Oct 08 2008
The Voice of the Prophets
preached by Winton Boyd on October 5, 2008
Micah 6 and Amos 5
Micah was the last of the eighth-century BCE prophets. He was from south-western Judah, from a small village west of Hebron. It is estimated that the book was written sometime in the 730’s or 720’s BCE. The half century before that, life in the two kingdoms of Judah and Israel was pretty good – mainly because the great powers of the day were occupied elsewhere.
About 746 BCE, this changed dramatically. When the Assyrian empire pressed in from the north, the northern kingdom of Israel tried to fight them off, and failed miserably. The southern kingdom of Judah acquiesced to Assyria, but at a high price – huge taxes, loss of independence, and the corruption of its traditions by the incorporation of the religious practices of the occupying power.
As his country’s fortunes suffered, Micah – 6th of 12 minor prophets in the Old Testament – whose name means “who is like Yahweh?” – stepped forward to provide theological grounding and interpretation. For him, it was the situation of ordinary citizens that was of most concern. He felt compassion for the poor and dispossessed and held leaders responsible for their suffering. He cried out against the tendency of the super rich and powerful to use their influence to exploit the vulnerable and to create even greater inequities in wealth. The wealth needed to buy off Assyria had to come from someone, and it came from the poor. It also led to mass relocation of refugees, including a huge spike in the population of Jerusaelem.
His words are a cry to remember their faith, to remember the promises of God, to remember the ways that God has brought them out of Egypt into their new land, and to remember the covenant. He challenges them to remember the poor and to live out their commitment to justice, not just offer lip service.
The literary rubric is the suggestion that the people of God are on trial for disobeying the Sinai covenant; the witnesses are the whole cosmos: the “mountains … hills” and “foundations of the earth”
In v. 6, the people of God, the “defendants”, pleads their case: God, what can we do to make amends for our infidelity? Will you be pleased with sacrifices, especially “burnt offerings” of “calves” (which were especially valuable)? Would repeated offerings of rams and of oil satisfy you? Should we sacrifice our eldest sons (as Canaanites do)?
Verse 8, God’s response, involves three components in that now famous verse -
• Do Justice (mispat) – It is not enough to wish for justice or complain that justice is lacking. This is a dynamic phrase – calling on God’s people to work for fairness and equality, especially the powerless.
• Kindness or Mercy (hesed) – common biblical word – has something to do with love, loyalty, and faithfulness. It is a word often used to describe relationships – be they among humans or between humans and God. It is not enough to maintain covenant faithfulness out of duty or fear of punishment. The people of God are to love as God loves Israel.
• Walk Humbly – humbly may be translated carefully. But the key word is walk (halak). We are to walk with God, careful to put God first and live in conformity with God as our present companion. Pastor and Theologian, Charles Spurgeon, wrote almost 150 years ago that this humility implies constant engagement and shows itself quiet confidence – especially when you have a great deal of work to do.
While the context in which these verses were written are quite different from ours, some things are still applicable after over 300 years.
These words, the core of the prophetic message, have been and remain both a challenge and an invitation
The challenge is to remember the voice of prophets in a time of fear and memory loss:
These verses challenge the people of God, even in the midst of their own national crisis, to be faithful to the God that has been faithful and generous towards them. They challenge a faithful response to the fear that is present all around them. They are a reminder that when we are only motivated by fear, we lose the spirit of generosity and mercy, we forget that we are in community with other people, the earth on which we live, and even the loved ones in our house.
It would be naive to miss that our current time is characterized by fear. Fear in our time is not unfounded. People are in real jeopardy to lose jobs, homes, savings, retirement. Fear is a natural response, and the church is to be a place where people can express their fear, confident that they will receive a hearing and will find assurance and direction.
While fear is natural, if it is not owned and addressed, it can lead to distortions and a debilitating loss of memory. In Micah, the people of God are chatised for forgetting who it was that brought them out of Egypt, who promised to sustain them, who brought them into their new land. It what became one of the most damning criticisms of God’s people in the Old Testament, they simply forget.
I am struck by how parallel that is to our age. It is easy to forget God’s goodness in our lives. I did a funeral recently for a 58-year man, son of a deceased member of this church. At the service, one of his former employees spoke in glowing terms about his friend and former boss. He recounted the first time he asked this boss for a raise. He was nervous, but laid out his reasons. The boss listened attentively and then said, yes, we can give you that raise. However, as I do, he said, I want you to remember that no matter how much you make, or how many raises you get, you will always be $150/month short.
