FIRST READING Micah 6:1–8
1 Hear what the LORD says: Rise, plead your case before the mountains, and let the hills hear your voice. 2 Hear, you mountains, the controversy of the LORD, and you enduring foundations of the earth; for the LORD has a controversy with his people, and he will contend with Israel.
3 “O my people, what have I done to you? In what have I wearied you? Answer me! 4 For I brought you up from the land of Egypt, and redeemed you from the house of slavery; and I sent before you Moses, Aaron, and Miriam. 5 O my people, remember now what King Balak of Moab devised, what
Balaam son of Beor answered him, and what happened from Shittim to Gilgal, that you may know the saving acts of the LORD.”
6 “With what shall I come before the LORD, and bow myself before God on high? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? 7 Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?” 8 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?
PSALM Psalm 15
1 LORD, who may dwell in your tabernacle? Who may abide upon your holy hill?
2 Those who lead a blameless life and do what is right, who speak the truth from their heart;
3 they do not slander with the tongue, they do no evil to their friends; they do not cast discredit upon a neighbor.
4 In their sight the wicked are rejected, but they honor those who fear the LORD. They have sworn upon their health and do not take back their word.
5 They do not give their money in hope of gain, nor do they take bribes against the innocent. Those who do these things shall never be overthrown.
SECOND READING 1 Corinthians 1:18–31
18 For the message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 19 For it is written,
“I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.”
20 Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? 21 For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, God decided, through the foolishness of our proclamation, to save those who believe. 22 For Jews demand signs and Greeks desire wisdom, 23 but we proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, 24 but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. 25 For God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God’s weakness is stronger than human strength. 26 Consider your own call, brothers and sisters: not many of you were wise by human standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. 27 But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; 28 God chose what is low and despised in the world, things that are not, to reduce to nothing things that are, 29 so that no one might boast in the presence of God. 30 He is the source of your life in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification and redemption, 31 in order that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”
GOSPEL Matthew 5:1–12
1 When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain; and after he sat down, his disciples came to him. 2 Then he began to speak, and taught them, saying:
3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 4 “Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. 5 “Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. 6 “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. 7 “Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy. 8 “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. 9 “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God. 10 “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 11 “Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account 12 Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
REAL RELIGION
Some time ago comedian Bob Hope was accepting a plaque at an honorary dinner. As one might expect, he listened quietly as his many contributions to humanity were lauded. When it was his turn to speak, he said that he had stopped letting such honors go to his head. “I just got a call from a fellow who said I’d been named Man of the Year by his organization, because I was America’s outstanding citizen, greatest humanitarian, and so forth. It was going to be the biggest dinner, biggest civil reception ever. I told him I was sorry, but I already had a previous engagement that couldn’t be cancelled or rescheduled and was therefore going to be tied up that night. There was a short pause. Then the caller said, “by any chance would you have Red Skelton’s phone number?'”
An Episcopal priest was asked by a high school class in Cambridge, Maryland to deliver the graduation sermon. Afterwards he spoke of the invitation as one of the truly significant moments of his ministry. A few days later he learned that students made the selection by picking a Sunday and attending a number of churches. Their purpose was to time the sermons. The minister who gave the shortest sermon was chosen to deliver the graduation sermon. Not quite the honor he thought!
Author and radio preacher, John MacArthur, was watching an MTV documentary sometime back titled “The Seven Deadly Sins.” Because those seven sins “pride, covetousness, lust, anger, envy, gluttony, and sloth” are standard fare on MTV, MacArthur wondered what the documentary would say. It turned out to be vintage MTV; a montage of celebrity quotes, movie outtakes, man-on-the-street interviews, one-liners, quips, and witticisms. But in one sense, it was an enlightening program, says MacArthur. It revealed most clearly the profound moral confusion of our culture.
Rap singer Queen Latifah was asked about the sin of pride. “Pride is a sin?” she responded. “I wasn’t aware of that.” Actress Kirstie Alley added, “I don’t think pride is a sin . . . I think some idiot made that up.” Rapper Ice-T echoed the same idea: “Pride is mandatory. That’s one of the problems of the inner city. Kids don’t have enough pride.”
