What does God require of us?
written by Carrie Schoenert Houston
First Baptist Church of Austin, February 2, 2020
I decided to follow Jesus at youth camp the summer between my sophomore and junior year of high school. I didn’t grow up in church, but knew about Jesus, because, well, this is Texas, yall. We’re part of the bible belt. Both of my parents grew up in south Texas, and have lived in san Antonio most of their lives.
So, growing up in San Antonio, my mom fell in love with Mexican art and pottery, despite her Czechoslovakian heritage, so when you entered my house, you would see talavera planters filled with yuccas, traditional colorful Mexican fabrics on the tables, hand painted talavera tile mirrors on the walls, Mexican bean pots holding kitchen utensils and Mexican folk art tapestries hanging as a centerpiece in the living room, where a large family photo typically would be. We rarely had actual photos on our walls, but had unique finds from goodwill decorating our house.
What you wouldn’t find in my house were pillows with bible verses on them, precious moments collectable or those willow tree angel figurines. you certainly wouldn’t find bible verse wall art that said things like “I can do all things through Christ” hanging in the bathroom. So imagine my mom’s surprise when I came home from youth camp with lots of Christian swag ready to hang on the walls of my room.
At the persuasion of the camp pastor, and because im a rule follower, I immediately walked up to my bathroom and put a sticker on the mirror that says “get hooked on jesus” to remind me daily of my new-found faith in Christ. (it’s actually still hanging on the mirror, 20 years later. My mom told me that she just cleans around it.) Notecards with bible verses began to adorn the walls of my room, things like “pray without ceasing” from 1 Thessalonians, or Jeremiah 29:11- “for I know the plans I have for you, declares the lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” Verses that were comforting to read as a teenager, who constantly wondered what god had in store for her.
As I got older and my faith matured and I began to see things through a social justice lens, I began displaying verses like Amos 5:24,
“But let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream!
And Isaiah 1:17,
“Learn to do right, seek justice. Defend the oppressed. Take up the cause of the fatherless; plead the case of the widow.”
And probably one of the most familiar social justice texts, our text from today, Micah 6:8,
“and what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love kindness and to walk humbly with your God.”
There’s nothing wrong with plastering verses in frequently visited spaces to remind you of what God is calling you to do, but sometimes we get so familiar with verses that we forget the meaning of things.
It’s like when you say a word over and over again and it loses its meaning.
Cheese. Cheese. Cheese. Cheese. Cheese. <??cheese??>>
That phenomenon actually has a psychological term called “semantic satiation.” Try saying that a bunch of times! I don’t know about you, just saying that term once makes me forget the meaning of it.
Micah 6:8 is such a familiar verse for Christians dedicated to justice work. It’s our motto, our battle cry, our mission statement.
But if there’s one thing I hate the most, it’s taking verses of the bible without knowing the context because that’s where we get bad theology.
Let’s take a look at what is happening in this passage to see what other truths we can learn.
Micah is a prophet, someone called on by God to speak on God’s behalf. He was sent to rebuke God’s people for their unwillingness to hear God’s word, for their unjust religious leaders who preached a false hope. During this time, there was “no shortage of religious people” paying lip service to how religious they were.
Religion had kept these people in power, and they took full advantage of it. These so-called “pillars” of society have been using their power to prey upon those less powerful, and it has ended with the suffering of innocent people. The religious leaders had claimed to have a special revelation from God but rather, they were selling them to the highest bidder.
Micah comes in ready to step on people’s toes, to make them uncomfortable and squeamish. He calls them out for their inauthenticity and for the way they have taken advantage of innocent people getting caught in the cross hairs of their greed and selfish ambitions.
Reminds me of a time not too long ago when banks “too big to fail” got greedy for more money, selling subprime mortgages to people unable to pay for them, or when religious institutions swindled money out of innocent people in order to pardon sins, as if they had the authority to do so. or when religious leaders scammed people out of their money to fund their private jets and mansions instead of ministry.
Just as it would be today, it would have been quite shocking for a messenger of God to come to speak truth to so called “religious people.” Religious leaders have all the answers, right? They are honest people! They can be trusted! Micah proves that the religious leaders are as corrupt as any and aren’t immune to God’s judgement.
The relationship between God and God’s people was really broken and their issues needed to be addressed.
Things aren’t going well for the people of Israel and they want to take it up with god.
God is willing to hear their complaints, and God is an active participant in the conversation. God summons the mountains, the hills, the eternal foundations of the earth to be witnesses in it. Imagine it like a legal case, or as biblical scholars would say, a covenant lawsuit, God brings all of creation to be the jury, so this is no petty squabble in small claims court with judge judy. There is a lot at stake here.
God goes first and brings the issues to the table. Instead of a laundry list of accusations, God’s posture is one of self-defense.
“What did I ever do to you? Did I burden you? Are you tired of me? Answer me!” God proclaims for all to hear. I can imagine the sorrow in God’s voice, the passion, the righteous anger. Sounds like an exhausted parent, someone who would do anything for their child, but is puzzled by their rebelliousness. One who does everything to prepare their kid for a successful life, but is struck with the pain of their child’s bad life choices.
God is quick to remind the people of Israel of all of the ways God has cared for them, for the ways god has provided for their needs and the ways God has saved them.
