You can’t have one, without the, other…
February 2, 2020
Scripture: Micah 6:1-8
It is always nice, when we come up against a difficult question, to have an answer given to us that is specific, an answer that seems to give concrete directions as to how to deal with the question or the matter at hand. For years, the most direct and honest critic of my Sunday message has been my wife. I have long been accused of trying to get too much across in the time that I have on a Sunday morning, and so often Nan would come to me afterwards and say that I was clear on ‘what’ I had asked, but not so much on offering the ‘how to get there’, or ‘how to do’ whatever it was I was speaking about.
It was all well and good to talk about the need for community, or the importance of learning that we needed to walk with God she would say, but you also need to include just how it is that people are supposed to go about doing that! You have to give some concrete instruction as to how we are to actually ‘do’ what you are asking! And, it doesn’t have to be lengthy or complicated, just clear and specific!
And over time, I think I was able on occasion to do that; however, I know that at times, I still spend more time passionately asking for something, without necessarily offering a pathway forward as well.
But today I have some good news! On what is arguably one of the most critical questions we will ever ask, our reading from Micah seems incredibly specific and clear. ‘What is it that the Lord requires from us’ asks the prophet, followed up with a clear, three-step answer and apparently a way to do just what the question has asked. Difficult and critical question…coupled with a clear answer that appears to be straightforward…simply do this…and you shall have done in full what it is that the Lord requires of you! Sounds great! It is not only the ‘what’ but the ‘how’ as well! Seems as though we have clear and easy to follow instructions to take home and practice. ‘Do justice, love mercy or kindness, and walk humbly with God’…simple right?
Well…I think we may want to look just a little closer at what appears to be not only common-sense faith practice, but not all that complicated either, before we decide that we have heard enough for today and therefore can all go home. For in truth, it does seem like a simple little formula, a three-step way for each of us to please God. But I would contend that within that instruction from the Prophet Micah there is much more than meets the eye. For not only is each one of these three seeming answers worthy of their own place and voice in the conversation, but I would contend as well that there is an interrelationship between the three that makes them inseparable from one another as well. You truly can’t have one without the other two! No single one of these elements of our faithful practice is sufficient to satisfy the requirements of our God of love. Nor are two of them enough to allow us to meet the call that Micah issues, it is not only that we can’t have one without the other, but in fact we need to do all three at the same time if we truly want to walk in the footsteps that went before us.
And just as an aside, none of them are actually simple! But then you probably expected me to say that. But I promise I will still try to find our way back to ‘how’ we are to do these three by the time we are done! Justice…lovingkindness…humility, three words…but perhaps a lifetime of work!
One of the things, in fact one of many things that caught my ear and turned my head at seminary was when I heard one of my professors say that the word, ‘justice’, should be understood as being a verb. That ‘justice’, as one of Jesus’ primary points of focus, is something we do, it is an action word, a way of living faithfully as followers of our Lord. This first element of the prophet’s call implies that standing up against injustice, in whatever form it presents itself, and wherever we find it, must be forcefully engaged by we who call ourselves Christians. Be it the obvious and common ‘garden variety’ of injustices we see on display all around us involving abuse, prejudice, or injury…or…any of the more insidious, half-hidden structural or systemic injustices that undergird our whole way of life. From the structure of our language, to baked-in exploitation at the very heart of our economy and commerce, from a lack of sincerity when it comes to addressing climate change, to a broken criminal justice system, both of which inordinately adversely affect the poorest among us, we, as followers of Jesus are called to act, to ‘justice’ in the face of these plagues afflicting humanity, and creation as a whole. ‘Justice’ in the words of the prophet is a verb…and the work is hard, and the work is extensive…and it is a part of what the Lord requires of each of us…
The second element of the prophet’s call, to ‘love mercy’, or ‘love kindness’, seems fairly straightforward as actions we are to demonstrate towards one another. The Hebrew word used by the prophet was ‘che-sed’ which is not easy to translate, but which has often been done so as ‘loving-kindness’. In the places where che-sed is used in the scriptures it seeks to illumine the breadth, the depth, and the fullness of the love of God towards humanity, and which humanity in turn is called to show towards God and one another. In a way, the instruction to love kindness or mercy found in our scriptures foretells Jesus’ commandment for us to ‘love God, and our neighbor as ourselves’. Not only to love God with our whole heart, mind, soul, and strength, but to reach out with that same level of love towards our every sister and brother in need around us. To live in such a way that che-sed is the underlying principle of how we are to be towards God and one another is not only daunting, but I would contend that it is so, because it carries with it a call to sacrifice and a dying unto self that is quite profound. And…it is the only way that we as faithful and obedient followers of our Lord can ‘justice’ as well.
