Epiphany 4A - 2026

Sermon for the Fourth Sunday after Epiphany, Year A
St. Paul's Episcopal Church
The Rev. Andrew McLarty

“What does the Lord require of you, but to do justice, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?” It’s a verse I use all the time. But knowing it and living it are two very different things. Micah is not teeing up a one-liner or slogan; he is naming a way of life that keeps us in a holy, uncomfortable, and necessary tension.

Because why are justice, mercy and humility so often times linked?

• Justice corrects,
• Mercy forgives,
• humility makes relationship possible.

Similarly, the Beatitudes are not abstract ideals; they are "Micah according to Jesus." They show us what justice, mercy, and humility look like when they are used properly in real life.

In Scripture, justice is God’s work of setting things right. Justice confronts oppression, names harm, and insists that things change. “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,” Jesus says, because justice begins with a deep ache that the world is not yet what God intends.

But human justice, purely on its own, can turn hard in the wrong direction. That’s why Micah pairs it with mercy. Mercy refuses to reduce a person to their worst action. Mercy forgives, restores, and keeps the door open to transformation. “Blessed are the merciful,” Jesus says, “for they will receive mercy.” Mercy keeps justice from becoming punishment masquerading as righteousness.

And then there is humility—the subjective art that makes both justice and mercy work together. Humility reminds us that we are not the center of the story. “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”

Without humility, justice turns into moral superiority, and mercy turns into pity. Humility keeps us honest about our own need for grace.

If we drop any one these three, we lose our way: we either betray our integrity, or we become self-righteous.

This is how we become peacemakers. Not by avoiding conflict or, conversely, crushing those we disagree with. Jesus says “Blessed are the peacemakers,” —not peacekeepers, or pacifiers, but people willing to do the hard work of repair.

Justice corrects, mercy forgives, humility grounds us, and by this the Kingdom of God breaks through. Amen.