Thinking Critically About Scripture; Sermon, November 5, 2017

Micah 3: (1-4), 5-12

Matthew 23:1-12

I have this memory burned into my brain from an interaction with a girl in 4^th grade.  Her name was Renee, and we were classmates from kindergarten all the way through 12^th grade.

It was mid-fall I believe, and we were playing Tetherball, which is where there is a volleyball attached by rope to a pole.  The object is to hit the ball going your direction until it becomes fully wound around the pole.  Sometimes you hit it hard, or it bounces back and surprises you.  I’m sure each time that happened, I probably muttered, or blurted, “Oh my God!” 

And very promptly, Renee told me that I was sinning.  My saying “Oh My God” when I was surprised, or exclaiming it when I was losing, that I was taking the Lord’s name in vain, and it was a sin. 

Now that I think of it, Renee was Catholic and probably started CCD that year… but as long as I knew her, she took religion very seriously – and had no qualms about telling you when you were doing it wrong.

I spent a lot of time thinking about that habit I had after she mentioned it.  I never questioned it but took it as true – because God knows, she was getting more religious training than I was – and tried to change my words, started using “Oh My Gosh” whenever I remembered as my basic exclamation…but it was futile.  It had become so commonplace in my generation… literally every young person I knew used the expression on a daily, probably hourly basis!  And to think about that now… if taking the Lord’s name in vain is saying “Oh My God” at times other than prayer… it’s nearly a lost cause.  I mean, we even have an abbreviation for all our texting apps… OMG. We even make jokes about young girls saying, O.M.G.  

I was reminded of that episode because of today’s passage; Micah is the real author of what it means to take the Lord’s name in vain. 

We can get lost in this passage in Micah without a little unpacking and a little context.

Let’s start with context.  Micah was a prophet who prophesied around 737 – 696 BCE.  Unlike other prophets who have stories about running away from God’s call, we don’t know when he was called by God, nor do we know anything about the end of his life. But he was active in Judah from before the fall and loss of the entire northern kingdom to the Assyrians in 722, and experienced the devastation brought by Sennacherib’s invasion of Judah in 701 BC. 

Micah is referred to as a ‘minor prophet’ in the Hebrew Bible or Old Testament.  This is in contrast to a major prophet with a longer record, like Isaiah or Jeremiah.  There are 12 books from the minor prophets that we rarely have the privilege to include on Sunday mornings.  In fact, Micah lived at the same time as 3 other prophets; 2 of them, Hosea and Amos, were also considered ‘minor’, but Micah also lived simultaneously with Isaiah.   Isaiah, however, resided in the city of Jerusalem, and Micah lived in a rural place called Moresheth.  He would often take aim at Judah’s city dwellers – those in Jerusalem - in his prophecy.

Now the Kingdom of Judah, the remaining Southern Kingdom, was agriculturally rich and situated at the crossroads of the Arabian world and trade.  At the time that Micah lived, Judah was making additional money by taxing that Arabian trade that passed through its borders.  These taxes enriched the wealthy classes, giving them the ability to buy up more and more land.  This developed into a sort of sharecropper situation, where most of the farmers were dirt poor doing backbreaking agricultural labor, while the wealth was trickling up to the wealthy in the cities.  Those ruling classes, and the prophets who advised them, were not only well fed and cared for, but ignorant - or possibly willfully oblivious - to the situation of those outside the walls of Jerusalem. But Micah, being a voice from the outside, saw a different side to things – different from even Isaiah, who lived in Jerusalem. 

In the meantime, there was also war.  In 703 the Assyrian Emperor, Sennacherib, started a campaign to quash rebellions against the Assyrians.  It began east of Jerusalem and 36 cities were destroyed in Judah.  When Sennacherib’s army laid siege to Jerusalem in 701, the fortifications made by Hezekiah held them off and the wealth of Jersusalem paid him off – both the Assyrian record and the biblical record mention that a tribute was paid to Sennacherib.  But the Emperor still intended to destroy Jerusalem until, according to biblical record, God sent out an angel who, in one night, struck down “a hundred and eighty-five thousand in the camp of the Assyrians,” sending Sennacherib back “with shame of face to his own land.”  This might have been vindicating for Isaiah, for the time being, who from within the walls of the city preached everlasting salvation for Zion ( his metaphor for Jerusalem).  Micah, however, gives voice to the pain and suffering of the people from the 36 other destroyed cities outside of Jerusalem.  Micah was the first prophet to predict the downfall of Jerusalem from their idol worship, corrupt practices and negligent care for the rest of Judah.  Eventually, his prophecy came true. 

Amidst this context, we should take another look at the words. 

Our reading selection eliminates verses 1-4, but that’s where he lays out who he’s speaking to.  He tells us in verse 1; listen you heads of Jacob and ruler of the House of Israel.  Jacob is considered the father of the 12 tribes, so presumably Micah is speaking to tribal leaders and especially those in the house of Israel.

Then he suggests that they will ‘know justice’ – i.e be punished because they ‘hate what is good and love what is evil’.  Then, there’s a few verses that make it clear why they aren’t included on Sunday morning; Micah suggests with some colorful language that the people have been tortured, literally or metaphorically, by these same people.   And then he provides an explanation of what will happen; the Lord will hide his face – that they will not know the Lord’s presence, insight, protection or benefit – because they have acted wickedly.

