A bunch of foolishness
Sermon by Pr. Craig Mueller on the Fourth Sunday after Epiphany + Sunday, February 1, 2026
Foolish. On the world stage and in our national politics, today’s scriptures seem downright foolish.
Yet all three readings are spiritual gems. From Micah, one of the most beloved verses in the Bible: what does the Lord require of you, but to do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with God. Then, there’s the well-known Beatitudes. Blessed are the poor in spirit, the meek, the peacemakers. And finally, Paul proclaims Christ crucified as the wisdom of God that thwarts human categories.
Maybe all this religious jargon seems foolish because it is aspirational and not practical. It might be fine to talk this way in church. But surely it will not hold up in the real world.
Honoring the dignity of all. Caring for the most vulnerable. Being a good neighbor.
Aren’t these values a no-brainer for human beings? Not only for religions, but for governments? But such a world seems to be passing away. Recently a high-ranking government official said that you can talk all you want about international niceties. But we live in the real world, a world governed by strength, force, power. Such iron laws have been with us forever.
According to commentator David Brooks: “In this world, trust and civility are for saps. If [the president] wants something, he’s going to grab it. Politics, foreign and domestic, is a war of all against all. Deal with it.”
How shall we deal with these days? That is the question, isn’t it?
If we turn to the Beatitudes, we find mind-bending reversals. Blessed are the merciful. Blessed are the pure in heart. Blessed are the persecuted ones. Rings foolish to many today. Are these verses ethical guidelines? Do they endorse passivity, telling people who are down to stay in their place? Are they simply a vision of heaven?
Consider a different approach that I read about this week. Sometimes “blessed” is translated as “how happy are they.” A more helpful translation: “how honorable.” Those deserving honor are the ones unblessed in society. Those deserving honor are the despised ones. Jesus, the marginal and migrant Messiah, blesses those like him, who are poor, those who are shamed, those who are foolish in the eyes the world. Those who the powerful demean with hurtful words.
Should these honored ones just be happy knowing they are rich spiritually? One Latino biblical scholar says: “No. It is more an indictment on the society of the time (and I would add, today) for having forgotten its responsibility toward the neighbor. . . It is a call to accountability, for if God blesses the one you curse, there is something fundamentally wrong with your theology.
Many of us are moved by the response of faithful people in Minneapolis. They are being dissidents, one author notes. Many are not motivated by ideology or politics. They are reacting to a violation of humanity. And doing something about it. Bruce Springsteen captured it well in his song from earlier this week: Oh, our Minneapolis, I hear your voice / singing through the bloody mist / we’ll take our stand for this land / and the stranger in our midst.
This is not the first time in history that it seems the world is falling apart. In 1971 John Lennon wrote the beloved song, “Imagine.” Released at the height of Vietnam war protests, the song imagines a world without dehumanizing religions, borders, and possessions. Imagine all the people / sharing all the world / no need for greed or hunger / a brotherhood of man.
For me, the song points to another crisis of our time: the crisis of imagination. Walter Brueggemann, one of the foremost biblical scholars of last century, wrote about the prophetic imagination. Back in 1978 he penned: “Our consumer culture is organized against history. There is a depreciation of memory and a ridicule of hope, which means everything must be held in the now, either an urgent now or an eternal now.”
In the scriptures, the prophets use poetic language to bear witness to a world not propelled by money, power, fear, and violence. Not a toxic, dystopian one that many experience today. Rather, God desires creation to thrive. Jesus comes that all might be honored and be filled with the joy of living.
One word that comes to mind for me is vulnerability. Many of you know the work of Brené Brown. In a day when strength and power are held up as supreme values, Brown calls us to embrace vulnerability as a sign of courage. If you are brave, you are going to know heartbreak and hurt. And you’re going to get your butt kicked. It’s the cost of love, the cost of vulnerability. And to the world, it looks foolish.
Sounds like Paul. When we are weak, when we acknowledge our human mortality and vulnerability, then we are strong. When we see God’s presence in loss and suffering, we are connected to Christ crucified. The wisdom of God. And yet, in the eyes of the world, pure foolishness.
Each Sunday we come to this place to enlarge our imagination. To be drawn into God’s dream for our world. To be nourished through word and meal for a time such as this. It’s foolish, isn’t it? No wonder it’s a minority movement, perhaps one reason churches aren’t growing.
I can see why tracing a cross on your body, or bowing toward the cross seems foolish. It is. You are not bowing toward earthly power. Rather to a shocking God, a crucified God, revealed in weakness and vulnerability.
I can see why you would feel self-conscious and resist praying with outstretched arms. It is foolish. For it isn’t our normal defensive, guarded posture. It is one of deep vulnerability and openness.
Perhaps it is a stretch for me to hope that folks leaving this service or the annual meeting would say: it was a bunch of foolishness. Yet, it’s biblical. And our faith is about turning over tables, dwelling in paradox, seeing things in new ways.
May the mission of Holy Trinity always be a bit foolish. Reverencing the cross. Embracing vulnerability. Honoring the neighbor, the stranger, the other, the last and the least. Seeking reparation and healing.
And standing with those despised, standing with those ridiculed, standing with those rejected. Like Jesus. And like Jesus did.
SOURCES
David Brooks, “The Sins of the Moderates,” New York Times, January 9, 2026.
Walter Brueggemann, The Prophetic Imagination, originally published in 1978.
Gal Beckerman, “Where is a Word for What is Happening in Minneapolis,” The Atlantic, January 30, 2026.
Osvaldo Vena, Commentary on Matthew 5:1-12, The Working Preacher online.
