Greeneville, TN
The Fourth Sunday after the Epiphany
February 1, 2026
I couldn’t help but view current events through the lens of scripture, Christian behavior, and teaching. If we take scripture seriously at all, and we should, then these passages in today’s context of immigration issues, attacks on human rights, and personal dignity become very challenging.
We have all heard the familiar verses before, but I don’t know how much we, as a community of faith, actually pay attention to what we hear or even what we read. These are well-known passages, but if we all understood the depth of what the scripture was saying to us, we might start to feel that we have come up short.
As Christians, followers of the way of Jesus Christ, as his disciples, the words of Holy Scripture consistently challenge us to live differently. A way that is of healing and restoration… a way that calls us to a level of dignity and righteousness before the living God.
We must first realize that the scriptures that we heard today have a Jewish context… and the socio-economic and political environment in which the bible was written bears much on how we should interpret the writings and in order to make them relevant in today’s world.
That’s what makes it so difficult for us... that’s what makes it uncomfortable. We’re not Jewish, nor do we understand culturally what it means to be Jewish. We are just normal, everyday Christian folk. So, it’s difficult for us to comprehend the depth of the meaning of the text from the people who actually wrote it.
We come here on Sunday and then go home and go about week in our day to day business. We may or may not come next Sunday, or read or study scripture during the week... and we may or may not participate in ministry beyond Sunday worship. Somehow, being a “comfortable Christian” has become stylish in our modern world…
Now, for those who might be wiggling in their seat a bit, I would like to share with you the context from which the prophet Micah (in the Old Testament lesson), and Jesus (in the Gospel lesson) are coming from this morning.
The term I would like to introduce you to is called Tikkun Olam (say it with me… Tikkun Olam). It is a Hebrew phrase that literally means “repair the world”…
The phrase originated in the Talmud (Jewish civil and ceremonial law) as a legal mechanism for social order… It matured from ancient times over the years into what is now a fundamental Jewish concept referring to the actions taken in order to fix, improve, and heal the world... encompassing social justice, environmental stewardship, and ethical living. But how do we, as ordinary Christian folk, repair the world? How do we use what we have, and how do we act to fix what is wrong with society?
There, for us, is the challenging part… That’s the piece that calls us beyond our worship and puts our love of God and God's love into action. It calls us out of the mode of worship, just showing up on Sunday and sitting in the pews... It puts the reality of the loving and living God to work in our society... out in the streets… It is truly being what we might call the church in the world…
That is exactly what ALL of these readings are about... They’re about the idea of “world restoration." The Tikkun Olam, brought about by the way we act and how our actions influence others.
Our readings this morning began with the prophet Micah, who is preoccupied with social justice. He is the champion of the oppressed and underprivileged of his time. Micah verbally attacks the socio-economic injustices of his day by reminding the people of Israel of God’s favor for them. Micah calls the people to repentance and to turn their hearts to God again. To turn their hearts from the worship of wealth and pagan idols, and restore the world rightly to God through their actions and their influence. After the people pleaded with Micah, "What then shall we do?” How will we make it right? How will we once again get back in the right relationship with God?
They then go down a laundry list of sacrifices… Sacrifices that they would expect worthy of the most High God… burnt offerings, rams, and calves, and oil… even the ultimate sacrifice of the firstborn… But then Micah reminds them of what we call now Tikkun Olam, of their responsibility to repair the world. The responsibility to do what is “required” by God… to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God. It’s not a request or even a hint, but a requirement to set things right and repair the world by doing three things… to do justice, to love kindness, and walk humbly with your God.
This idea of Tikkun Olam even makes its way into our gospel story this morning… Similar words that the Jewish audience that Matthew was writing to would understand.
Jesus says, Blessed are the poor in spirit,
Blessed are those who mourn,
Blessed are the meek,
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst,
Blessed are the merciful,
Blessed are the pure in heart,
Blessed are the peacemakers,
Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake,
Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account…
Jesus’ list of those blessed, known to us as the “beatitudes,” are really Jesus’ way of reminding the people of what God requires of them… Of how to “Tikkun Olam” or repair the world… He uses examples of things that are not right in society: the poor, those considered weak and hungry, those who would otherwise be despised for challenging the status quo…
He says to them that they will be blessed or “happy” in the repaired and restored world... the repaired world that he calls the Kingdom of God. And it’s the people’s responsibility to bring it about. Just as the prophet Micah before him, Jesus calls the crowd to take restorative action, doing justice, love kindness, and walking humbly with God.
Likewise, as followers of Jesus, as his disciples, we are required by God to repair the world, we are required to “Tikkun Olam.” But that’s where it gets difficult for us, those of us who do very little beyond our Sunday morning worship. Scriptural teachings are not easy to follow. And just because we have received salvation through our faith in our Lord Jesus, doesn’t mean we are exempt from what our faith requires of us.
Every time we see an injustice in society, we are required as a church to call it out and help right the wrong. We are required to do what we can to repair the world’s injustice... to uplift the fallen and demand equity for ALL of God’s children, even those different from us.
It is manifested through our ministries, such as our work with the Tabernacle Soup Kitchen, our contributions to the food bank, and working with CANUP and Our Neighbor’s House… It’s speaking out against what we see going wrong with our government. It’s advocating for building relationships with others, not being fearful of their differences… It’s finding a way to help the stranger in need, not determining if they are worthy of our time and resources.
It’s caring for and properly using our natural resources, not damaging and depleting the environment just to make a dollar. It’s keeping our baptismal promises to seek to serve Christ in all persons and love our neighbor as ourselves, and not letting fear of “the other” control our decisions… And it’s striving for justice and peace among all people and respecting the dignity of every human being. Not subjecting those being held in custody to torture or violence…
The world’s poor, the destitute, the forgotten, and the hungry are to be remembered and restored, are to be clothed, housed, fed, and protected in our communities’ effort to do justice. On top of this, we are required to be kind to one another, to put aside the hate and divisions that divide us and be reconciled and display a genuine loving kindness.
This is tough! It’s not the plastic exterior notion of just “getting along” or being nice. We are called to do the hard work within ourselves and turn to God for help in repentance, and then outwardly display God’s love and kindness toward one another, regardless of our differences.
This is manifested in a little boy I knew, Henry, who is a fellow Episcopalian. He was a Taekwondo student with me in Maryland. He started what he called, then, "the Kindness Club." He would call out and recognize random acts of Kindness wherever he saw them. When he recognized me and asked me to join, it was seared into my heart.
Finally, we are required to walk humbly with our God. I think that the thing we need to work on here is our humility. Saying we are humble and actually being humble are two totally different things. Humility demands that we recognize it’s not about us and that we don’t have it all figured out all the time.
It requires a submissive approach to our worship, prayer, and study as we listen and watch for God's presence in our lives. God has shown us a model of humility in the person of Jesus Christ. God emptied God’s self in complete humility, became human, and lived among us… And if we remember the story correctly, as great a teacher, healer, and prophet as Jesus was, society rejected him, unjustly convicted him, and sentenced him to die as a common criminal. So, if we are actually doing justice, loving kindness, and walking humbly with God correctly, as Jesus did, we might just get hung on our own cross.
It doesn’t surprise me that the Church's stated mission in our teaching (the catechism) is to restore all people to unity with God and with each other through Christ. Our mission as a church is not just Sunday worship, but the difficult mission of repair and restoration. It’s a mission of Tikkun Olam… A “fixing” or “repairing” of the world so that ALL people might be in unity with God AND each other through our Lord Jesus Christ.
“Tikkun Olam” – repair the world… do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with your God.
