Micah 6:6-8
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?
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?”
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?
Matthew 5:3-12a
“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
“Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
“Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.
“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.
“Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.
“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.
“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.
“Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
“Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Your reward is great is heaven.
This is going to be a somewhat short message because I want us to have some discussion time as part of the sermon. You know I rarely use more than one scripture reading per Sunday because we don’t have all that much time to discuss more than one, but this week these two readings go together so well that it is almost a necessity to discuss them both together.
I’ve probably talked over the years about our first reading, from Micah, as much as any other scripture because the last line alone encapsulates so well the message we seem to need to hear again and again:
I’ve probably talked over the years about our first reading, from Micah, as much as any other scripture because the last line alone encapsulates so well the message we seem to need to hear again and again:
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?
And it isn’t just me. This is one of the most quoted lines ever. For instance, 40 years ago this month, President Jimmy Carter used it in his inaugural address.
Micah is one of the Minor Prophets. The book is very short, only seven chapters, but contains some remarkably pithy lines besides today’s, such as the familiar one about beating our swords into plowshares. Even the Christmas hymn “O Little Town of Bethlehem” takes its first line from Micah.
Micah preached in the 2nd half of the eighth century BCE.
The Book of Matthew, with the version of the Beatitudes we just read was, as we discovered this past summer, written down somewhere around 80 to 90 AD. That makes it a span of roughly 800 years between these two readings. The Hebrew world went through many changes in those 800 years and yet these two scriptures can so readily be preached together today. Some messages never change … because some messages are true, now and forever, and the call for justice for all people has been the heart of God’s call to us from the very beginning.
I think my favorite part of Micah may come in chapter three (I recommend you read it) where he foretells the doom to come upon Jerusalem because of the people’s many injustices and he rebukes its rulers who give judgment for a bribe, its priests who teach for a price, and its prophets who give oracles for money. The book of Micah is one long diatribe that prophesies bad things coming because the people have settled for form and comfort over justice.
800 years later, after exile, multiple wars, invasion and occupation by a foreign force, Jesus, with the beatitudes, takes his culture’s comfortable assumptions and again turns them completely upside down, still calling the people to justice. Because, as Victor Hugo wrote in the 19th century, "Being good is easy, what is difficult is being just." (That’s one of the quotes on today’s handout.)
And that leads me back to the discussion part of today. I think we have an extremely interesting collection of quotes here and I’d like to hear your thoughts on them and on the two readings. What does all this tell us about ourselves if we are going to claim ourselves as followers of Jesus? Or even just as “good people”?
Micah is one of the Minor Prophets. The book is very short, only seven chapters, but contains some remarkably pithy lines besides today’s, such as the familiar one about beating our swords into plowshares. Even the Christmas hymn “O Little Town of Bethlehem” takes its first line from Micah.
Micah preached in the 2nd half of the eighth century BCE.
The Book of Matthew, with the version of the Beatitudes we just read was, as we discovered this past summer, written down somewhere around 80 to 90 AD. That makes it a span of roughly 800 years between these two readings. The Hebrew world went through many changes in those 800 years and yet these two scriptures can so readily be preached together today. Some messages never change … because some messages are true, now and forever, and the call for justice for all people has been the heart of God’s call to us from the very beginning.
I think my favorite part of Micah may come in chapter three (I recommend you read it) where he foretells the doom to come upon Jerusalem because of the people’s many injustices and he rebukes its rulers who give judgment for a bribe, its priests who teach for a price, and its prophets who give oracles for money. The book of Micah is one long diatribe that prophesies bad things coming because the people have settled for form and comfort over justice.
800 years later, after exile, multiple wars, invasion and occupation by a foreign force, Jesus, with the beatitudes, takes his culture’s comfortable assumptions and again turns them completely upside down, still calling the people to justice. Because, as Victor Hugo wrote in the 19th century, "Being good is easy, what is difficult is being just." (That’s one of the quotes on today’s handout.)
And that leads me back to the discussion part of today. I think we have an extremely interesting collection of quotes here and I’d like to hear your thoughts on them and on the two readings. What does all this tell us about ourselves if we are going to claim ourselves as followers of Jesus? Or even just as “good people”?
NOTES:
(Beside the two readings and the Victor Hugo quote included above, here are a couple of the other quotes we discussed...)
Marcus Aurelius, 2nd century
"Don't go on discussing what a good person should be. Just be one."
Henry James, 19th century
"Three things in human life are important: the first is to be kind; the second is to be kind; and the third is to be kind."
Victor Hugo, 19th century
"Being good is easy, what is difficult is being just."
The Talmud
"Do not be daunted by the enormity of the world's grief. Act justly now. Love mercy now. Walk humbly now. You are not obligated to complete the work, but neither are you free to abandon it."
Kurt Vonnegut, 20th century
"For some reason, the most vocal Christians among us never mention the Beatitudes. But, often with tears in their eyes, they demand that the Ten Commandments be posted in public buildings. And of course, that's Moses, not Jesus. I haven't heard one of them demand that the Sermon on the Mount, the Beatitudes, be posted anywhere. 'Blessed are the merciful' in a courtroom? 'Blessed are the peacemakers' in the Pentagon? Give me a break!"
Thanks to the UCC site S.A.M.U.E.L. for the great thought-provoking quotes!
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