Scripture: Micah 6:1-8; Matthew 5:1-12

Preacher: Nate Hosler

One summer morning in 1708, a group of 8 individuals were baptized in the Eder River in Schwarzenau, Germany. After careful Bible study and consideration of the early church, this group determined that they should be baptized (again). Having been baptized as infants into the state church, this act was an open breech of the law. This small group decided that they must “count the cost” and follow where they discerned God leading. Though this act was treasonous, they discerned, as a community, that this is what they should do. 

One of the group, chosen by lot, baptized Alexander Mack. (This person’s name was not recorded so that the group would not be named after a person). Mack then baptized the others. This act was in direct conflict with the Church-State arrangement of Christendom. This group grew into the present-day Church of the Brethren.

 The Church of the Brethren was influenced and is aligned with other Anabaptists (such as Mennonites) and Radical Pietists. Anabaptists emerged during the time of the Reformation. These Anabaptists were/are considered the “Radical Reformation” or the “left wing of the Reformation” and were disliked and persecuted by both the Catholic Church and the Protestant Reformers.  Professor Drew Hart, in his new book Making it Plain argues that this anti-Christendom posture defining factor of the Anabaptist. 

This new and alternative community was, and is, at its foundation, a challenge to Christendom In our current context, this is perhaps most prominent in Christian Nationalism or white Christian Nationalism. Hart, who grew up in the Black Church tradition and became part of the Anabaptist church shows the need for the witness of both the Black Church and Anabaptist in the current political and religious situation.  

He notes, “Fugitives and martyrs have loomed large in Black and Anabaptist imaginations, respectively. The fugitive and the martyr each remind us of what faithfulness looks like while living within severe constraints under imperial domination bent toward one’s destruction. (Hart, 249)

Our first passage is from the prophet Micah. After the liberation of the Hebrew people from slavery in Egypt, the people wandered in the wilderness from 40 years. While some scholars have asserted that the arrival and settling in the “promised land” was more gradual and less definitive and violent, the scriptural telling is of violent divinely supported conquest and settling. Whereas the Divine intent is for a different political model than other nations, the people demanded and King. As predicted, the political economy of Kings is one of extraction and centralization of power and wealth as well as religious practices. 

Throughout the Old Testament, a repeated refrain that faithfulness and righteous living results in a flourishing community and unfaithfulness or disobedience often ends in being conquered by another nation. 

Into this historical and theological context, the prophet Micah speaks. Our passage is 8 verses from chapter 6. (There are 7 chapters total). 

The verses begin with the people “pleading their case” before God. The Lord says, “Rise, plead your case before the mountains.” Interestingly the Lord is also stating his case before the mountains. Somehow, the topography is acting as judge. God has a case against the people and the hills are playing the role of judge or arbiter between God and the people. 

God continues, asking “what have I done to you?” Why do I get such poor treatment or disregard. Recounting the ways that God has cared for and rescued the people, the case for obedience is made. While this framing might be read as transactional, it can also be seen as a mutual relationship of care. When a relationship is whole, where there is the fullness of peace, the people’s relationships between each other are marked by common care. Similarly, when the relationship between the people and God is whole and defined by the fullness of peace, there is common care. 

In verse 6 (of our 8), the speaker changes. The speaker asks a question: How should I come to the Lord? The speaker asks about coming with the standard form of worship—offerings and sacrifices. While certain ritual offerings were expected, the implied obvious answer to this question is, no! 

The quantities  suggested are hyperbolic—“thousands of rams” “ten thousand rivers of oil.” There is also the reference practice of surrounding communities, the ritual offering of one’s own children. 

The prophet is saying, of course, this is not what God wants. However, this approach is what the Kings who consolidated wealth, power, and religious institutions did. They often thought they could garner divine favor by such over the top sacrifices. The Kings and ruling systems extracted wealth, labor, and resources from the people. By consolidating control and wealth they could then perform elaborate religious acts to further cement their control. 

The prophet directly confronts this notion that God’s favor can be bought. Rather the prophet reminds us:

⁸ 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?

This is what God requires—justice, kindness, humility. 

This simple directive from the prophet Micah appears often in struggles and protests where Christians or church leaders join in. Do justice, Love kindness. Walk humbly with God. 

One version to appear recently is:

Do Justice

Love Kindness

Abolish ICE

This rightly proclaims that certain actions are in direct violation of the way of God. It is wrong to terrorize communities. It is wrong to wield power to harm.

⁸ 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?

In addition to opposing, the prophet also invites us to imagine something new.

Drew Hart writes, “The prophetic tradition invites us, through divine imagination, to glimpse God’s dream for us. That is, to conceive of the world otherwise, rather than remain stuck in the reason that the way things are will always be. And through deep hope in a God who is able to make a difference, prophets call us to join the divine ushering of the world toward shalom.” (Hart, Making it Plain: Why we NEED Anabaptism and the Black Church, p247)

 Walter Bruggemann takes a similar approach. In The Prophetic Imagination, 

He asserts, “The task of prophetic ministry is to nurture, nourish, and evoke a consciousness and perception alternative to the consciousness and perception of the dominant culture around us.” 

In his inaugural sermon, Jesus read from the scroll of Isaiah… “I have come to preach good news to the poor…freedom for the oppressed…” In the sequel to the Gospel of Luke (the book of Acts of the Apostles), we see the early church joyfully exploring what it means to live out its new life. Not only are they continuing Jesus’ prophetic ministry of criticizing economic (and other) injustices, but they are imagining and building a new community in the power of the Holy Spirit. In Acts 4:32-37 we read of the radical reworking of community relationships—there was no needy person as possessions were sold and held in common for the wellbeing of all.  

Through the power of the Spirit, in the pattern of Jesus, the early church joyfully grew in its love and care for all. Boundaries of the community were expanded and the early church lived out its common life in the public square. 

We will conclude with the words of Jesus. Listen to how this stands a sharp contrast to the imagination of the empire. 

5 When Jesus^[a] saw the crowds, he went up the mountain, and after he sat down, his disciples came to him. ² And he began to speak and taught them, saying:

³ “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

⁴ “Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.

⁵ “Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.

⁶ “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.

⁷ “Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.

⁸ “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.

⁹ “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.

¹⁰ “Blessed are those who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

¹¹ “Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely^[b] on my account. ¹² Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

—

Micah 6:1-8 

6 Hear what the Lord says:
    Rise, plead your case before the mountains,
    and let the hills hear your voice.
² Hear, you mountains, the case of the Lord,
    and you enduring foundations of the earth,
for the Lord has a case against his people,
    and he will contend with Israel.

³ “O my people, what have I done to you?
    In what have I wearied you? Answer me!
⁴ 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.
⁵ O my people, remember now what King Balak of Moab devised,
    what Balaam son of Beor answered him,
and what happened from Shittim to Gilgal,
    that you may know the saving acts of the Lord.”

⁶ “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?
⁷ 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?”
⁸ 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?