Isn’t it interesting that one of the most basic teachings of scripture seems to be totally out of touch with the values of our modern culture.
Consider this great verse from Micah that many of us memorized in our youth: “He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?” I think we’d be in trouble if we put this verse up for a vote today. Or take this verse from the Sermon on the Mount: “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.” Anytime we try to be meek in today’s world, chances are we’ll pay a price. Or, what about the passage from I Corinthians? “. . . but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong . . . God has chosen, the things that are not, that He might nullify the things that are, that no one should boast before God.” All these verses seem counter cultural these days, but for the moment I’d like to focus on our Old Testament text from Micah.
Perhaps you memorized it in Sunday school in years past, or perhaps you saw them on the wall of the Library of Congress. And yes, they are inscribed there, but it sadly seems that, like society at large, not too many of our elected officials pay any attention to them. This passage from Micah is an ancient answer to the modern acronym that Christian youngsters, in the past, have worn on tee-shirts, bracelets, and necklaces: WWJD – What would Jesus do? In a nutshell, these few words spell what real religion is. Or if we could modify it just a bit to WWJHMD – What would Jesus have me do? After all, real religion is an attempt to answer that question as well as the prophet’s question, “What does the Lord require of you?” It’s the perfect answer and it’s as valid today as it was 28-hundred years ago. Do justice, love kindness, walk humbly with your God.
It was in the latter part of the eighth century BC that Micah was called to prophesy. He was a young contemporary of Isaiah, Hosea and Amos. He and Isaiah brought God’s message to the people of Judah in the South, while Hosea and Amos took it north to Israel. It was a time of turmoil and change. Assyria was fast becoming a world power to challenge the dominance of Egypt and there was one battle after another with the little nations being used as pawns in the wider struggle. Israel and Judah were constantly threatened by one power or another. It was a difficult time.
Like Amos, Micah was a product of the countryside…a farmer…and like farmers throughout the centuries, he had a certain mistrust of city dwellers. In Micah’s case, he had good reason: it was the city folks who were fleecing the people of the countryside that Micah knew as friends and neighbors; it was city slicker judges who took bribes to render unfair judgments; city living priests who were immoral and corrupt; city dwelling prophets who would prophesy anything you might want in exchange for a few shekels. No wonder Micah thought of the cities as cesspools of sin.
To be sure, he had plenty to complain about concerning the nation’s religious habits. It was bad enough that the prophets and priests were not living up to expectations, but the reason they weren’t, was that the people didn’t want them to. The only preaching they wanted to hear was “God is in His heaven and all’s right with the world.” Micah even joked about it: “If a liar and deceiver comes and says ‘I will prophesy for you plenty of wine and beer,’ he would be just the preacher for this people.” (Micah 2:11) They didn’t want to be embarrassed by anyone who would have called them to account for their behavior. It was time for them to hear a word from the Lord.
So Micah came to them with a message, a message that was not only valid for his own age, but for every age to come. Micah begins with phrasing which would have put his audience in mind of a legal proceeding. He employs the formal language of the law: “Arise, plead your case.” But this pronouncement isn’t in some ordinary courtroom. The judge is God and Micah is counsel. And before the defendant is called to the stand to hear the charges, an impressive jury is empanelled – the mountains and hills, and “the enduring foundations of the earth.” Before the members of the court, Micah, on behalf of God, makes a case concerning the chosen people.
The actual charge is implied rather than explicitly stated: Israel has grown tired of God and chosen to go its own way. But why, God asks? Has He let them down? How is that possible? Consider the evidence of history. When Israel was enslaved in Egypt, God gave the people freedom. When they were without leaders, He gave them Moses, Aaron, Miriam, and many others. When their very existence was threatened in Moab by King Balak, God rescued them yet again. When they crossed the River Jordan, from Shittim to Gilgal, He was with them once again, protecting them, leading them. Clearly the evidence to the court shows that whatever the reason for Israel’s failure, it cannot be blamed on God. Now it’s Israel’s turn to address the court.
