Prophet, Apostle, Son
January 30, 2005 (Fourth Sunday after the Epiphany)
By
The Rev. Benjamin J. Newland
- Micah 6:1-8
- Psalm 37:1-18 or 37:1-6
- 1 Corinthians 1:(18-25)26-31
- Matthew 5:1-12
Micah and Paul and Jesus speak to us this Sunday in words that have few equals among the scriptures. Let us consider them each again.
The Prophet Micah speaks his words to attempt to show God's people how they can respond to God's action in their history. "Hear what the Lord says," opens Micah. The verses from the prophet take a shape familiar at the time they were first written: the shape of an ancient near-eastern treaty agreement. Yet instead of two kingdoms setting out the terms of their treaty in a trial before witnesses, we hear of the case between God and God's people Israel, with mountains and hills (the very foundations of the earth) called to witness.
The first two verses set out the plaintiff, the defendant, and the witnesses. In verses three through five God states God's case, recalling for Israel the events of history where God has saved them. Most famously, verses six and seven describe what God expects in return for this history of salvation.
Israel speaks in this final section, asking God, "with what shall I come before the Lord?" Burnt offerings and yearling calves are offered first. Both are standard elements in the Temple sacrifices. Next thousands of rams, and ten thousands of rivers of oil are offered. Again, standard sacrificial elements, but in amounts ridiculously exaggerated. Finally, a firstborn son is offered. This is anything but a standard sacrificial element. Here and there in the Hebrew Scriptures Israel records its horror at the practices of human sacrifice it came into contact with. Only once did the God of Israel ask for a human sacrifice, yet Isaac was spared by God and a ram offered instead.
What do we make of this escalation of offerings? The prophet
Micah shows us that nothing, not the regular offerings of sacrifice,
not sacrifice in unrealistic abundance, not even the sacrifice too
precious to offer, make Israel worthy of God's salvation. What then,
does the Lord require?
"He has told you, O mortal, what is good," says Micah, "and what
does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love
kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?"
The Apostle Paul writes to the Christians in Corinth in an attempt to describe for them the mysterious nature of God's action in Jesus. "The message of the cross is foolishness," Paul begins. The verses from the Apostle take the form of his typically convoluted reasoning, yet we cannot be too judgmental with Paul, for the idea he seeks to share is not easily made into simple statements.
Human wisdom, Paul says, is no way to salvation. It has been tried, for hundreds of years, with little effect. The Sadducees and Scribes are wise, but their wisdom brings life only to the temple, and not to peoples' hearts. The Pharisees are wise, but their wisdom brings life only to minutiae of the law, and not to peoples' hearts. By their standards Christ seems in the end to have been quite foolish, yet his foolishness brings life to peoples' hearts.
It is not wisdom verses unquestioning faith that Paul is trying to sell us. For Paul, faith is simply a matter of trusting God to do what God has promised to do. Faith is not the believing of a particular set of unbelievable things, which is what we have too often made it into. No, not wisdom verses faith, but human wisdom verses God's wisdom; or rather, human wisdom verses God's foolishness, for such it can only appear when seen from the perspective of the wisdom we knew before.
"God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, things that are not, to reduce to nothing things that are…" The Apostle Paul, for all his love of Greek logic and rhetoric, has become a mystic today, speaking in paradox and darkness. "For Jews demand signs and Greeks desire wisdom, but we proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Greeks…"
The Son Jesus speaks to those gathered around the hill, and attempts to explain to them the unlikely reality of the Kingdom of Heaven. "Blessed are the poor in spirit," Jesus begins. The verses from Matthew's Gospel are rhythmic, repetitive, and mysterious. So much has been said about this sermon on the mount, so many interpretations of what he meant and who he was talking to. What more can we do, but say it again?
Blessed are the poor in spirit, you who have reached the end of your rope, for with less of you there is more of God.
Blessed are you who mourn, who feel that you've lost what is most dear to you, for now you will be embraced by God to whom you are most dear.
Blessed are you who are meek, who are content with who you are, for you own all that which cannot be bought.
Blessed are you who hunger and thirst for righteousness, who have an appetite for God, for God is the only food that will satisfy and make you full.
Blessed are you who are merciful, who care, for at the moment of caring you will find yourself cared for.
Blessed are you who are pure in heart, who's mind and heart are right inside yourself, for you shall easily see God outside yourself.
Blessed are you who are peacemakers, who build community and tear down anger, for all will know your place in God's family.
Blessed are you who are persecuted for righteousness sake, who's commitment to God provokes others to anger, for that anger will drive you deeper into God's kingdom.
Blessed are you when anyone attacks you because of me, for you are in good company. My prophets and witnesses were always in this kind of trouble.
Micah proclaims the terms of God's salvation: do justice, love kindness, walk humbly. Paul proclaims the foolishness of God executed on a cross: God chose what is weak. Jesus proclaims the unlikely nature of his Kingdom: blessed are the unlikely. Three voices, from three different people, in three different places. One God, who's nature can not be completely defined by prophet, or apostle, or even the remembered words of the Son. Sometimes the best thing to do as a preacher is to let the scripture speak for itself and just try to stay out of its way. AMEN.