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"WALK GOD'S JUSTICE" To walk God's justice can be demanding. There are some preliminary steps we must take before we can successfully undertake that walk, warming-up, you might say. Step 1. Understand the Scriptural
background of our walk. Scripture:
Micah 6:1-5
Confrontation (God's Controversy) BIBLICAL BACKGROUNDMICAHThe name "Micah" means "Who is like the Lord?" is a common name type in ancient Israel. Moresheth, (1:1) was a small village approximately twenty-five miles southwest of Jerusalem. Apart from the superscription (1:1), nothing in the book of Micah gives any concrete information about the prophet. The material in the book was associated with this Micah by ancient editors. These same ancient editors dated the work of Micah to the reigns of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah. The Book of Micah, the sixth of the twelve Minor Prophets, consists of a collection of prophetic materials broadly categorized as announcements of punishment and salvation. The two major parts of the book (1:2-5:15 and 6:1-7:20) are arranged in similar fashion, moving from accusations and announcements of destruction to pronouncements of hope and deliverance. 6:1-5, God's Controversy. This dramatic passage initiates the carefully arranged sequence that follows. God is portrayed as filing a lawsuit against the people. The witnesses summoned are the mountains, hills, and foundations of the earth rather than the more frequent heavens and earth. God speaks as both plaintiff and defendant. This kind of address is sometimes called a covenant lawsuit and has as its background a type of international treaty that spelled out the terms and consequences of agreements made between an overlord and vassal. God speaks directly to "my people" and recalls the saving history in which God has repeatedly rescued and led Israel. In light of this history God cannot understand the people's faithlessness. God redeemed Israel so that the saving acts of God would be known and recited with praise and honor. 6:6-8, God's Requirements. In response to God's questions in the preceding verses, Micah 6:6-8 provides an acknowledgement of a need for forgiveness and reconciliation. The unidentified speaker represents those who seek instruction on the appropriate sacrifice to offer God (6:6-7). A procedure of requesting priestly clarification of such matters is the background for the passage. A famous summary of God's requirements then follows (6:8). God seeks the doing of justice, which involves the faithful honoring of God-established relationships. Second, God expects the love of "kindness," a devotion to loyalty, the practice of steadfast love. The third requirement is proper attention to God to "walk humbly" rather than presumptuously. This verse (6:8) is often quoted as a summation of the prophetic ethical tradition. Micah's most famous pronouncement (6:8) summarizes the qualities that matter to God. Jesus spoke in similar terms to the Pharisees about their religious hypocrisy: They gave a tenth of even their spices to God, yet they neglected justice, mercy, and faithfulness. MATTHEWThe author of Matthew was an unknown Jewish Christian of the second generation writing around 90 A.D. in or near Antioch in Syria. The bitter criticism of the Pharisaic leaders of Jerusalem and the distance from which Matthew speaks of the Jewish community, suggest that he wrote after the emergence of new rabbinic institutions at Jamnia (after 70 A.D.) and that the Christian groups he was addressing were no longer part of the Jewish community. Matthew writes to provide his community with an alternative to rabbinic instruction, the Torah: Jesus as the founder of the true Israel and the messianic expounder of the new and better righteousness. Matthew's church, then, has moved away from the synagogue. As a result, it is opening itself to mission to the Gentiles, cooperating perhaps with Jewish Christians of a different type who had long engaged in gentile mission, bringing into its fold enthusiastic prophets who neglected the ethical dimension of Christianity. Matthew is fighting against legalism on one side and neglect of the new righteousness on the other. Matthew's purpose was pastoral, to protect his church from dangers that threatened from within. 20:1-16, The Laborers in the Vineyard. At this point, Matthew inserts into Mark's outline a parable peculiar to his tradition. It serves to illustrate, "Many who are first shall be last, and the last first." This verse is repeated at the end of the parable (20:16) and ties in with the mention of the "first" and "last" in the body of the parable (20:8). This is probably an authentic parable of Jesus, as is shown by the presence of a good deal of local color and by the surprise ending. In his historical situation, Jesus used the parable to interpret his conduct in eating with the outcast; for Matthew's church it would have answered Jewish Christian discomfort with the new mission to the Gentiles. Matthew makes it clear that it has to do with man's relationship to the kingdom of heaven. Jesus does not mean to teach that an employer can do anything that he chooses with his own property, but God can deal in this way, because he alone is the ultimate owner of all things and can do what he chooses with what belongs to him. The logical result of this teaching is that schemes of merit are wiped out. We are expected to give ourselves over unreservedly to God's will, and God on his part lavishes grace on his people to a degree that cannot