Jeremiah 22:1-3 & Micah 6:6-8 Seek Justice February 5, 2017 When we dishonor the poor we insult God when we are generous to the poor we honor God seek justice. Isaiah 1:17 echoes that saying, learn to do good. Seek justice: help the oppressed; defend the orphan; plead for the widow. And, of course, Jeremiah 22:3 spoke the prophetic words, Thus says the LORD: Act with justice and righteousness, and deliver from the hand of the oppressor anyone who has been robbed. And do no wrong or violence to the alien, the orphan, and the widow, or shed innocent blood in this place., and we can forget Ezekiel 45:9, The Lord God proclaims: Enough, princes of Israel! Turn aside from violence and oppression. Establish justice and righteousness. Cease your evictions of my people! then Amos 5:15, Hate evil, love good, and establish justice at the city gate. And then there is Micah 3:1, Hear, leaders of Jacob, rulers of the house of Israel! Isn t it your job to know justice? Ever get to thinking that seeking justice is pretty important? Some of them get pretty cranky and even resort to shocking tactics that are downright bizarre. For example: Hosea married a prostitute to show how unfaithful the Israelites had become? (Hosea) Ezekiel ate food cooked over excrement to show how defiled God s people have become? (Ezekiel 4) Jeremiah digs up filthy, unwashed undergarment to use as an object lesson to show people how repellent their behavior is to God. (Jeremiah 13) And we can t forget Isaiah, who ran around naked and barefoot for three years to get his message across to Egypt and Cush. (Isaiah 20) So, we read the messages from these prophets, scratch our heads and ask what s the big deal? What are they getting so heated up about? The truth is some of us are oblivious to the world around us. We find things are generally going okay for ourselves, so we prematurely jump to the conclusion that it must be going well for everybody else. Right? Oh, we know there s violence in the world, and that is unfortunate. But if it doesn t touch our lives directly, we d rather not think about it. We rationalize, Certainly that violence couldn t be connected to my anger, my hostility, my indifference, or my lack of love. Cheating is another example, I know it s not ideal, but it goes on every day in the business world. Pick up the newspaper. It s just the way things are. We act like it is something we are just supposed to accept. The same thing goes for poverty and disease. We guilt our kids into finishing their plates, after all there are starving children in Africa. But do we ever think beyond the proverbial object lesson and actually do something to help them? After all, they are half a world away what could we do. We forget within our own nation children are born into extreme poverty, growing up in the ghettos or slums. This, of course, means they will have limited access to decent education, healthcare and housing. And then we start rationalizing, But they re not my children. Maybe their parents did something to deserve it. We do this because we really would prefer not to know. We really don t want to know the truth about what our sin has done in our lives or the life of the world for that matter. We really would prefer not to know, because that would make us uncomfortable. As a great 20 th century student of the prophets, Abraham Heschel puts it, The shallowness of our moral comprehension, the incapacity to sense the depth of misery caused by our own failures, is a simple fact of fallen humanity which no explanation can justify or hide. So how do we respond? What should we do? Should we just be paralyzed by the immensity of injustice in this world? Should we just sit around doing nothing but feeling intense guilt because of our own complicity in it?
The prophet Micah sums up God s response. With what shall I come before the Lord, and bow myself before the God on high? Shall I come to him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams? With ten thousands of rivers of oil?" Note the escalation. It begins with burnt offering, something everyone could afford. But then suggests a calf a year old, not everyone could afford that extravagance. How about a thousand rams, maybe only the king could do that. Ten thousand rivers of oil, now that s beyond what anybody could do. Is that really what God wants? Or shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? Yes, this is suggesting child sacrifice, it happened all around Israel, usually by the pagans but sometimes even the Israelites engaged in such things. And, of course, the answer is no. The prophet explains that God, 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). Everyone can do these three things. Micah is basically saying here: You can pretend You can act all confused about what God wants, but God has shown you, the answer. Micah highlights three things, but doing justice is number one. The top of the list. Just think for a moment about how mad you get when somebody treats you unfairly. We hate it when somebody treats us unfairly. Whether it happens at work, with friends, or even in our families, we hate it. We dream about how to get revenge. Maybe on the way home you fester over it, fantasizing what you could have should have would have said if you had it to do over, something that would really put them in their place. God is telling us, through Micah, to get at least as energized about the injustices afflicted on others as you are when it s yourself. We live in a world where injustice, large and small, goes on every day, everywhere. Micah says this is what God requires of you. Do justice. Be an agent of justice. I can t correct all the injustice of the world, but I can do something. I can notice. I can read. I can study. I can be thoughtful about what s going on in this world. I can look at all sides of the issues not just the sides that I am comfortable with. I can pay attention to which governments and companies are being just and which are not. I can pray. I can ask God to help me treat others fairly. I can at least have the courage to stand up for people who are getting treated unfairly in my little world in my school, my office, my neighborhood, and my home. I, who have so much more than I need, so much more than I deserve, can give some of what I have to others who have no food who have no home or who have no hope. You know what the Lord requires of you. Seek justice. And we seek justice with loving kindness also translated as mercy in some bible s. The word Micah uses is hesed. In the Old Testament, it is the word most closely associated with God's lovingkindness expressed in the covenant, which is the basis of his relationship with human beings. It is steadfast love that always seeks to express itself in action. John Stuart Gilbert from Paradise, California, was diagnosed with Duchenne s Muscular Dystrophy; a genetic, progressive and cruel disease. In a town called Paradise, California, lived a young man named John Stuart Gilbert. When he was five years old, he was diagnosed with Duchenne s Muscular Dystrophy. It is genetic, progressive, and cruel. He was told it would eventually destroy every muscle in his body, and in a decade or so, take his life. Every year John lost something. One year it was the ability to run. He couldn t run and play sports with the other kids. Another year he could no longer walk straight. All he could do was sit and watch others play. He was bullied and humiliated until he was afraid to go to school. And no one ever stood up for him; maybe because they were afraid for themselves, afraid to do justice and show kindness.
