WHAT DOES THE LORD REQUIRE
The Rev. Harold Shepherd, CD, M.A., S.T.M., LL.B., LL.M., Ph.D.
Sermon from January 30, 2005

Hear what the LORD says: Rise, plead your case before the mountains, and let the hills hear your voice. Hear, you mountains, the controversy of the LORD, and you enduring foundations of the earth; for the LORD has a controversy with his people, and he will contend with Israel. "O my people, what have I done to you? In what have I wearied you? Answer me! For I brought you up from the land of Egypt, and redeemed you from the house of slavery; and I sent before you Moses, Aaron, and Miriam... "With what shall I come before the LORD, and bow myself before God on high? Shall I come before 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? Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?" He 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: 1-8

Micah wrote in troubled times. Born in the town of Moresheth, about 25 miles south-west of Jerusalem, near the Philistine city of Gath, Micah had something in common with Amos. Both were contemporaries in the 8th century B.C. Both were from small rural communities in the Southern Kingdom. Both were offended by the degree of inequity and injustice that prevailed in both the Northern and Southern Kingdoms. Micah was the contemporary of two other important prophets- Isaiah from Jerusalem and Hosea from the north. Isaiah was part of an educated priestly class who had direct access to the king as a royal advisor. Micah, like Amos, represents a rural perspective- observing matters of state from the grass-roots. Micah prophesied in the 8th century B.C. during the reigns of Jotham (750- 735), Ahaz (735- 716) and Hezekiah 716- 687). He began his ministry before the capture of the Northern Kingdom and its capital, Samaria, by the Assyrians in 722 B.C.and worked until Assyrian King Sennacherib’s campaign against Jerusalem in 701 B.C. During the period of Micah’s prophetic ministry, Syria and the Northern Kingdom attacked the Southern Kingdom for refusing to participate in rebellion against the Assyrians. The Assyrians intervened, capturing Samaria in 722 B.C. and exiling the population. The Southern Kingdom remained a faithful client state until Hezekiah, encouraged by Egypt, declared independence, resulting in Sennacherib’s march against Jerusalem. News from home led to the eleventh hour withdrawal of Assyrian troops that spared Jerusalem. Micah was concerned about inequality of power that led to exploitation. In Mic 2:2 we read: "They covet fields, and seize them; houses, and take them away; they oppress householder and house, people and their inheritance." In verse 9 we read: "The women of my people you drive out from their pleasant houses..." In Micah 3:9-11, he states that the rulers of the house of Israel "build Zion with blood and Jerusalem with wrong. Its ruler give judgement for a bribe." In 6:11 he God asks "Can I tolerate wicked scales and a bag of dishonest weights? Your wealthy are full of violence."

In today’s reading, God takes on the role of a prosecutor in a court of law. First he calls witnesses- the mountains. He then recounts the nature of the contract- God established a covenant with Israel and honored it by setting his people free from bondage in Egypt. Notwithstanding God’s faithfulness to his obligations under the covenant, Israel had failed to respect its commitments. Micah then presents the nation’s response to God’s charges. They admit that they have fallen short of what God requires of them, then ask what can be done to make amends. Shall we bow before God, make burnt offerings, give a thousand rams or a thousand rivers of oil? Shall we even give our firstborn as some neighboring countries do? Micah responds to the court pleadings between God and Israel by pointing out that Israel knows what God requires. Reconciliation cannot take place by external offerings that do not address the root cause of the problem- taking advantage of the powerless for personal gain, or allowing it to happen for a bribe. Greed, social inequity and class distinctions that refused to accept all people as being of equal importance in the sight of God led to the situation. Religious observances are not the answer. What does God require? To ensure just and fair treatment of all, to treat other with the kindness we would expect from them, and to humble ourselves before God, recognizing that God’s love is directed to all, not just us and those who live and think like us. God requires repentance of heart, not religious observance or external actions that do not remedy the root causes of exploitation. As we conclude the week of prayer for Christian unity, we pray that the Church universal may work together through such ecumenical ventures as Kairos to help establish God’s reign of justice, mercy and compassion in our community and world.