January 30, 2011, Fourth Sunday after Epiphany

Sunday, January 30, 2011
Fourth Sunday after Epiphany
Micah 6:1-8, Matthew 5:1-12
The Rev. Jo Miller

I am going to reflect on our readings from Micah and Matthew. First, to Micah and
the last verse in the reading:” 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?” It starts off with the Mortals being told to plead their case before the mountains. The mountains are being their jury. The people have been on trial.

Why is God putting the people on trial? Why is God so disappointed in the people?
If we read through Micah we will hear the indictments against the people. Micah 2:2 The powerful, the elite will take whatever field that they covet as well as house or household. They take them for their own. 3:2 He speaks to the heads of Jacob and the rulers of the house of Israel: “You hate the good and love the evil, who tear the skin off my people and the flesh off their bones.” 3:5 He scolds the prophets who have plenty to eat but wage war against the poor. 3:11 The political leaders take bribes for their judgments and the priests sell out for money. Change a few of the names and it could be a play on the condition of the world today. The indictment has been handed down by the time we reach the oft quoted
verse.

What does God require of us? The perfect cultic practice of our religion or ethical
obedience that faith in God requires? God requires more than empty words sung in praise songs, or chanted in high church, empty words preached or prayers said. Micah tells us that God desires justice that is measured by how well the most vulnerable fare in the community, such as giving the homeless a place to sleep and food to eat. God holds the leaders and the ruling members of any community, organization, state or country to do more than talk the talk. We are to walk the way of justice, loving and doing kindness, and walking humbly with our Creator.

Justice, kindness, and the humble walk take us beyond the confines of personal piety
into life giving relationships with God and with God’s creation: from the earth to humans all that is in-between.

If you think this poetic statement from Micah may be hard to live by day in and day
out 24 7, it’s like having to be conscious of whatever we are saying and doing all the time. And then Jesus really lays one on us in the Beatitudes. What be your attitude toward God, God’s creation, and one another?

In the lyrical and poetic blessing we hear supportive and constructive attitudes of the heart - a path way on our spiritual journey as disciples of Jesus. Jesus pushes us to think in new ways of being. All through Matthew we hear that the perfect practice of religious rites and rules does not bring rewards in the kingdom.

The Beatitudes often sound onerous to our post modern mind. Alexander J. Shaia in
his book “The Hidden Power of the Gospels” restates them in a way we may better
understand.

Accept that we do not and will not know results in advance. We often feel “poor
in spirit.”

Make farewells to our yesterdays and embrace the grief we feel.

Be humble in our willingness to journey. Yielding to exile will yield riches of
Spirit.
Know that our true hunger and thirst are for Spirit, and only Spirit, despite all
trials and temptations.
Greet all we encounter, within and without, in mercy, and reap the rewards of
gratitude.
Be full of heart. Do not seek to remove any thought, any feeling, or any person
from our inner life. Each is an aspect of Spirit. Welcome them all.
Believe in “Jeru-Shalom” as a home of welcome that accommodates the true
peace of respect for differing voices, if we will but listen.
Accept inner and outer hardship as needed fro the sake of living a new life in the
presence of God. Power and applause are not what we seek.
Anticipate lack of esteem. Be prepared instead for conflict and meet it with
respect and love.

The Beatitudes open us to compassion for our self and for others. They can become a
help on our journey on this beautiful earth. Yesterday’s wisdom is as wise for us today as it was in Micah’s time and in Jesus’ time. Micah calls us to a higher level of ethical living as does Jesus, as does our Creator. When our son was taking a class on business ethics he wanted the bottom line on ethics. He asked, what are our ethics today in business? The instructor said, “If you can get away with it, it is ethical.” Think about where we are right now and we are living the results of the kind of ethical walk that does not do justice, that does not love kindness and does not walk humbly.

The ethics of God often are contrary to those of humans. We can achieve these ethics
through practice. We can enter into spiritual transformation. We can learn how to walk the walk which is a life in an interactive relationship with God and one another. Jesus’ message is not hidden, is not secret. He tells us over and over O Mortal how to do justice, to love kindness and to walk humbly with God. He tells us in many ways how to love the Lord our God with all our heart, mind, soul and how to love our neighbor. Our ethics and spiritual practices are shown in the way we walk upon the earth.