February 5, 2026

Lighting God’s Way

Joel T. P. Fitzgerald | Read 1 Corinthians 2:1-16

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Lectionary Week

February 2–8, 2026

Scripture Overview

This week’s scriptures juxtapose the light of God’s alternative kingdom with the hurtful way humans tend to operate. Isaiah asks if our worship helps the downtrodden or if our internal schisms distract us from mission. The psalmist notes that the blessings of the righteous flow to those who shine their light by helping the poor and oppressed. In First Corinthians, Paul makes explicit the way of God as an alternative path from the ways of this world, suggesting that God’s wisdom is something this world cannot begin to comprehend. In the Gospel, Jesus invites us to be salt and light through obedience to the full calling of God; a calling made clear in the Law and the Prophets.

Questions and Suggestions for Reflection

Read Isaiah 58:1-12. When have you chosen the fast of form over substance, fasting only to show off or to battle with others? When have you chosen the fast of breaking the bonds of injustice?
Read Psalm 112:1-10. When have you felt fulfilled in helping others? Who did you help and why?
Read 1 Corinthians 2:1-16. How have you felt the Spirit moving in your life? Where has the Spirit led you into ministry?
Read Matthew 5:13-20. How have you been salt and light in the world? How could you let your light shine?

Respond by posting a prayer.

¹ When I came to you, brothers and sisters, I didn’t come preaching God’s secrets to you like I was an expert in speech or wisdom. ² I had made up my mind not to think about anything while I was with you except Jesus Christ, and to preach him as crucified. ³ I stood in front of you with weakness, fear, and a lot of shaking. ⁴ My message and my preaching weren’t presented with convincing wise words but with a demonstration of the Spirit and of power. ⁵ I did this so that your faith might not depend on the wisdom of people but on the power of God. ⁶ What we say is wisdom to people who are mature. It isn’t a wisdom that comes from the present day or from today’s leaders who are being reduced to nothing. ⁷ We talk about God’s wisdom, which has been hidden as a secret. God determined this wisdom in advance, before time began, for our glory. ⁸ It is a wisdom that none of the present-day rulers have understood, because if they did understand it, they would never have crucified the Lord of glory! ⁹ But this is precisely what is written: God has prepared things for those who love him that no eye has seen, or ear has heard, or that haven’t crossed the mind of any human being. ¹⁰ God has revealed these things to us through the Spirit. The Spirit searches everything, including the depths of God. ¹¹ Who knows a person’s depths except their own spirit that lives in them? In the same way, no one has known the depths of God except God’s Spirit. ¹² We haven’t received the world’s spirit but God’s Spirit so that we can know the things given to us by God. ¹³ These are the things we are talking about—not with words taught by human wisdom but with words taught by the Spirit—we are interpreting spiritual things to spiritual people. ¹⁴ But people who are unspiritual don’t accept the things from God’s Spirit. They are foolishness to them and can’t be understood, because they can only be comprehended in a spiritual way. ¹⁵ Spiritual people comprehend everything, but they themselves aren’t understood by anyone. ¹⁶ Who has known the mind of the Lord, who will advise him? But we have the mind of Christ.

In this passage from the first letter to the Corinthians, Paul waxes a bit ironically about his inability to communicate well. He downplays his eloquence and knowledge. He talks of the fear with which he came to the people, relying merely on the wisdom that comes from God. This God-borne...

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Gracious God, help us hear your voice, even in unlikely places. Help us heed the wisdom that points toward your reign. Amen.

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