“Remember that time I got you out of that horrible situation in Egypt? Or when I sent leaders like Moses, Aaron, and Miriam to aid you? Or when I brought you into the promised land?”
They didn’t remember. They were too stuck in their ways.
God laid out all of the evidence of God’s faithfulness and it just reminded them of how faithless they really were. A few generations had passed, things got comfortable, and people started to forget the past.
It’s like the well known quote, “those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” (Spoiler alert- this is a theme throughout human history.) and the nation of Israel is on a chronic offender.
And as a guilty party, their first response is to lock up and get defensive, dig their heels in the ground, trying to find ways to talk their way out of punishment.
When I was about 10 years old, my parents got a hot tub to go under our newly covered patio in the backyard. My sister and I loved getting in it because it was the closest thing to a pool we’d ever have. And as an adult, I now understand why we never got a pool. Anyways, one day, I decided to play a prank on our neighbor. Amy and I filled the hot tub with dirt and sand from the back yard, thinking our neighbor wouldn’t notice and would jump right in. We’d yell, GOTCHA! And laugh and go about the rest of our day, I guess. I’m not exactly sure what we were thinking would happen! How would you not notice the water was murky and dirty? I dunno.
As you can expect, that’s not exactly how that story ended. My mom happened to go outside and see the mess we’d made in the new hot tub. I saw her face and knew we were in big trouble. Instead of fessing up and accepting the consequences of my actions, I denied it and blamed it on my sister.
The people of Israel weren’t exactly willing to fess up to their wrongdoing either and it was a lot worse than mud in a hot tub.
I get it. When you know you’re in the wrong, it can be really hard to admit, especially if there are high stakes. People often use defense mechanisms to help them separate themselves from uncomfortable feelings like shame or guilt. These are completely normal ways of coping and, according to Freud, are not often under a person’s conscious control. Just think about all the times you’ve used denial to block the reality of the facts or when you’ve projected your feelings onto someone else instead of taking responsibility for your own emotions.
When you say stuff like “I failed my calculus test because my teacher hates me!” instead of owning up to the fact that you made tiktoks all night and didn’t study.
Or “I didn’t pay my taxes because the government wastes money.” Instead of realizing all the good that the government can do with our tax money to care for our sick, our poor, and the aging.
The people of Israel don’t even offer a counter argument to God here. Instead they utilize a few of these defense tactics with the hopes of catching God off guard.
“So, how should we stand before you?” They ask.
What begins as an honest question about what they should be doing to approach the Lord turns into a ridiculous list of exaggerated and familiar sacrificial formulas.
What about burnt offerings of young calves?
Will a thousand rams do?
How about 10,000 rivers of oil?
Do you want my oldest child?
Is that enough for you God?
What more do you want from us?
In their anger and frustration, Israel has just showed their hand. They just don’t get it. They were turning to showy acts of sacrifice expecting God to be appeased by them instead of recognizing how corrupt and unjust they were. Their sacrificial system and worship had become simply an insurance policy to sin as much as they wanted and then ask for forgiveness after the fact. Sound familiar?
As a youth minister, I hear this question a lot: If Jesus has forgiven us of our sins, and loves us no matter what, why does it matter what I do at all? God is just going to forgive me.
Micah would respond by saying” you know what the Lord requires of you, but to do justice, and love kindness, and walk humbly with your God.”
It’s fairly straightforward.
God is interested in the way we live our lives, not just our rituals. The prophet Amos says that God hates superficial efforts of piety. God demands that we practice a genuine faith, orienting ourselves toward our neighbor and God.
There is so much more to life with God than showing up to church, or tithing, or singing in the choir, or going to DNOW or youth camp, or building tiny houses- all things that are incredibly good and important to the kingdom of God. But Micah reminds us that these things alone won’t appease God if you aren’t living an authentic life of justice, kindness, and intentionally walking with God.
Justice is an action word, it’s something we do and seek, not just post on Facebook about how unfair our world is. Justice is using our voice to effect change that benefits someone other than ourselves. It’s using our platform, whatever it may be, to be brave and speak up against the wrongs being done to our neighbors. It’s using our privilege to advocate for the weak and powerless who are exploited by others. It’s never forgetting how we are all connected and when one person suffers, all of humanity suffers.
As Cornel West says, “justice is what love looks like in public.”
What does God require of us?
God requires us to love kindness, the simple and the substantial kind. The kind of kindness that’s comforting to a stranger, a smile at someone in the hall at school, or opening a door for someone or giving a compliment to a stranger. But kindness is bigger than that. It looks like loyalty between friends, the kind that is fierce and protective. Kindness is the love between a partner or a parent, and faithfulness in our relationships. It’s protective, active, and constant.
And in order to do justice and love kindness, we must be constantly conforming to God’s will, walking carefully alongside God, seeking out God as if God is our constant companion. It must be our lifestyle choice, our ethical value, our outlook on life.
Israel was looking for something they could do to check the box to right the wrongs. Unfortunately for them, their rituals wouldn’t cut it. The same is true for us today. We can’t check the box of spirituality and think that is what God expects from us. Amy Oden says, “The life of faith is indeed a walk that reorients heart and life.”
And what does the lord require of you? To do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God.
May it be so.
Amen.
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