Faith Formation: Micah - Justice, Kindness, humility

Hear, you peoples, all of you; listen, O earth, and all that is in it, and let the LORD be a witness against you, the LORD from his holy temple.

For the LORD is coming out of his place and will come down and tread upon the high places of the earth.

Then the mountains will melt under him, and the valleys will burst open like wax near fire, like waters poured down a slope.

All this is for the transgression of Jacob and for the sin of the house of Israel.

What is the transgression of Jacob? Is it not Samaria? And what is the high place of Judah? Is it not Jerusalem?

Therefore I will make Samaria a heap in the open country, a place for planting vineyards.

I will pour down her stones into the valley and uncover her foundations.

All her images shall be beaten to pieces, all her wages shall be burned with fire, and all her idols I will lay waste; for as the wages of a prostitute she gathered them, and as the wages of a prostitute they shall again be used.

Micah 1:2-7

So begin the words of the prophet Micah that came from the LORD. Keep in mind that reading the prophet's words is reading poetry. This was not journalism reporting the news, nor story telling reporting history. This is not "literal" language. The prophets wrote poems using metaphor and imagery, exaggeration and word play, veiled language that needs a bit of deciphering. Those who first heard it likely understood the sayings better than us because they lived the things being alluded to. We do not know how these poems came together. Were they recorded before Micah confronted the leaders of Jerusalem and delivered like a street preacher to whoever would listen? Did he have access to the leadership, the kings, priests and prophets of the city? Did he compose them after arguments with these people and then proclaim them in a forum where they would be heard? We simply have the words, and the words were remembered, so we believe they had impact. We continue to read them believing they might impact us too.

A trial was about to begin. Micah summoned the peoples of the earth to hear the case God brought against them and against God's own people. "Hear, you peoples, all of you; listen, O earth, and all that is in it, and let the LORD be a witness against you, the LORD from his holy temple." God came as witness against Samaria and Jerusalem. The peoples of the earth, and even the earth and all created things, were summoned to act on some level as judges discerning whether God's case against them and his people was just and true. They would come to understand that God's dispute was with all people who neglected faithfulness, justice, kindness and humility. Micah however was most deeply concerned with the people covenanted with God. Later on in Micah 6 trial imagery reappears as the mountains and the hills, impartial creation, would be called to hear God's case and make judgment. In this oracle God's dispute was not primarily with Assyria or Babylon or Israel's neighbors who were also known as their enemies, though they would come under God's judgment as well. God would eventually use Israel's enemies to punish and discipline his guilty people. Israel's enemies were not sworn to loyalty to God, nor had they made a binding covenant with the LORD. They were attached to their own gods to whom they were loyal. Consequently they might act as ironic (guilty, themselves standing under accusation) judges of whether Israel lived up to its responsibilities as they did in relation to their gods. God's dispute was with Israel and its failure to be faithful and just.

Hans Walter Wolff suggests that "Hear, you peoples, all of you" includes us who hear these words today. He invites us into the reading to hear God's case, "to pay attention to the word of Micah and to God who bears witness to himself in the prophets words." The reason we are included is not to act as judges of Israel and Samaria's unfaithfulness and injustice 2700 years ago. Rather we are called to consider ourselves, our own world, nation, leaders, attitudes and practices as to whether we do justice, love kindness and walk humbly with God. Hearing God's witness, judge for yourselves, or judge yourselves according to the concerns of God, for faithfulness to God and kindness to others.

Likewise we might hear the next line, "For the LORD is coming out of his place and will come down and tread upon the high places of the earth," in terms of Advent preparations for the coming of God in the birth of Christ, or Lenten preparations for the resurrection of our Lord from death. Advent is a season, like Lent of repentance, of self examination, and renewal of faithfulness and love of neighbor in preparation for God's coming to the world, to us. God's coming to us in Jesus birth and resurrection are events of celebration and joy. The way we prepare is by taking account of our lives and discerning how we might be ready to receive God grace with honesty and gratitude, humility and joy. We prepare our homes for guests by vacuuming and dusting. No less might we prepare our lives by doing a bit of deep heart cleaning.

Do justice. Love kindness. Walk humbly with God.

Pastor Tim Bauer