Faith Formation: Micah - Justice, Kindness, humility.

In the days to come the mountain of the house of the LORD's temple shall be established as the highest of the mountains and shall be raised up above the hills. Peoples shall stream to it, and many nations shall come and say: "Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob, that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths." For out of Zion shall go forth instruction, the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. He shall judge between peoples and shall arbitrate between strong nations far away; they shall beat their swords in plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation; neither shall they learn war anymore; but they shall all sit under their own vines and under their own fig tree, and no one shall make them afraid, for the mouth of the LORD has spoken. For all the peoples walk each in the name of its god, but we will walk in the name of the LORD our God forever and ever. Micah 4:1-5

In 1959 the Soviet Union donated a bronze sculpture created by Evgeniy Vuchetich called, "Let Us Beat Our Swords into Plowshares." In the midst of the Cold War it symbolized humanities idealistic hope to end war and transform tools of destruction into tools that would benefit the world.

Let Us Beat Our Swords into Plowshares

In 2014 we visited the British Museum's Africa Exhibit. Two sculptures, Throne of Weapons and Tree of Life, were created by Cristovao Canhavato after a civil war from 1967-92 in Mozambique. He used decommissioned weapons and shell casings to create the art inspired by the words, "they shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks."

Too often realists dismiss the ideal of the poem. The prophets did not. This hope held them as real hope, not prediction or pie in the sky after we die. Perhaps things like this might never happen in this broken and fallen world. Yet to not hope, not to envision a story other than conflict, war, competition and greed, could only lead to despair and frustration. We have learned the knowledge of evil all to well from the tree from which we were never intended to eat. The prophets gave us visions of goodness that we might learn to resist. Other such images from the prophets include: The Peaceable Kingdom, "The wolf shall live with the lamb; the leopard shall lie down with the kid; the calf and the lion will feed together, and a little child shall lead them. ... They will not hurt or destroy on my holy mountain, for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the LORD as the waters cover the sea." Isaiah 11:6-9; A New Heart, "The days are surely coming says the LORD, ... I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. No longer shall they teach one another or say to each other, 'Know the LORD,' for they shall know me from the least of them to the greatest, says the LORD, for I will forgive their iniquity and remember sin no more." Jeremiah 31:31-34. Micah included an additional vision of peace and contentment which Isaiah omitted, "...they shall all sit under their own vines and fig trees; and no one shall make them afraid." When Sennacherib of Assyria besieged Jerusalem he promised that if the city surrendered everyone would enjoy this ideal in the land to which he would bring them. The prophet Zechariah repeated this common imagery of peace and security, "On that day, says the LORD of hosts, you shall invite each other to come under your vine and fig tree." Zechariah 3:10 Zechariah expressed the yearning for these things with another image, "Thus says the LORD of host: Old men and old women shall again sit in the streets of Jerusalem, each with a staff in hand because of their great age. And the streets of the city shall be full of boys and girls playing in its streets. Thus says the LORD of hosts: Even though it seems impossible to the remnant of this people in these days, should it also seem impossible to me, says the LORD of hosts?" Zechariah 8:4-6

Though the image of beating swords into plowshares and spears into pruning hooks captures our hopes it remains an unfulfilled ideal. Our inability to even consider its possibility is a sign of our broken and fallen world, human failure and sin. Tragically, there is "a time for war." Ecclesiastes 3:8 The prophet Joel took these words and reversed them during a time of crisis. "Proclaim this among the nations: Consecrate yourselves for war; stir up the warriors. Let all the soldiers draw near; let them come up. Beat your plowshares into swords and your pruning hooks into spears; let the weakling say, 'I am a warrior.' Joel 3:9-10 However, Joel called the nations to judgment, rather than the people of God to armament. They who trusted in their military might could do their best, but the overwhelming voice of God would be their downfall. Psalm 46 proclaimed a similar trust in God. "The nations are in an uproar, the kingdoms totter; ... the God of Jacob is our refuge. ... He makes wars to cease to the end of the earth; he breaks the bow and shatters the spear; he burns the shield with fire." Weapons of war have limited, little even last place in the kingdom of God. After that time, "In that day the mountains shall drip sweet wine, and the hills flow with milk, and the streams of Judah shall flow with water ... Judah shall be inhabited forever and Jerusalem to all generations. ..." Joel 3:18-21 The scriptures do not see weapons as a good. If they are a necessary evil they remain an evil.

Micah's concluding word expanded on Isaiah's to highlight the contrast between how the nations lived and how God's people were called to live. The "peoples," the nations may walk according to gods of war but God's people "will walk in the name of the LORD our God forever." Or as Isaiah put it, "O house of Jacob, come, let us walk in the light of the LORD." Isaiah 2:5. Light and hope, even yearning for ideals is the way, against the night of war and fear. Someday others might get it. In the day the LORD has given the people of God walk the path of peace, light and hope.

Do Justice. Love Kindness. Walk humbly with God.

Pastor Tim Bauer.