Because the charges brought against Israel are without argument, there is no dispute about the crime or the evidence – the accused simply asks, “What must I do to set things right?” But the very phrasing of the possible remedies, betrays the fact that the defendant still doesn’t understand. Israel assumes the solution is more ritual – “With what shall I come before the LORD?”
The possibilities they offer start modestly with the only offering that might be available to a poor worshiper (bowing down), then moving to the more costly sacrifice of a yearling calf, then to the outrageously lavish sacrifices that would be available only to a king (“thousands of rams… rivers of oil”), then finally to the forbidden, dark sacrifice of a child, the “firstborn” – the list runs the gamut. What would satisfy God’s wounded dignity? You can almost picture Micah standing there and slowly shaking his head. They simply don’t get it.
Ritual had become an end in itself, not something that pointed to the people’s relationship with God. The whole sacrificial system and worship in the temple had been turned into a kind of national insurance policy: we can sin as we wish, so long as we’re up to date with our insurance premiums at the temple. With extraordinary nerve, the nation was suggesting to the court that the sins of hypocrisy could be atoned for by further hypocrisy on an even grander scale!
“No” Micah says; there is no mystery as to what God requires, and it has nothing to do with sacrifice and offering. “He has told you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To do justice and to love kindness and to walk humbly with your God”: three elements that constitute real religion, then and now as well. Consider what he says.
He begins with “do justice.” In its strictest sense, justice means fair play. It means making sure that all God’s children inherit their fair share of God’s good gifts. And if they don’t, either because someone has swindled them out of their birthright or because they weren’t strong enough to hold on to it, justice means doing whatever is necessary to sort out what belongs to whom and return it to them. It’s not enough to wish for justice or to complain because it’s lacking. The verb “do” is a call for action and this is a dynamic concept that calls on God’s people to work for fairness and equality for all, particularly the weak and the powerless who are exploited by others. “Do Justice.” It’s an active command, one that requires more than lip service. And for the audience, and us, there’s nothing startling here.
The nation had known God’s standard of justice since Moses came down from Sinai with the Ten Commandments. Consider these commands from a modern perspective starting with the first two – it’s unjust to mislead people into pursuing false gods, whether ancient pagan deities or their modern equivalents (money, power, pleasure, etc.) that ultimately demean and destroy. Then there’s the third commandment – – it’s unjust to overwork people (even yourself) by laboring on the Sabbath. How about the fourth commandment – it’s unjust to allow aging parents (or anyone else who might be vulnerable) to go without the necessities of life. The fifth commandment – it’s unjust to deny someone their very life by killing them.
Number six – it’s unjust to consider your own desires above that of your spouse and someone else’s spouse through adulterous activities. Number seven – it’s unjust to treat people dishonestly by not being as good as your word and by taking something through deceitful means. Commandment eight – it’s unjust to betray, slander or lie about our neighbor or to subvert the judicial system with false testimony or anything else. Number nine and ten – it’s unjust to desire what rightfully belongs to someone else whether home, family or property. The standard laid out by God was very clear, but they had gone by the wayside.
What kind of standard was being met by judges who took bribes? What kind of standard was the rule for the unscrupulous land-grabbing of the nobles in the cities? What standard would result in the oppression of the poor? What type of standard could there have been in the temple, with prophets letting it be known that they would only come through with something favorable, if the petitioner would cross his palm? As Paul would write later, “the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil,”(I Timothy 6:10) and it was certainly apparent in the days of Micah. Simply put, the standard of God was being ignored. And the problem is no less acute in our day.
