Do Justice, Love Mercy, Walk Humbly

As many of you may have noticed, one of my favorite verses from scripture was being evoked a lot this week. Doreen Philbin put it this way on a Facebook post, “Pastor Peter Dunn closes most services with Micah 6:8. I think even my non-believing friends can get behind 66% of this advice

He has shown you, O mortal, what is good.
And what does the Lord require of you?
To act justly and to love mercy
and to walk humbly with your God.

So I wanted to take a moment and really unpack these words. These are the words that many Christians chose to call upon this week. They are the words that best speak a scriptural truth into our current moment of agony and turmoil. Why?

Background

The book of Micah was written in the Eight Century Before Christ. It was written in a time when the Nation of Israel was going through significant internal pressure. Again, and again in the Book of Micah, God summons the voice of the prophet to express extreme disappointment, lament and judgement. It is a jarring book. It is about divine accountability, a community that is being called too task for the dissonance between what it professes, and what it does. God desires to have His people reflect His character, so He can truly fulfill His promise to Abraham, that He would bless their nation through him. So, how can God do that if His people do not reflect His character?

The story occurs over many years. Like a continuing drip on a hard surface, we painfully listen as Israel loses its moral center. Israel is being lured into the surrounding nations’ pagan ways of life. The Israelites were giving themselves over to their most base impulses, and the corruption that comes with it.  Israel’s leaders had become wealthy through theft and greed. They were promising God’s protection to anyone who could afford to pay them. The prophet describes how the poor were deprived of their land, their security, and hope. Micah 6:12, puts it bluntly, “Your rich men are violent; your people are liars, and their tongues speak deceitfully.

The Prophet Micah lived in a little town called Moresheth, but he was called to give a big message. He was called upon by God to speak truth to power.

But as for me, I am filled with power,
    with the Spirit of the Lord,
    and with justice and might,
to declare to Jacob his transgression,
    to Israel his sin.

Micah 3:6

Old Testament scholar Walter Bruggeman describes the role of the “Office of Prophet,” like this, “The task of prophetic ministry is to nurture, nourish, and evoke a consciousness and perception alternative to the consciousness and perception of the dominant culture around us.” ― Walter Brueggemann, The Prophetic Imagination.

            Jesus entered the temple courts and drove out all who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves. “It is written,” he said to them, “‘My house will be called a house of prayer,’ but you are making it ‘a den of robbers.’”-Matthew 21:12

Jesus, in this story, is living out the prophetic tradition of Micah. He is turning over tables in the temple to demonstrate His righteous anger at injustice. He is literally “cleaning house.”

As a parent, I will admit, I hate disciplining my child. It takes way more energy to discipline them, then it does to pacify them, or just give in, “do, what you want to do,” (if you catch my drift). But if I never discipline them, they will never learn the difference between right and wrong. My heart is not to discipline my children, my heart grieves as I discipline my children, but sometimes love requires discipline. The Heart of God is always love, and justice is what love looks like in public.

      Now that we have some background, let’s talk about Micah 6:8.

Doing Justice

            What does it mean to act justly?

Micah is calling out the injustices of the Nation of Israel. To speak about biblical justice, we need to make a distinction; between private charity and societal justice. To help us understand the difference, let me share with you a parable from the book, “The Holy Longing,” by Ronald Rolheiser:

“Once upon a time there was a town that was built just beyond the bend of a large

river. One day some of the children from the town were playing beside the river when they noticed three bodies floating in the water. They ran for help and the townsfolk

quickly pulled the bodies out of the river.

One body was dead so they buried it. One was alive, but quite ill, so they put that

person into the hospital. The third turned out to be a healthy child, who they placed with

a family who cared for her and took her to school

From that day on, every day a number of bodies came floating down the river and, every day, the good people of the town would pull them out and tended to them—taking the sick to the hospitals, placing the children with families, and burying those who were dead.

This went on for years, each day brought its quota of bodies, and the townsfolk not only came to expect a number of bodies each day but also worked at developing more elaborate systems for picking them out of the river and tending to them. Some of the townsfolk became quite generous in tending to these bodies and a few extraordinary ones even gave up their jobs so that they could tend to this concern full-time. The town itself felt a certain healthy pride in its generosity.

However, during all these years and despite all the generosity and effort, nobody thought to go up river, beyond the bend that hid from their sight what was above them, and find out why those bodies came floating down the river.”

Biblical Justice looks at the entire society within which we live. It identifies and

provides structural changes that care for every member of the community. Its goal is

equality, “justice for all.”

This is a message that needs to resonate in our religious communities. If you don’tlike

people that are from a different race, you’re going to have a hard time in Heaven.

Scripture teaches us that every race has a seat at Heaven’s great banquet table. If it is,

once again, our prayer this morning, “thy kingdom come, thy will be done on

earth as it is in heaven,” then it is our job to strive every day to usher in a Kingdom

reality; now.

Whatever we practice, is what we get good at. If you want to be a great pitcher, you  

better throw some pitches when no one is watching, if you want to be a good doctor you

better get an internship, if you want to usher in the Kingdom of God; you need to

practicing justice, mercy and humility. Are you practicing Heaven yet? If not, will you

be any good at it when you get there?