But then there were other moments. One year he was named the ambassador, for Muscular Dystrophy in California. He flew to Sacramento and was ushered, with his mom, into the governor s office for a private meeting. He was a little kid at this point. The governor took a large glass jar of candy, told John to dig in. John looked at his mom, who said it was okay to take one piece, but the governor said he was the governor and John should do what he said. So, John stuffed his pockets. That same night the NFL sponsored a fundraising auction dinner at which John was a guest. Players let him hold their huge Super Bowl rings, which slid up to John s wrists. And when the auction began, one item especially caught his attention. It was a basketball that was signed by all the players of the Sacramento Kings NBA team. John got a little carried away about that, because when that ball was being bid for, he raised his hand. As soon as it went up, his mom flagged it down. He said, astronauts never felt as many Gs as my wrist did that night. Bidding for that basketball went on rising to an astounding amount for an item that was not the most valuable treasure on the docket. Eventually one man named a figure that shocked the whole room. Nobody could match it. Perhaps the equivalent of a 1000 rams in Micah s day. The guy went to the front and collected his prize, but instead of returning to his seat, the man walked across the room and placed the basketball in the small, thin hands of the boy who had admired it so intently. He put it in hands that would never dribble it down a court, hands that would never throw it to a teammate on a fast break, hand that would never fire it from a threepoint range. John says the whole room just came undone. Every heart melted. Have you bought a basketball for anybody lately? You and I who have so much health and time, and more resources than we know how to consume. Have you bought anybody a basketball lately? Do you love kindness? That's what the Lord requires of us, to live that kind of lifestyle. We do it by doing justice, loving kindness, but here is the final part one that is important. We do this all by walking humbly with God. I think Micah included that one because it s hard work to be a prophet and not get all selfrighteous about it. I mean isn t that largely what the Scribes and the Pharisees were reprimanded by Jesus about? Sure they often did neglect opportunities for justice and mercy but when they did good by others it was for an earthly reward, as he warned, Beware of practicing your piety before others in order to be seen by them; for then you have no reward from your Father in heaven So whenever you give alms, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, so that they may be praised by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. (Matthew 6:1-2) There is a very important theological distinction between being prophet and being a jerk. What burns most deeply in the heart of a true prophet is not anger, rather it is love. C. S. Lewis wrote, Anger is the fluid that love bleeds when it gets cut. And God s anger is fierce when he sees injustice and greed and oppression, because God's love is fiercer still. A true prophet remembers that she or he, too, is one of the sinful people who helped mess up this world, and so they walk humbly. Can you imagine what would happen if we all really made it the focus of our lives to do justice, and love kindness, and walk humbly before our God? Micah says, in more magnificent words in the final chapter of his book, that finally eyes will be opened up, and the message of the prophets will be understood. Nations will see and be ashamed. They will come trembling out of their dens and turn in fear to the Lord our God and will be afraid of you. Who is a God like you, who pardons sin and forgives transgression? You
will again have compassion on us and hurl our iniquities into the depths of the sea" (Micah 7:16 19). What does God require of you? Simple not easy but simple. Do justice. Love mercy. Walk humbly before the Lord our God. It s what Jesus did for us. The question is: will you? Let us pray God of the Bible is described as father for the father less; the defender of the widows. He stands for the poor and the vulnerable. In other cultures, the gods were associated with societies elite; kings and priests. But the God of Israel was the God of the powerless. This is why God says if we dishonor the poor we insult God and when we are generous with the poor we honor God. Many people find it difficult to believe in a God who would allow so much suffering and injustice in the world. BUT only god knows REAL injustice. The cross where Jesus willingly suffered the ultimate injustice; taking the condemnation for our sin; dying for those who despised him. Jesus gave his life for those who could not help themselves. God s desire is that we do the same for the poor and the oppressed. SEEK JUSTICE We need to hear the message of the prophets. How do we respond to the injustices proclaimed by the prophets?
God wants us to Do justice Love kindness Walk humbly with God. 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. Micah 6:8 Next Steps I will memorize Micah 6:8 I will exemplify God s loving kindness in the world through acts of justice. I will remember there is one God and he is not me. I will attend next week s service Freedom of Choice.