Thursday, July 2, 2015

"Moving Beyond" Micah 3: 9-12

One of Micah's most surprising pronouncements is the destruction of Jerusalem itself (verse 12). A strong identification of God and temple, Jerusalem and the kingdom of God, had made many regard Zion as inviolable. God certainly could never attack God's own city! Yet, Micah claims otherwise. Apparently, God's city can cancel that identification by failing to follow the (rather simple) "rules" that God has given. Fred Gaiser, Luther Seminary Saint Paul, Minn.  http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=1005

Perhaps the most well-known passage of Micah is found in Chapter 6:  "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"  (Micah 6: 8)

From a historical perspective, Micah is wrong about Jerusalem.  Assyria does not destroy it, although eventually the Babylonians will destroy it.  How do we know when the prophet is really sharing what is of God and when the prophet is not?  Perhaps the critique can be valid, even though Micah misses the mark on the condemnation.

It is 4th of July week-end, and I'm thinking about how Micah might view our sense of nationalism.  I think Micah demands an ethic of us that is beyond our sense of nation -- we are called to work for justice whether we live in the United States or not, and we called to end injustices in our country and outside our country.

[A recent New York Times/CBS News poll showed that Americans across party lines are "broadly concerned about inequality of wealth and income despite an economy that has improved by most measures....The poll found that a strong majority say that wealth should be more evenly divided and that it is a problem that should be addressed urgently." ttp://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/04/business/inequality-a-major-issue-for-americans-times-cbs-poll-finds.html

Not sure where this sermon is heading yet.

No comments:

Post a Comment