Micah
6:1-8 with Matthew 5:1-12
Both of our readings this morning are
fairly familiar for regular church goers.
We all know Matthew’s version of the beatitudes. Blessed and the poor in spirit and blessed
are the peacemakers. We also are quite
familiar with the famous line from Micah, reminding us that God calls us to do
justice, love kindness, and walk humbly.
This week, as I was approaching the texts again, I had some fresh ideas
for some new ways to reinterpret these readings and challenge ourselves as
followers of Christ.
Known as one of the earliest Minor
Prophets, Micah was active during the early 8th century BC. Micah was known for preaching against false
religious practices. Folks were claiming
to be faithful by paying tithes to the temple, but when not in church they were
continuing to make money on the backs of the poor. Micah encouraged people to think of religion
as an ethic of right living. It’s about
the things that you do, not just the things that you say.
In chapter six, the community receives
a condemnation from the Lord. The people
have fallen away from worship of God and ignored God’s decrees and
commandments. A sacrifice must be made
for the people to be made right with God again.
The reader, through the voice of Micah, wonders aloud what sacrifice
would be suitable for such an offering.
How should one come before the Lord?
The list of potential offerings grows more and more costly from
thousands of rams, to rivers of oil, to finally the first born child. Micah says famously, “no.” “He has told you, O mortal, what is good; and
what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and
to walk humbly with your God?”
Those of us in the liberal Protestant
church tradition love this verse. For
many of us, this is a passage around which much of our faith revolves. We are always trying to do justice, and act
kindly, and to be humble; this is our mantra.
So, when we hear the reading from Micah we breathe a sigh of
relief. Does God require a costly
sacrifice like thousands of rams or my very own child? No, God just wants me to do justice. Phew!
We say, “I already do that!” And
we go on our merry way.
This week, rather than allowing myself
to be comforted by these verses, I decided instead to view them as a
challenge. What if I am as guilty as the
religious folks in Micah’s time, of paying lip service to the faith but not
really living it? What if I say I am all
about justice and kindness and humility, because my mouth praises those things,
but in reality my actions don’t support that?
At the crux of my thinking this week
was sacrifice. The person that Micah
speaks to asks what kind of sacrifice can be made and Micah’s response is the
justice, kindness, and humility line.
What if we challenged ourselves to see those things as a sacrifice rather
than a motto? What if I attempted to do
justice, love kindness, and walk humbly in such a way that it cost me as much
as thousands of rams or my love for my child?
What would that life of faith look like?
Let’s start with justice, and this is
perhaps the most difficult. The Hebrew
word is mispat which implies a
justice that is tied to the actions of people and not just the actions of
God. This isn’t simply hoping for the
kingdom of God to come on earth, or even preaching about it, rather this is
people working together for fairness and equality. So the question arises, how do I, as a white
middle class American woman practice justice in a way that is sacrificial? Is it getting out of my comfort zone to speak
publicly on causes of justice? Is it
distributing my own resources in the community in a way that is more just and
fair? Is it spending more time, leg
work, and precious energy on the causes of justice? Imagine with me, what a sacrifice in the name
of justice might look like for you. Not
just saying yes, we value justice, but actually sacrificing something that you
value in the name of that justice.
The next task Micah calls us to, the
next sacrifice he encourages us to make, is to love kindness. Again the Hebrew is significant here as Micah
is talking about hesed. Hesed
is not just about kindness but it also about love and faithfulness. What would that look like as a
sacrifice in our lives? Part of this is
faithfulness to the covenant with God. One thing that could mean for us is making a
commitment to sacrifice our time and energy for the church and its
missions. Another idea could be making a
sacrifice by standing up and declaring our faith in public places. On a more personal level, this could be
taking the time to deal with each other in kindness. Even on those days when we are too busy, we
could sacrifice our time to be with someone who needs companionship, or to help
someone out with a favor. What would a
sacrifice of kindness look like in your life?
The final thing Micah challenges us
with is humility, and I have a feeling that this might be the most needed in
our day and age. The Hebrew word that
Micah uses for humble could also mean careful.
Micah is challenging us to walk carefully with God in humility. What would a sacrifice of careful humility
look like in our modern day and age?
Right now we are an extremely divided
nation. When it comes to politics there
is no middle ground and we often approach each other knowing that we are right
and the other side is wrong. What if we
made a sacrifice of humility in this moment?
What if we chose to engage in more discussion, truly seeking to
understand each other’s opinions and not trying to convince each other of the
“rightness” of our own views? What if we
chose to open the door just a little bit to the possibility that we might not
be right about everything? Even if we
can’t do that, we could choose to engage in more civil discourse in person and
on the internet.
Imagine that you are holding hands
with God all day every day this week.
Imagine that God is present in your every action. Maybe you wouldn’t share that funny political
meme or you wouldn’t make that extra comment about how foolish you think
someone’s position is. If you were
walking carefully with God right beside you all day, how might you make a sacrifice
of humility?
Our reading from Matthew reminds us
that Jesus too values those who take action for justice, love kindness, and
practice humility. Those who mourn for
the state of the world will find comfort in their faith. Those who are meek, who let others push and
shove ahead, will be the ones who inherit the earth at the end. Those who are hungry for righteousness will
be filled. Those who show mercy to
others will be those who receive mercy.
Those that seek peace, even with their enemies, will be the ones who see
God. Those who make a sacrifice for
justice, those who are persecuted for the name of Jesus Christ, will be the
ones who are rewarded.
I think we can all admit that as a
people, we have gone astray from the Lord.
Like the people of Micah’s time, I am certain that God would find fault
with the people of modern America. God
has delivered us into salvation, and yet we have chased vainly after the idols
of our time. As a people we stand
convicted and we must ask ourselves how we will come before the Lord? What offering shall we bring? Micah reminds us that we need not make a
sacrifice of thousands of rams, rivers of oil, or the children we love so dear. Rather we are called to make sacrifices of
justice, sacrifices of kindness, and sacrifices of humility.
This week, I want us to consider what
those sacrifices might look in our own lives.
What would it mean to live Micah 6:8 not simply as a motto of liberal
Protestantism but rather as a call to action in these troubling times? In the beatitudes of Matthew, Jesus reminds
us that God’s preference, God’s blessings, are reserved for those who seek and
act on behalf of others who are in need.
And Micah makes it clear where we stand.
“He has told you, O mortal, what is good; and what does the Lord require
of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your
God?” May we make sacrifices in the name
of justice, kindness, and humility this week.
Amen.
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