Humility, the third leg of our stool, has always been a concept or an idea that has fascinated me. And I think that is so because there is more than one way to understand the word, more than one level to consider when seeking to live into our ‘requirement scripture’ from Micah. I know that for a long time I understood the word humility or humble as referring simply to how it is we view ourselves in relation to the world around us. I understood it to mean having a modest and realistic understanding of who you were or what it was you had to offer to the world. To be humble was to be grounded as it were in your own abilities and talents, not to have a big head, or to think too highly of yourself, as well as to accept whatever shortcomings or faults you might have as you worked to eliminate them…all of course without being too full of yourself!
Which of course is a process that is not at all easy, or willingly or successfully engaged in all that often. For we live in a culture that values pride and strength, that elevates material affluence and conceit over brutal honesty when it comes to self-evaluating our real strengths or shortcomings.
But I think that over time I have come to an entirely different understanding of what the word humility or humble means, especially as it pertains to who we truly are, and, what the prophet may be saying our God is seeking from each one of us. Rather than holding ourselves up to some worldly standard of success, or talent, or beauty…or…of power, wealth, or influence, when it comes to how we see ourselves, and then seek to be sure we maintain some level of ‘humility’ in the face of all we have and all we understand ourselves to be…I would offer that the prophet is asking for something more intimate, and much more demanding when he speaks of the humility it takes to walk alongside of our Lord.
Imagine for a moment, that you are in a small and quiet place, totally alone and without any danger of anyone knowing what you are thinking or perhaps saying. And imagine that somehow you find the courage in that place to close your eyes and take a step back to a place where you can see yourself clearly and totally honestly. A place where you can strip away as it were all of the expectations placed upon you by your upbringing or by the culture. A place where you can see all of the things you have done and hear all you have said. A quiet place where you can revisit as it were any single moment in your life where you made a decision to do or not to do something.
And in that place of honestly looking back over your life, I am sure the goodness and the blessings that came from you and came to you will surely appear, all those things that brought you great joy, or laughter, perhaps even those things that were so heartfelt and emotional as you dealt with hurt or loss. But keep on looking, past the glitter and sunshine of goodness and fond memories to where you made decisions or took actions that were not what they could have been…times when you truly were not all that loving at all, when impatience or anger, or perhaps greed or selfishness rose up and swayed you to the point of completely missing the mark when it came to living into what you were taught and what you knew to be good and holy.
And now, there in that place of being fully aware of who you truly are…aware of all of the goodness and the blessings, as well as all of that which you have worked so hard to keep hidden away…imagine that in fact that unbeknownst to you, there was someone there with you who had been listening, in fact someone who already knew of the full trajectory of your life in detail, your every goodness, and…your every miss step. And imagine that that person is in fact our Lord of love, standing there before you, holding out his hand to you in the fullness of compassionate lovingkindness…simply asking, that in that place of self-awareness, in that place of being aware that the Lord knows you as you know yourself, that you would take his hand and walk along with him.
The humility that I hear Micah speak of, is the state of being in which you know with all your heart that God loves you so deeply…that forgiveness for your sins precedes even the asking…and that grace has not, and never will stop flowing into a heart that is humble and open. It is this level of honesty with self and humility before God that in fact enables you to extend that same love and forgiveness, that same che-sed to another. It is this level of humility that absolutely prohibits you from ever feeling you are better than another, it is this level of humility that makes one weak enough, to be of profound usefulness in the plans and purposes of God. It is this level of humility that gives you the eyes to see, and the ears to hear the cries for release from oppression and injustice, no matter how loudly or softly they may be uttered.
And, it is this level of humility that makes the call to love one another as you love yourself…into a whole new command.
Doing, or being justice…practicing or being che-sed or lovingkindness, walking in all humility alongside of God…these are what Micah tells us are what our God requires of us. This is the ‘how’ we are to follow, to study, and to live into as followers of our Lord. And though it is far from simple, it is possible to do. However, it is also not something to be entered into lightly or to be thought of as simply a set of rules to follow on the roadway to Heaven.
Rather it is the fullness of the call to love one another, and the only way to dwell in the middle of that ever-flowing stream of grace and love that moves between God and the beloved…
…being honest with ourselves and drinking deeply of the love that flows into and through us, let us then justice with all our might, with all our strength, with all our soul, and with all our mind.
For it is in this way alone, that we so please the One we walk along beside of…
…amen
