Our readings today are both very familiar ones. The passage from Micah, reminding us that nothing we can do can take away our sin, but that God has told us
“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?”
and what does the Lord require of you
but to do justice, and to love kindness,
and to walk humbly with your God?”
Micah of Moresheth, incidentally,was a prophet in
8th-century Judah, more or less a contemporary with Isaiah, Amos and
Hosea. He prophesied the destruction of Jerusalem, particularly
because they were simply dishonest and then expected God to cover for
them: “Her leaders judge for a bribe, her priests teach for a
price, and her prophets tell fortunes for money. Yet they lean upon
the LORD and say, Is not the LORD among us? No disaster will come
upon us.” But Micah said, “Ain’t gonna happen!” As one modern
paraphrase puts it: “The fact is, that because of you lot,
Jerusalem will be reduced to rubble and cleared like a field; and the
Temple hill will be nothing but a tangled mass of weeds!” Israel,
back then, was a theocracy, rather like present-day Iran. Religious
leaders held an enormous amount of political power, but they were not
elected, and nor were the kings. So you had an unelected power-base
who enriched themselves at the expense of the ordinary people. But
“What does the Lord require of you
but to do justice, and to love kindness,
and to walk humbly with your God?”
but to do justice, and to love kindness,
and to walk humbly with your God?”
And then that incredibly familiar, perhaps
over-familiar passage from Matthew, which we call the “Beatitudes”
– the blessings with which Matthew opens the collection of Jesus’
teachings we call the Sermon on the Mount. “Blessed are the poor
in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven”, and so on.
So what are we to make of all this? Why do the
lectionary compilers think that the Sermon on the Mount is so
important that it deserves several weeks’ study?
I think, don’t you, that it’s because we don’t
hear the words any more. We don’t hear how they would have struck
the first listeners. We don’t notice them – they are part of our
culture, part of the stuff we have “always” known about
Christianity.
I’ve been looking at a few modern paraphrases of
this passage, to see if they can make it feel more relevant. I
particularly like this one, from a church in Australia:
“Those who depend entirely on God for their
welfare
have got it made,
because they are already at home in the culture of heaven.
“Those who are stricken with grief
have got it made,
because they will receive the ultimate comfort.
“Those who allow others to have first claim on everything
have got it made,
because the whole world will be given to them.
“Those who hunger and thirst to see the world put right
have got it made,
because they will be richly satisfied.
“Those who readily treat others better than they deserve
have got it made,
because they will be treated with extravagant mercy.
“Those whose hearts are unpolluted
have got it made,
because they will see God.
“Those who forge peace and reconciliation in places of hostility
have got it made,
because they will be known as God’s own children.
“Those who are attacked and abused for sticking to what is right
have got it made,
because they are already at home in the culture of heaven.
“When people turn on you
and do all they can to make your life a misery;
when they make false allegations about you
and drag your name through the mud,
all because of your association with me,
you have really got it made!
Kick up your heels and party,
because heaven is coming
and you will be rewarded beyond your wildest dreams!
You are in great company,
because they were just as vicious
to God’s faithful messengers in the past.”
have got it made,
because they are already at home in the culture of heaven.
“Those who are stricken with grief
have got it made,
because they will receive the ultimate comfort.
“Those who allow others to have first claim on everything
have got it made,
because the whole world will be given to them.
“Those who hunger and thirst to see the world put right
have got it made,
because they will be richly satisfied.
“Those who readily treat others better than they deserve
have got it made,
because they will be treated with extravagant mercy.
“Those whose hearts are unpolluted
have got it made,
because they will see God.
“Those who forge peace and reconciliation in places of hostility
have got it made,
because they will be known as God’s own children.
“Those who are attacked and abused for sticking to what is right
have got it made,
because they are already at home in the culture of heaven.
“When people turn on you
and do all they can to make your life a misery;
when they make false allegations about you
and drag your name through the mud,
all because of your association with me,
you have really got it made!
Kick up your heels and party,
because heaven is coming
and you will be rewarded beyond your wildest dreams!
You are in great company,
because they were just as vicious
to God’s faithful messengers in the past.”
©2002 Nathan Nettleton
The thing is, back in the day, people thought –
as we are inclined to think today – that when all is going well,
when we have plenty, or at least enough, when life is smooth and
there aren’t any humps in the road, then, they thought back then,
and we think today, that God is blessing us. And, of course, that is
true.