That’s the intro before we get to the verse today, where Micah proclaims an indictment against the prophets and advisors of the royal court who live insulated in the preserved and wealthy city of Jerusalem.

5 Thus says the LORD concerning the prophets who lead my people astray, who cry "Peace" when they have something to eat, but declare war against those who put nothing into their mouths.

The translation of ‘peace’ is less clear, because it’s pretty difficult to find fault in crying for peace. But in Hebrew, the word for peace is “Shalom”, which is also translated as well-being.  Kings in the ancient world had diviners who would advise them how God or the Gods might look upon their actions before making decisions.  The most common sort of oracle preserved from this time is the “oracle of well-being” in which the diviner tells the king that his path is blessed by the God or Gods, and that all will be well. 

Micah decries people who would sacrifice the well-being of others while being completely disconnected from their experience or suffering. 

Worse yet, as we see in Verse 11, those people who were bestowing blessings on the King’s actions were themselves paid for their advice.  There’s an allegory for government officials and lobbying in here…

What type of fortitude would it require to give advice against the King if the King is paying the tab for your dinner and livelihood?  Micah indicts entire administrative system with corrupting justice and God’s will for its own enrichment. 

Verse 11: Jerusalem’s rulers give judgment for a bribe, its priests teach for a price, its prophets give oracles for money; yet they lean upon the LORD and say, "Surely the LORD is with us! No harm shall come upon us."

Now THAT is taking the Lord’s name in vain.  

We rarely have leaders who assert God’s blessing in war in this day and age, but there are many examples where people are still claiming the Lord is on their side and in the process, harming those who are voiceless.  Micah, as an outside voice, has the opportunity to give voice to the suffering.  He brings with him clarity and critical thinking. 

Jesus, too, seems to be calling for critical thinking in our Gospel passage.  Today’s reading comes immediately after last weeks’ reading; Jesus is still being challenged by the Chief Priests and Pharisees in front of crowds during his last week.  But now he turns and talks directly to the crowd, calling into question whether the authority the Pharisees have – Moses’ seat – truly deserves them allegiance of the crowd.  Do as they teach, Jesus says – because obedience to the law, to Torah, is still worthwhile.  But do not do as they do; they flash around their holiness with fancy dress, long tassles and scripture written broadly on the forehead.  Their goal is to be seen as holy while creating large burdens – expensive sacrifices and holiness codes – for others that they do not have to fulfill.  The law itself is ok, but what they have turned it into – they’ve turned it into a bunch of rules that become impossible to carry out, and then dump them on others.

Micah and Jesus… both outsiders calling for people to see things anew and come to their own conclusions.  To question authority at the point of where it does harm to others.  To not accept things as they are, just because they are being told to.  To use critical thinking and avoid being coerced into blind obedience.

Obedience is strong Christian value, but as a goal in itself, has some scary consequences.  World War II German Lutherans upheld Christian obedience and in so doing, acquiesced to Hitler’s plans.  Bible passages have been used in more recent history to keep women in marriages where they are abused, highlighting the mantra to obey one’s spouse. 

After World War II, German Christians wrestled with this trait of obedience. 

On the other hand, after World War II a new spiritual dialogue began that highlighted, rather than a God who demanded obedience, a God who stressed love first – love lived out in people’s real experiences. 

Yesterday afternoon, two of our members were married here in this church. Two people who have been in a relationship for 14 years, who have weathered some hard times and held on to their commitment to each other, and came out on the other side stronger.  The same that is true in most marriages.  But in this case, both were female. 

Time and again, people can be heard saying such a marriage is against the bible.   There are 7 verses – total- in the bible that can be seen to mention sexuality in some way.  Seven!  These 7 scriptures – 2 of which refer to rape, and one that is found in a book that also says women should remain silent in church (obviously we don’t obey all of them..)  For some, obedience to 7 scriptures, or perhaps the religious leaders that rail about those 7 scriptures - overshadows the harm and trauma such judgment produces in LGBT people.   On the other hand, the words ‘poor’ and ‘poverty’ appear 446 times in 385 separate verses in the Bible. "Wealth,” like it’s mentioned here in Micah, can be found 1,453 times in 1,273 verses.  "Justice," in contrast, appears 1,576 times in the Old and New Testament in 1,379 separate verses.

I believe that embracing blind obedience like this has more to do with feeling comfortable than loving God.   And I am so proud of this church for taking the risk to extend invitation, acceptance, and love to all the different ways love is manifested in the world.

We are in the midst of a century where religion is again undergoing a shift.  The shifts are slow, but we are moving towards a faith based in love that put people’s well-being first, as a tangible expression of God’s love.  This shift embraces people first, and then takes that ethic of love back to the church to bring it into the teaching.  Without hard and fast rules, this type of religious authority does require that we must discern for ourselves what is just by utilizing our moral imaginations.  That is the risk of a faith where obedience is not the highest value - but the potential for redemption is wide and deep – as deep as God’s love and as wide as our hearts will stretch.  That is a religion that will not take the Lord’s name – which is love – in vain.