No one would deny that standards have been lowered. We have rewritten the Golden Rule: “Do unto others before they do unto you,” or as they used to say when I was young, “do unto others, then split.” How many of our officials today are guilty of taking bribes, kickbacks, perks or accepting absorbent speaking fees? What about the problem of land-grabbing through eminent domain or unreasonable taxation? Are there vulnerable people in America being oppressed? We know the answers all too well. America’s standard isn’t God’s standard. Corrupt people find ways to create situations that enable them to benefit from the misfortune of others.
How many have ever seen Judge Judy on television? It’s not a program I watch regularly, but her motto is “Justice with an Attitude.” In a unique way, in the prophetic understanding of real religion, Micah encourages something similar, only the attitude he pairs with justice is kindness (compassion), or “loving-kindness” as the Hebrew word used here, chesed, is frequently rendered. Chesed is actually difficult to translate with any single English word. It’s more of a relationship word. It has the connotation of “getting inside someone’s skin.” Just as we might say “look at it through my eyes,” or “put yourself in my shoes,” the feeling is one of a changed perspective.
To the Hebrew people it would have been a special word because it’s one of the principal attributes of God in the Old Testament. As God always acted toward the people in loving-kindness, so too, God expected them to act in the same way toward one another. If God’s people are to be just – they’re to give where no giving is deserved, to act when no action is required. It’s not only an activity, it’s an attitude. Chesed. Loving-kindness. And the nation that Micah was prophesying to, wasn’t where it should have been in regard to chesed.
How could one say that offenders were treated kindly when the judges had been bribed to render unfair verdicts? What kindness was displayed when shady deals deprived people of their houses and land? What kindness was evident when the people who were suffering the most – the poor – were systematically ignored? And the question we must wrestle with is, is our society any different?
We prefer to think of ourselves as kind people: we’re gentle with animals; we have laws against the mistreatment of prisoners of war; we give billions to charity annually …but these same indictments could be laid at our doorstep just as it was for those in ancient Israel. We think of our judicial system as fair, but we know that a little money and power can have an effect on the outcome. There are laws on the books to protect people from the shady business practices that can bankrupt good families, but thousands lose millions every year, because there are so many loopholes in the laws. Yes, we give money for the relief of suffering, but we give out of our abundance – with the result that what’s given isn’t nearly enough. In short, we’re a kind nation…whenever it’s convenient. I think it’d be safe to say, Micah would object.
A student told about a famous lecturer who came to the college he attended and spoke about feeding the people of India. He listed several good reasons for doing so – more people would be employed, friendlier relations with other countries would be established. In addition, we would continue to be in the good graces of the Indian people and of the government. During the informal discussion which followed, the oldest and most revered professor at the college asked, “But, Doctor, don’t you think maybe we ought to feed them just because they’re hungry?” That’s the question that joins justice and kindness.
Justice and loving-kindness are critical to living lives that are pleasing to God. But one can be just without being religious. One can be kind without any religious inclination. That’s why Micah says real religion requires one thing more: a humble walk with God.
It’s our daily walk with God that energizes a commitment to do justice and go even beyond, to treat people (even the undeserving) with loving-kindness; the ritual of the temple that was so important to Israel could give expression to the vitality of that walk, but it could never be a substitute for the daily companionship that is part and parcel of a life of faith. “Walking humbly with God is a call to do more than to come to God with offerings thinking we can buy God’s favor, but to spend the time walking, living life, with God in ways that would work out in every aspect of our lives.
It implies a sensitivity to the things of God, a concern…to allow our heart to be broken by the things that break the heart of God. It’s a deep desire to see the world through the eyes of God, to act in the world as God would act.” When this final requirement is placed cheek to cheek with the first two, walking with God becomes synonymous with having a heart for justice and compassion. The three cannot be separated, for walking humbly with God, living all of life in relationship to God, will result in both.
Do justice. Love kindness. A humble walk with God. Sounds very much like the answer to WWJD – What would Jesus do? In fact, it’s in Jesus that we see what justice and loving-kindness look like in a walk with God. Jesus is still looking for followers; not admirers, followers. So the correct question for you and me is WWJHMD? What would Jesus have ME do? The prophet gives us the answer: “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.”
Amen