- Feb 8
- 7 min read
February 8, 2026
Matthew 5:13-20/1 Corinthians 2
Our second reading today comes from Paul’s first letter to the church in Corinth. Today we read the whole of chapter two. Listen as God speaks to you.
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Had we been here a few Sundays ago… not too far back in Matthew’s gospel… we would have heard how Jesus picked up the mantel from the arrested John the Baptist and started his own ministry with the proclamation, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” The call to repentance was not a call to admit wrong… or to free yourself from the guilt you carry. The call to repentance is a call to possibility. A call of hope that some would say was foolishness… a call that would lead to Jesus being crucified by this world and the powers that be. Repentance is to rest your faith on the power of God… a power that rests in love and grace… in what the world would call foolish weakness.
Jesus took that message along the shore of the Sea of Galilee and upon hearing it his first disciples dropped everything and followed him. “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” These fishermen left their boats and their nets behind… left their livelihood and the ways of the world… to become fishers of men.
And it is easy to think how that whole “fishers of men” thing is about drawing in other followers… or building up numbers… about creating a movement with a noticeable multitude. But Jesus’ proclamation of repentance isn’t merely about believing in an idea… or being a part of a group of believers… Jesus’ call to repentance is and always has been a call to action for those who would follow him. The first actions Jesus takes with his new disciples in Matthew’s gospel is to go among the sick and the needy… to proclaim the good news of the kingdom of heaven to those who are afflicted… that you will not be left alone… or spurned in the kingdom of heaven.
The kingdom of heaven is God’s righteousness living through the people of God. Where God’s foolishness is our wisdom… and the world’s wisdom is understood as the foolishness that it has always been. Where God’s ways are not foreign to the actions of our everyday life… or is an inconvenience to us as we try to make it through the day balancing our faith and our many other closely held beliefs… and our deciding on the practical course of action for us in the moment. The kingdom of heaven is where God’s righteousness and God’s justice are the rule and not the exception… or done as a way to bring some temporary comfort to those in need… but rarely ever able to alter the root causes of this world’s injustice for long. Jesus and his disciples set out to truly change the world by being light and salt… by calling others to follow them… to become the embodiment of light and salt as well. I suppose… in a way… it is a numbers game. Because this type of righteousness… this manner of justice cannot be implemented through the power of authority. This type of righteous justice cannot be imposed upon people… upon the world. It can’t be legislated. It comes through repentance… of turning completely to God and living that life… and that life having a meaningful effect on those around you.
Maybe… maybe that’s why we’ve theologically replaced Jesus’ vision of kingdom of heaven with our vision of the reward of heaven. The reward of heaven… that can at least feel tangible to us. It can be made into an achievable goal. It can become a commodity to buy and sell… a lever for power and control. What worldly gain does the kingdom of heaven bring? What assurances are there that it might ever happen? I mean… it hasn’t has it?
This vision of the kingdom of heaven has been around a long, long time. It’s not an original idea of Jesus’. As I said before, Jesus picked up the mantel from John the Baptist. John was echoing the words of the prophets who came before him. Isaiah speaks plainly about the kingdom of heaven. This is Isaiah 58:2-10… it starts with the voice of God speaking… “(D)ay after day they seek me and delight to know my ways, as if they were a nation that practiced righteousness and did not forsake the ordinance of their God; they ask of me righteous judgments; they want God on their side. ‘Why do we fast, but you do not see? Why humble ourselves, but you do not notice?’ Look, you serve your own interest on your fast day and oppress all your workers. You fast only to quarrel and to fight and to strike with a wicked fist.Such fasting as you do today will not make your voice heard on high. Is such the fast that I choose, a day to humble oneself? Is it to bow down the head like a bulrush and to lie in sackcloth and ashes? Will you call this a fast, a day acceptable to the Lord? Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of injustice, to undo the straps of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke? Is it not to share your bread with the hungry and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover them and not to hide yourself from your own kin? Then your light shall break forth like the dawn, and your healing shall spring up quickly; your vindicator shall go before you; the glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard. Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer; you shall cry for help, and he will say, “Here I am.” If you remove the yoke from among you, the pointing of the finger, the speaking of evil, if you offer your food to the hungry and satisfy the needs of the afflicted, then your light shall rise in the darkness and your gloom be like the noonday.”
The light shining in the darkness… that is the kingdom of heaven. Isaiah is pushing the people of his time toward direct concrete action… this is how the world will know we are God’s people when this is how the world is… when the seed we plant comes to fruition… because of our calling and God working through that calling. We will no longer point to an invisible God in the sky and say believe. The world will see God clearly in us.
Isaiah makes it clear that offenses to God’s justice are known through the suffering of people… of individuals… especially the suffering caused either directly by our own actions… or the suffering that is allowed to continue as a consequence of our inaction. The pointing of the finger… the setting of the yoke of blame… the speaking of evil as we vilify the weak and turn the screws on the meek of the earth making them the cause of not only all our problems but theirs as well. And then we act surprised when violence erupts or when hatred is returned for our blatant contempt of others. As a prophet, the word of God that came to Isaiah was that this vision… this being the light in the darkness… this kingdom of heaven… was not just a nice idea, but a reality that could and would be achieved because of the realness of the God who called God’s people to it. God sets the standard by which we are to follow.
Our belief doesn’t make God real. Our belief doesn’t make God alive for the world to see. Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near! Let’s remind ourselves of Paul’s words at this point… “And we speak of these things in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual things to those who are spiritual.”
“You are the light of the world! Let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works, and give glory to your Father in heaven.” Jesus and his first disciples took that message to those who had little opportunity and little hope for their future. The world wasn’t making the sick well or the hungry full. The world could… but it didn’t… it hasn’t… it won’t. So… they brought the kingdom of heaven to the meek and they were blessed. And this bringing… this blessing… it was more than just empty words spoken, Jesus gave us the example of concrete actions. He took his good news to the poor and the afflicted… bringing healing and the light that shines brightly into their darkness… the human-made darkness that we create so well for our fellow human beings through the wisdom of this age… perpetuated by the rulers of this age, who are all doomed to perish. Their darkness will never bring light into the world. Darkness does not overcome darkness.
Jesus took his message… he took his healing of disease and sickness. It’s interesting how Matthew separates those two things… disease and sickness… there are all manner of sicknesses that have nothing to do with disease. Jesus took his healing of disease and sickness to those who had been told they were less than… that the image of God was not to be found so much in them… in their lives… in the lives of their children… that circumstances… that some unspiritual worldly wisdom gave their lives an expendable quality. You don’t think that those messages are still being purveyed today, do you?
The kingdom of heaven is the fulfillment of the true spirit of the law and the prophets. Isaiah, and the other prophets, spoke to the people of his time with plain words of God’s righteousness. Care for the poor and the weakest in society. Honesty and kindness are to be the rule in our dealings with one another. See the image of God that exists in all people and treat them accordingly… remembering especially those times when you weren’t afforded love and grace. Walk humbly with God and give God the glory through your prayers of thanksgiving. Isaiah, like so many other prophets, expected this type of life from the people in his time. And Jesus was no different. He expected these teachings to find life not only then, but today.
So… the question we must ask ourselves … how are the law and the prophets being fulfilled through our fellowship of faith? How are we shining God’s light into the world… igniting the light lying dormant in others? How is our own righteousness excelling… revealing the kingdom of heaven… and the God who reigns… making it visible for all who would dare to seek to know the wisdom of God through the mind of Christ? Amen.