Texts for Sunday, February 2nd, 2014; the Fourth Sunday of Epiphany

First Reading: Micah 6:1–8

Hear what the LORD says:

Rise, plead your case before the mountains,

and let the hills hear your voice.

  ²Hear, 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.

  ³"O my people, what have I done to you?

In what have I wearied you? Answer me!

  ⁴For 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.

  ⁵O 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."

  ⁶"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?

  ⁷Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams,

with ten thousands of rivers of oil?

Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression,

the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?"

  ⁸He 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?\

Second Reading: 1 Corinthians 1:18–31

¹⁸For 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.  ¹⁹For it is written,

"I will destroy the wisdom of the wise,

and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart."

  ²⁰Where 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?  ²¹For 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.  ²²For Jews demand signs and Greeks desire wisdom,  ²³but we proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles,  ²⁴but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.  ²⁵For God's foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God's weakness is stronger than human strength.

²⁶Consider 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.  ²⁷But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong;  ²⁸God chose what is low and despised in the world, things that are not, to reduce to nothing things that are,  ²⁹so that no one might boast in the presence of God.  ³⁰He is the source of your life in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification and redemption,  ³¹in order that, as it is written, "Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord."

Gospel: Matthew 5:1–12

When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain; and after he sat down, his disciples came to him.  ²Then he began to speak, and taught them, saying:

³"Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

⁴"Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.

⁵"Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.

⁶"Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.

⁷"Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.

⁸"Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.

⁹"Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.

¹⁰"Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

¹¹"Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account  ¹²Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.