      The practical manifestation of such a reality may seem overwhelming, perhaps

impossible; so be it. I worship a God of miracles. I worship a God who parted the

Red Sea; in order to liberate His people from injustice. Is that the God you have come to

worship this morning?

A better question might be; do you have faith enough to take the first step? To listen, and to learn, to grow in your understanding of the issues of racism and poverty that were so vigorously being spoken this week. Micah reminds us that God commands his people to “do justice.” That is a clear call for people of good conscience to move from passive sentiment, to active engagement. What lies behind injustice, in not so much individual sin, but rather societal indifference to the plight of those who have suffered historical oppression.

      “We can be morally impeccable within our own private lives (churchgoing, prayerful,

kind, honest, gentle, and generous in our dealings with others) and still, at the same time

unknowingly, unknowingly participate in and help sustain systems which are far from

charitable, gentle, prayerful, and moral.” -Ronald Rolheiser

            I must say that I have recently been convicted to consider how have I profited from a system that rewards status, wealth and privilege. I am wrestling with how is it that I should be held accountable, am I a part of the indifference that has brought us to where we are today? If so, how may I repent of this indifference?

Love Mercy

      What is the true motive behind our actions for justice, so that our actions do not mimic injustice, and do violence to that which we are trying to change? 

            Micah was in touch with God’s mercy, it inspired him to cast a vision for a better world.  

“They shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into

pruning hooks: nation shall not lift up a sword against nation, neither

        shall they learn war any more. But they shall sit every man under his vine and       under his fig tree; and

none shall make them afraid: for the mouth of the Lord of hosts hath spoken it” Micah 4:3-5

      Micah casts a beautiful picture of what a fully restored humanity looks like. Micah is crying out for justice, working towards the day when all of humanity is reconciled. Nations will no longer arm themselves against one another. A powerful image of a time when weapons of war, will be divinely transformed; turned into farming tools. Instruments of death transformed into tools needed to sustain life.

      How can we realize this dream?

      We must be prepared to receive and give God’s mercy.

When they came to the place called the Skull, they crucified him there,

along with the criminals—one on his right, the other on his left.  Jesus

said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are

doing.”-Luke 23:33

      The mercy of God is even given to people we do not like. Just as much as it is given to us, in those places we do not like about ourselves. What are we to do when confronted with people we do not like? Someone who has wronged us?

            Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? Up to seven times?” Jesus answered, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.”- Matthew 18:21

            You can’t be more loving than God; it’s not possible. If you understand God as

Trinity—the fountain fullness of the outflowing of the love relationship; there can be no hatred in God.

Who is a God like you,
    who pardons sin and forgives the transgression
    of the remnant of his inheritance?
You do not stay angry forever
    but delight to show mercy. Micah 7:18

 Walk Humbly

On Wednesday of this week, I had just sat down at my desk with a cup of coffee, and my commentaries, to begin writing this sermon, when I got an email from a friend, that really challenged me. I had been praying through my tears all morning, really heart sick over how awful things had become. The night before, we received dystopian text messages ordering a county wide curfew, as a result of the looting and violence in our streets. Additionally, my friend and colleague, Rev. Andrews Eagles at Beverly Hills Presbyterian Church shared some picture of his Church’s sign that had been graffitied with the words, “I can’t breathe.”

Then I got an email from someone I love and trust, calling for clergy support from

      white pastors, requested by black pastors, who were going to hold a prayer vigil as part of the ongoing protests near Los Angeles City Hall. The specific ask was for a “clergy presence” to help maintain the peace. I soon concluded that I could not sit and write a sermon on Micah 6:8, and in good conscious deny this request. So, I put on my clergy collar, and went to the protest. I went with a true desire to learn and to understand.

      As I drove into our city, I was reminded of how Jesus wept on Palm Sunday as he Stood on the Mount of Olives, looking out upon his city, a city that was also lost, filled with turmoil, and anger. As I walked towards city hall I was overwhelmed with the massive presence of the police and National Guard. So many people in uniform, with two helicopters constantly patrolling; I have to say it was intimidating.

      I did my best to smile as I walked past, trying to make sure they knew I was a pastor coming in peace. When I met up with our group, I quickly befriended a black colleague; who just happened to be tall, athletic, kind and incredibly generous; to myself in particular. He stood out in his white robe, so I knew he was the guy to hang with. As clergy, we were instructed to stand on the perimeter of the crowd between protestors and police. This turned out to be an impossible task, there were about thirty clergy and many thousands of protestors. They filled the entire block. The majority of them were below the age of thirty. I kept these two scriptures in my heart, as I stood there in that crowd.

            Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God -Matthew 5:9

            If possible, so far as it depends on you, be at peace with all men. -Romans 12:18

      These scriptures reminded me that it was not my calling to chant profanities at the police. My job was to pray; to present another way. I did however, listen to one mother after another, share their stories of how their children had lost their lives at the hand of law enforcement. I listened in humility, the same way I would if they came to my office for prayer or spiritual direction. Honestly, I still struggle to understand everything that I saw and heard on Wednesday. I can best describe my feelings as desperate. Desperate for the day when swords are beaten into plowshares. Desperate for a day when we fulfill the scriptures we speak in church on Sunday morning. Desperate to see those words of love and grace, for all of God’s children, fulfilled in our daily lives, throughout the coming week.

      Perhaps you share this desperation as well..