Maybe you have the same conversation in your house as we often do – “how are we going to make it?” With costs rising, and incomes stagnant, we are often faced with creative juggling to make ends meet. But, truth be told, the answer to the question, “how are we going to make it?” has always been, and will always be, “by faith.” How are we going to make it? By God’s goodness and grace. It has been abundant in our lives to date – we know that and can testify to it – but we so easily forget it!
Some of us are motivated by remembering those we know who live with so much less, yet still have joy and love and justice in their lives. What is good to remember is that lost in the conversation of difficult economics are those on the front lines of any economic tragedy or natural disaster or war – the poor – those who don’t have investments, don’t have transportation out of their rental units in vulnerable cities, those who can’t bribe border guards or government officials to pay their way out of war torn regions.
Some of us are motivated by remembering what God has done in our lives. We are motivated by walking on a leaf strewn path in autumn and remembering God’s creation. Or we are motivated by watching our children or grandchildren and marveling at the amazing life force, this amazing gift from God, in our midst. Or we are comforted by the memory of devout and precious loved ones who have gone before us.
Whatever it takes – the challenge of the prophets is REMEMBER and DON”T let the fear overcome you. Don’t forget the goodness of God. You are called to something more. You are called to do justice, practice kindness and mercy, and walk humbly.
While these words come to every age as a challenge, they are also an invitation.
In fact, I am convinced that one of the reasons these words still live is that they call us to our deepest and best selves. Coming from an ancient circumstance, they beckon most of all to the spirit of God, or the Christ, in us.
Many you know that great prayer by Marianne Williamson – often attributed to Nelson Mandela
“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. …You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us; it’s in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”
While Mandela did not say these words, he could have.
I remember as a young adult having a number of conversations with a Catholic sister that was the prioress at a local retreat center I frequented. On several occasions, I sought her out for advice – on my vocation, on how to deal with a boss that seemed irredeemable, on how to make sense of my non-open and affirming beliefs towards loved ones who had “come out” to me. Mary Sharon was someone I trusted, someone I felt knew and understood me, someone who would, I thought, take my side. Repeatedly, after meeting with her, I would come away both challenged and invited to a new perspective, a new attitude, a newly understood set of values. While I received her understanding, I did not get her sympathy – in this way she struck me as old school-in my face-nun.
“I appreciate your frustration with your boss – but what is this calling you to do and be? How is this calling you to live in a way that is different?
I appreciate your confusion around gay and lesbian issues, and I appreciate that your family and church were consistent and rigid in their perspective, but have you thought about what it might be like to actually be gay? Have you thought that maybe the whole world doesn’t think like you? Do you have room to expand your worldview?
I appreciate that you find the church and the seminary full of contradictions and institutional baggage, but is that a reason to turn away from the call you know God has placed on your life?
Mary Sharon, who I have long since lost touch with, sought to liberate me from my fear, invited me to try out a new reality, which in fact was the true reality of my life. She invited me something larger than I wanted to be.
Throughout the years, I have often thought about these conversations when I have turned away from my truest self. When I get consumed by my own needs, my own fears, my own rationalizations for why I can or should keep my worldview small and narrow.
Her spiritual direction reminds me of the words of an ancient rabbi, a verse that is at the top of our website page called “outreach.”
“Do not be daunted by the enormity of the world’s grief. Do justice, now. Love mercy, now. Walk humbly, now. You are not obligated to complete the work, but neither are you free to abandon it.”
How are these ancient words a challenge to you today? How are they an invitation?
Today’s text:
Micah 6
6 With what shall I come before the LORD
and bow down before the exalted God?
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 thousand rivers of oil?
Shall I offer my firstborn for my transgression,
the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?
8 He has showed you, O man, what is good.
And what does the LORD require of you?
To act justly and to love mercy
and to walk humbly with your God.
Amos 5
22 Even though you bring me burnt offerings and grain offerings,
I will not accept them.
Though you bring choice peace offerings
I will have no regard for them.
23 Away with the noise of your songs!
I will not listen to the music of your harps.
24 But let justice roll on like a river,
righteousness like a never-failing stream!
