FOURTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
1 FEBRUARY 2026
The Prophet Zephaniah encourages his audience
to seek various goods, especially justice and humility. He addresses his people as the “humble of the
earth who have observed his law.” Zephaniah
promises that those who practice justice and humility will be part of a remnant
who will survive the day of the Lord.
These people will live the good life, marked by simplicity, humility,
honesty, peace, and a meaningful relationship with the Lord.
We celebrated that day of the Lord
forty days ago at Christmas. Today, the
Incarnate Word of God who dwells in our midst spells out the various goods
required of those who choose to be part of the Kingdom of God. As Moses spoken from a mountain to announce
the Covenant that the Lord had made with his chosen people, Jesus climbs
another mountain and takes his seat. In
the ancient world, important messages were given by leaders who had taken the
seat of their authority. He announces
nine groups of people whom he addresses as “blessed.” The Greek word for blessed means “fortunate,”
or “happy”. These beatitudes are the
beginning of his famous Sermon on the Mount.
As disciples of Jesus Christ, we have heard these beatitudes so often that
we are not surprised by them. However, we
can only imagine how those who heard these beatitudes for the first time would
have reacted.
In watching the recent series, I saw
an interesting take on how people might have reacted. I was initially skeptical of the Series,
because so many fictional additions were added to the actual words of
Scripture. Watching the series out of
curiosity, I began to realize what The Chosen was doing. Those fictional additions help to
contemporize the ministry of Jesus Christ and help us to enter it more
fully. The reactions of the twelve
caught my attention. In hearing the
beatitudes, the twelve found great comfort and encouragement. They had already given up everything to
follow Jesus, the Messiah. They had
mourned the loss of a former way of life.
Jesus continually was teaching them to be meek, to hunger and thirst for
justice or righteousness, to be merciful, to be clean of heart, and to be
peacemakers. Jesus taught these values
not only with his words, but especially with his actions. The twelve were already seeing Jesus being
persecuted by the religious leaders.
They would be horrified when that persecution would lead to his death on
the cross. They would eventually be
persecuted when the Holy Spirit gave them the courage to live and preach the Good
News of Jesus Christ.
We too are his disciples, and he
teaches us the same lesson. He teaches
us that blessedness – or the good life – does not lie in achieving personal
success, elevated status, or individual honor.
Rather, living the good life lies in being humble and just, striving to
bring forth what which is good for others.
That is the message that Saint Paul
gives to the Corinthians. He is aware of
the arrogance of so many members of the community that is causing division. He reminds them that the Lord had called them
to be disciples not by human standards.
Not many of them had been powerful or of noble birth. He encourages them to embrace the beatitudes
and become humble and just. If they have
encountered success and good fortune, it is because of the Lord working in
their midst.
The Lord has called us to embrace
the spirit of the beatitudes. If we put
the Lord Jesus above everything else, then we are truly blessed. We are truly living the good life. If we achieve success or elevated status or
individual honor, it is because of the Lord working through us. Like the original twelve, we can thank God when
we see ourselves in the company of those nine groups of people. Saint Paul hits the nail on the head. In Christ Jesus, we have received wisdom,
righteousness, sanctification, and redemption.
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