, to show no guile, to do no evil, to not despise our neighbour but rather to honour God, to act honestly and with integrity, to not give money in the hope of gain. 

And in Paul’s letter to the community at Corinth, we’re told that being Godly is not about being wise, or rich, or powerful, or of noble birth (and today we might add not being a celebrity). 

All this is building up to Jesus’s famous teaching on who are God’s blessed – those who experience an inner joy and contentment that comes from their relationship with God. 

All these positive actions, these positive ways of living, are what makes the kingdom of God real here on earth. So in a sense we do know what we need to do to make the world a better place, but maybe the problems arise because so much of what is wrong in the world is structural and as individuals – even as churches – we struggle to find ways of changing those structures. Yet actually God doesn’t expect us to be successful all on our own. God asks that we be faithful, doing that which we can do and for the rest staying alongside God.

The following prayer comes from the Talmud

Do not be daunted 

By the enormity

Of the world’s grief.

Do justly, now.

Love mercy, now.

Walk humbly, now.

You are not obligated 

To complete the work

But neither are you free 

to abandon it.

Micah 6:1-8

Hear what the Lord says:
Rise, plead your case before the mountains,
and let the hills hear your voice.

Hear, you mountains, the controversy of the Lord,
and you enduring foundations of the earth;

for the Lord has a controversy with his people,
and he will contend with Israel.

“O my people, what have I done to you?
In what have I wearied you? Answer me!

For I brought you up from the land of Egypt,
and redeemed you from the house of slavery;

and I sent before you Moses,
Aaron, and Miriam.

O my people, remember now what King Balak of Moab devised,
what Balaam son of Beor answered him,

and what happened from Shittim to Gilgal,
that you may know the saving acts of the Lord.”

“With what shall I come before the Lord,
and bow myself before God on high?

Shall I come before him with burnt-offerings,
with calves a year old?

Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams,
with tens of thousands of rivers of oil?

Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression,
the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?”

He has told you, O mortal, what is good;
and what does the Lord require of you

but to do justice, and to love kindness,
and to walk humbly with your God?

Psalm 15

1 Lord, who may dwell in your tabernacle? *
who may abide upon your holy hill?

2 Whoever leads a blameless life and does what is right, *
who speaks the truth from his heart.

3 There is no guile upon his tongue;
he does no evil to his friend; *
he does not heap contempt upon his neighbour.

4 In his sight the wicked is rejected, *
but he honours those who fear the Lord.

5 He has sworn to do no wrong *
and does not take back his word.

6 He does not give his money in hope of gain, *
nor does he take a bribe against the innocent.

7 Whoever does these things *
shall never be overthrown.

1 Corinthians 1:18-31

The message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written,

“I will destroy the wisdom of the wise,
and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.”

Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, God decided, through the foolishness of our proclamation, to save those who believe. For Jews demand signs and Greeks desire wisdom, but we proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God’s weakness is stronger than human strength.

Consider your own call, brothers and sisters: not many of you were wise by human standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, things that are not, to reduce to nothing things that are, so that no one might boast in the presence of God. He is the source of your life in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification and redemption, in order that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”

Matthew 5:1-12

When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain; and after he sat down, his disciples came to him. Then he began to speak, and taught them, saying:

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
“Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
“Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.
“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.
“Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.
“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.
“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.
“Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
“Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”