14th Sunday after Trinity
Rev.
Stephen E. Stults
St.
Paul’s Anglican Church
September
17, 2017
Micah 6:1 Hear ye now what the LORD saith; Arise, contend thou before the mountains, and let the hills hear thy voice.
Our Old Testament
lesson from the prophet Micah is amazing. Why? It is amazing because
when one hears the lesson with the new ears of Christ, one hears
wonderful, yet poignant things. One alsoe sees an amazing picture of
God and Man. In these eight verses we learn of the perversity of
mankind counterbalanced by the overflowing love of God. We also
learn what God truly wants from us.
One might, however,
be tempted to question such a profound statement. After all, how can
one see an Old Testament lesson through New Testament eyes? In other
words, how can one see the Chosen People of God, governed by the Law,
through the New Testament lens of grace? This is the crux of the
matter, yet when we consider Scripture as a single piece, like the
woven cloak of Christ – without seam - the issue becomes more
transparent.
Let us consider how
this passage reveals our paucity of spirit, contrasted with God’s
infinite well of grace. Hear this amazing statement, “Arise,
contend thou before the mountains, and let the hills hear thy
voice.”1
The prophet commands the mountains to hear the Lord’s “controversy”
with His People. He beckons verbally to the strong foundations of
the earth to heed the controversy.
What is the nature
of this conflict? What could be so extreme that God is willing to
“plead” with Israel? Why would Almighty God have His prophet use
such language? The cause is one of extreme injustice and lack of love
towards God. Israel has, by this time in history, so corrupted
herself with paganism and hypocrisy that God is willing to “plead”
with her.
The Jews have so
alienated themselves from the Covenant that they have smitten God to
the heart; so that Micah asks, “O my people, what have I done unto
thee? and wherein have I wearied thee? testify against me.”2
Do our ears deceive us? Through His prophet, is this God Himself
asking his wayward people how He has wearied them?
Recall that this is
a people who have become infatuated with every corrupt Canaanite
religion, all of them involving ritual drunkenness and ritual
fornication, let alone the gross idolatry associated with them.
Jewish homes had various pagan images in them, and the great Temple
itself was a hotbed of idolatry. Some Jews were even indulging in
the vile practice of ritual infanticide to satisfy the Canaanite
gods. Meanwhile, our God asks how He has wearied them? It would be
laughableIf it were not so very serious.
Yet we know how
serious it is. So much so, that Micah has stopped preaching to the
people and instead, addresses the hills, mountains, and earth! The
People have become so stiff-necked and so hard-hearted that evidently
there is no longer any point in addressing them.3
As further evidence of this, John Calvin mentions that the mighty
prophet Isaiah was Micah’s contemporary, actually preaching and
ministering at the same time.4
Israel’s situation was so bad that God sent two prophets
simultaneously to bring the message of repentance and salvation, if
only the people would reject their obsession with idolatry. We know
from history how bad Israel’s state was, as God finally executed
judgment upon them by the hand of the cruel Assyrians.
Having the luxury of
looking back at history, we see how strictly the Jews were punished
and conversely, how fierce was God’s love for them. It was so
strong and so passionate that God Hmself would actually “plead”
with His People. God Himself knew how dreadful and how merciless the
Jews’ treatment would be in the days to come. He knew how greatly
they would suffer for their idolatry.
We see this clearly
in God’s patience with them and the untiring efforts of many
prophets sent to turn them from their paganism. Yet, as we know from
history, the Israelites would continue in their sin cycle until God’s
patience was finally exhausted.
Now, we know that
God is incapable of being hurt, or suffering rejection, or even
having anger and rage. He simply is, in complete serenity.
Yet, in order to understand Him even a little, perhaps it is
necessary to anthropomorphize, that is, give him human attributes so
that we can relate. We know in our innermost being that God sees all
of eternity as a single glance, in which His glory is preordained for
all time. Yet, in our finite, fractured way we need to think that God
feels what we feel. Of course, in the case of God Incarnate, Jesus
Christ, we know exactly how He felt, because He was one of us. He
experienced everything we experience, every joy, sorrow, and
temptation, yet without sin.
we know one thing
more. We know that God is capable of love that transcends our
understanding. He is capable of showing such patience with us that
he will hold his mighty Wrath for literally hundreds of years. How
do we know this?
This is illustrated
very clearly in the passage is God’s treatment of His People. Not
only did He deliver them from bondage in Egypt, but he set before
them great leaders such as Moses, Aaron and Miriam. Moses was once a
great prince in Egypt, and became a prophet and a lawgiver. Aaron
was the first of a priestly line that guided Israel. In addition, for
all those who think that God is a misogynist, consider the mention of
Miriam here, a prophetess and great leader in her own right. In
short, God’s People didn’t lack for leadership.
At this point, one
may ask, if God so loves his People, how could he allow them to pass
through such massive suffering, which was to transpire in the
relatively near future? How can a loving God allow this? Two answers
suffice for this. First, we know that God’s ultimate Holiness
cannot be mocked indefinitely. God’s People could not claim the
benefits of the Covenant, that is protection and grace, and still
engage in flagrant violation of His laws. At some point, God’s
integrity must be reaffirmed in the hearts of his People. Without
being tedious, we know that God had to punish His People in order to
show that.
His judgment was not
done not out of cruelty, vengeance, or even retribution, but out of
infinite love. Rather than lose the souls of his People to eternal
perdition, he chose to chasten and correct them, so that they might
turn to Him.
Yet Man, being Man,
always wants to be in control in some way. In fact, Man wants to
justify himself in the eyes of God. The Jews, given their ritual
system of sacrifice and purification, became the ultimate
participants in this game of seeking favor from God. In fact, the
Jews not only sought favor from God, they actually demanded it from
Him. Their supposed righteousness in following the sacrificial
system actually made God a debtor in their eyes. They thought that
God owed them forgiveness and expiation of sin because of
their righteousness.
Yet, the prophet
asks, “Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams, or with
ten thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my
transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?”5
What does the Lord really care for our religious acts, especially
when they are based in arrogance, self-righteousness, or pride? Does
anyone really think that God took pleasure in some poor beast’s
death in order to wipe away a man’s sin? We think not. Sacrifices
merely served to remind man that consequences always exist for sin,
not to please God with the shedding of blood.
We come at last to
God’s expectation of us. Is this more sacrifices and gallons of
holy oil? No, rather He wants a transformation of the heart and
spirit. He wants us to walk uprightly, yet humbly before Him. He
wants us, in short: “to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk
humbly with thy God?”6
What an amazing
requirement! He wants us to echo His own qualities of love, of mercy
and of good will without pride or self-righteousness. He wants us to
be reflectors of Him and to let His Light shine through us to the
World.
If we do this, it is
better than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.
AMEN
1
Mic. 6:1
2
Mic. 6:3
3
Calvin, Commentary on Micah ,
http://www.iclnet.org/pub/resources/text/m.sion/cvmic-01.htm
4
Ibid
5
Micah 6:6-7
6
Ibid 6:8
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