be merited. (Excerpts from Harper's Bible Commentary, The Interpreter's Bible, and The New Student Bible [NRSV]) At last October's Fall Gatherings, we studied Micah's Description of God's justice. However, God's desire for justice among the people of God GOES BACK MUCH FURTHER, BACK TO God's first covenant with them, during the Exodus from Egypt. Before then, God's covenants had been with individuals, but Moses brought down from Mt. Sinai God's first instructions on how the people were to behave, not only towards God, but toward one another. Don't kill each other, respect your parents, be faithful in your marriages, don't slander each other, don't steal, don't even covet what someone else has. A bit later, again through Moses, God provided more details. Do not mistreat any widows or orphans. If you lend money to a poor person, do not charge any interest. Do not mistreat any foreigners among you. Leave part of your harvest in the fields for the poor to glean. Do not spread false rumors. Do not give false testimony in court. Make no false accusations. Do not accept bribes. If you take a poor man's cloak as surety for a loan, give it back to him when he needs it to keep warm. If your enemy's animal is running loose, return it safely to him. Leviticus lists more laws concerning the behavior of the people and their leaders and priests. Make no promises in God's name if you do not intend to keep them. Do not take advantage of anyone. Do not hold up the wages of anyone you hire. Be honest and just in legal cases; do not show favoritism. Do not hold a grudge against anyone; do not take revenge or hate him. Do not use false weights or measures to cheat anyone. If your testimony can help someone on trial for his life, speak out. If a fellow Israelite living near you becomes poor and cannot support himself, charge no interest on any money you lend him and take no profit on any food you sell him. Set apart the 50th year as a Year of Restoration, in which all property which was sold during those 50 years is to be returned to its original owner or his descendants. In effect, all property was not really sold but only leased. The land belonged to God and could not be sold. Did the Israelites obey these laws? Obviously not, because prophets later roundly condemned the people, the priests, the leaders, for ignoring them. Ezekiel spoke for God: "You have sinned too long, you rulers of Israel! Stop your violence and oppression. Do what is right and just." Micah condemned rulers who perverted justice, prophets who promised good to those who paid them well and cursed those who did not, evil men who garnered treasures dishonestly, who exploited the poor. He enjoined all who heard him to "Do what is just, show constant love, live in humble fellowship with our God." Amos condemned those who twisted justice, who cheated people out of their rights, leaders who hated anyone speaking out against injustice, who oppressed and robbed the poor. He told the people to "Hate what is evil, love what is right, and see that justice prevails in the courts." He went on, "Let justice flow like a stream, and righteousness like a river that never goes dry." For small-group discussion:
God's JusticeDoes God confront us today?Frederick Buechner writes: "Before the sun sets every evening he (God) speaks to each of us in an intensely personal and unmistakable way. Who knows what he will say to me today or to you today." Will He speak to us through the television news, which portrays graphic stories of racism, murder, drive-by shootings or will He bring before us political issues of our country's exploitive or neglectful treatment of the poorest countries of the world? Will He speak to you as you receive appeals to help organizations which are formed to fight injustice: Or will He urge you to take an active part in giving your time and energy toward bringing about the change necessary to promote His justice? When God confronts you and me, how can we respond?
Hate groups/discrimination issues, Southern Poverty Law Center
God may be asking you to take one small step in participating in living God's justice. How can we mend our ways and put our lives more in line with God's justice? A quote from Lutheran Women Today: "It is not enough to wish for justice. It does not help to close our eyes tightly when the nightly news portrays injustice with such clarity that we can taste and hear the agony. Injustice remains unless we see that justice is done." Each person can take one small step for justice with mercy. One small step followed by another small step soon makes a pathway. Each step makes a difference. Let us act so others may see our good works and glorify our Father with us in heaven. PrayerLord, you have told us what you require of us, to do justice, to love mercy and to walk humbly with you. It sounds so easy and yet, oh Lord, how much resistance there is in us. Taking that step is often inconvenient, and always interrupts our plans. We find it so easy to put off doing anything Ôtill tomorrow, or next week. Have mercy on us, we pray. Hold our hand and lead us to go forward one step at a time. And if we fall, carry us with courage until we can put down our feet for the next step in living your justice. Give us the determination to speak out that our words and our deeds will proclaim to all that we will do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with you. In Jesus' name we pray. Suggestions to carry the theme: Footprint nametags and table decorations. HYMNSLBW 433
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