But it’s just when things are going well, when
life is smooth and we are happy that we are inclined to forget God.
Oh, we may go on going to church and so on, but we aren’t
necessarily living a holy life. God is basically part of the
background, not front and centre.
And so God asks, in the words of the prophet
Micah,
“O my people, what have I done to you?
In what have I wearied you?
Answer me!”
And the people, irritated – after all, who needs
God when life is going smoothly? The people respond, “Well, okay,
what do you want? Doves? Sheep? Rivers of olive oil? Herds of
oxen? Our firstborn child?”
And God responds, “Don’t be silly;
You already know what’s wanted:
To do justice, and to love kindness,
and to walk humbly with your God!”
and to walk humbly with your God!”
“To do justice, and to love kindness,
and to walk humbly with your God!”
and to walk humbly with your God!”
God is saying pretty much the same thing here as
in the Beatitudes, isn’t He? We are blessed – God blesses us –
when we hunger and thirst after righteousness. We are blessed –
God blesses us – when we are merciful, kind, treat others better
than they deserve. And so on.
It’s interesting, I always think, that if you
read Luke’s version of the sermon, he doesn’t say “Poor in
spirit”, he just says “Blessed are you poor”:
“Blessed are you
who are poor,
for yours is the kingdom of God.
‘Blessed are you who are hungry now,
for you will be filled.
‘Blessed are you who weep now,
for you will laugh.”
for yours is the kingdom of God.
‘Blessed are you who are hungry now,
for you will be filled.
‘Blessed are you who weep now,
for you will laugh.”
And he goes even further:
“‘But woe to you who are rich,
for you have received your consolation.
‘Woe to you who are full now,
for you will be hungry.
‘Woe to you who are laughing now,
for you will mourn and weep.
for you have received your consolation.
‘Woe to you who are full now,
for you will be hungry.
‘Woe to you who are laughing now,
for you will mourn and weep.
‘Woe to you when
all speak well of you, for that is what their ancestors did to the
false prophets!”
I don’t suppose that Jesus means that it is
wrong to be happy, or to have sufficient for our needs, or whatever;
it’s not about misery now in order to rejoice in heaven. After
all, he is on record as saying that he has come that we might have
life and have it abundantly! And given his own track record of
providing several hundred gallons of wine at the fag-end of a
wedding, and enough food from a small boy’s packed lunch to have
twelve basketfuls of leftovers, he can scarcely want us to live in
poverty and want!
But – people do. Refugees. Victims of war.
Victims of famine. People who are homeless for whatever reason,
often due to mental illness, but not always. And while one other
person is in want, then we should not be content. You read awful
things on the Internet about churches – mostly in the USA, it has
to be said, but not invariably – where people are not welcomed
because they are different, perhaps their sexuality is different, or
their skin colour. And, of course, we in the UK have a very poor
track record on that last one. No, we should not be content.
As St John reminds us, if we don’t love our
brother, who we have seen, how can we love God, who we haven’t? If
we exclude people for any reason, we are not doing God’s will –
and it is those who we exclude who receive God’s blessing. If we
say horrible things about people, we are not doing God’s will –
and it is the ones we are horrible about who receive God’s
blessing.
For Jesus’ followers, what he was saying was
revolutionary. He couldn’t mean that, could he? He couldn’t
really mean that God wasn’t blessing the rich and the powerful? It
was the “little people”, not the influential ones, who mattered
most?
But the Bible has always said that! “To do
justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God.” It
wasn’t unique. Over and over again the prophets, perhaps
especially Micah, but not only him, inveigh against those who use
false measures, those who rob the poor, those who get rich at the
expense of others. Over and over again we are taught that other
people matter just as much as we do, if not more so.
And over and over again we forget. Over and over
again we start to think that because God loves me, and I’m like
this, the people who God loves are all going to be like this. We
forget that God loves everybody. Even Donald Trump! Even members of
ISIS.
But seriously, that’s why we need to be reminded
of these passages every so often. God does actually mean it! “You
are blessed” “You are happy” “You’ve got it made!”
However we may translate it, it’s true that God smiles on those who
this world considers of little importance. And we, who have been
blessed so very richly with the material things of life, we need to
keep an eye on ourselves lest we become complacent, and lest we
forget God. Amen.
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