Danny pointed me toward Karen Sudduth’s wonderful site today. If you subscribe to our church’s daily devotional, you’re familiar with some of Karen’s writing. When I read the devotional that our church emailed us today, I knew who the author was within the first few sentences. There’s not many people that I can recognize through their writing that quickly – but she’s that good (and her artwork is too).  I could share more with you about Karen’s journey, but I’ll let others who know her comment here.  Better yet, take a trip to her site and learn for yourself.

Anyway, thanks to Danny for pointing us to Karen’s site.  It is a blessing.

1 Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the parent loves the child.
2 By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments.
3 For the love of God is this, that we obey his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome,
4 for whatever is born of God conquers the world. And this is the victory that conquers the world, our faith.
5 Who is it that conquers the world but the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?  1 John 5:1-5 (NRSV)

But now here’s the thing – my friend also believes strongly that faith and belief are part of a process and, as we continued to talk, he explained that for faith to grow it must grow in community and love of one another.  Isn’t this what today’s lesson scripture says?

There are always going to be those who doubt and question and analyze and come to God past all these hurdles.  There are also going to be those who come to God with simple faith.  Both roads, however, not only have the same destination - they involve travel; they involve growth if you will.  They are . . . roads.  We are tempted in this day and age to focus so much on the destination that we forget about the way we must travel to arrive at that destination.  The one who comes to God despite doubt and the one who comes in simple unquestioning faith must both travel their separate roads to ultimate victory and those roads involve loving God and obeying his commandments:  not as a requirement for love, but as a result of that love.

Start at the “verie height” – the King James Version: “He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?”  The New International Version is very similar – “He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.”  The New Revised Standard Version is somewhat similar, but uses a different word when translating the Hebrew “chesed“.  So, okay, let’s leave that word aside for a moment and concentrate on the english word that most translations use for the Hebrew “mishpat” – “justice” or “justly”.  Another Hebrew word which has a similar meaning is “tzedek“.  Both words are used in Amos 5:24 – “But let justice (mishpat) roll down like waters, and righteousness  (tzedek) like an ever flowing stream”.

How do these two different words speak to you?  How do they speak to you concerning what God requires (desires) of us – his creations?

Turning to “chesed” – this has been translated a number of ways – it’s a difficult term to understand in Hebrew, much less to translate into English.  Loving-kindness, mercy, loyalty, to love doing kind things, compassionate and loyal in your love  . . . these are just a few of the ways the word is translated.  What’s so hard about this word?  Why is it so much easier to render “justice” than to show . . . “chesed“?

In our lesson scripture for today, we are told two things.  First, as we’ve been discussing  today, we’re told what God requires of us.  This was the concern of the people to whom Micah was writing, just as it is a concern for us.  Thank God that he is willing to not only do “justice” by us, but to show us his covenantal, loyal, love, kindness and mercy — “chesed“.

But we’re told something else as well:

1 Hear what the Lord says: Rise, plead your case before the mountains, and let the hills hear your voice.
2 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.
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? Micah 6:1-8 (NRSV)

Not only are we told what the Lord requires of us – we’re reminded that “He has told” us “what is good”.

We often talk about God in terms of mystery (indeed, there is a place for such talk), but there’s no mystery regarding what he requires of us . . . he has told us . . .

So why is it so hard for us to do justice, to love kindness, to show mercy . . . . . . . . .

. . . . . . to love our neighbor as ourselves?

Why?

14 It was also about these that Enoch, in the seventh generation from Adam, prophesied, saying, “See, the Lord is coming with ten thousands of his holy ones,
15 to execute judgment on all, and to convict everyone of all the deeds of ungodliness that they have committed in such an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things that ungodly sinners have spoken against him.”
16 These are grumblers and malcontents; they indulge their own lusts; they are bombastic in speech, flattering people to their own advantage.

17 But you, beloved, must remember the predictions of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ;
18 for they said to you, “In the last time there will be scoffers, indulging their own ungodly lusts.”
19 It is these worldly people, devoid of the Spirit, who are causing divisions.
20 But you, beloved, build yourselves up on your most holy faith; pray in the Holy Spirit;
21 keep yourselves in the love of God; look forward to the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life.
22 And have mercy on some who are wavering;
23 save others by snatching them out of the fire; and have mercy on still others with fear, hating even the tunic defiled by their bodies.  Jude 1:14-23 (NRSV)

In what ways have you experienced God’s mercy?  Have you taken advantage of opportunities to follow the exhortations of verses 21 and 22?

I’m sure one of our class members will want to volunteer to read and review one or more of these timely works for the class.

Today, Pope Benedict released his encyclical, Caritas in Veritate (Charity in Truth), the first social encyclical since Pope John Paul II wrote Centesimus Annus in 1991.  Signed last week on the feast day of St. Peter and St. Paul (June 29th), its public release was obviously timed to coincide with the beginning tomorrow of the G-8 summit in Italy, since the subject of the letter is the economy.

Not surprisingly, the encyclical states that moral values and judgments must have a place in economic recovery and development.  Of course, this raises the question of whether and to what extent the Church (in Rome or elsewhere) should be involving itself in such wordly matters as the wealth of nations, but I’m not sure that once raised the question will get much attention.  It’s more likely that the press will focus on excerpts along the lines of those found on Forbes website, such as:

“Profit is useful if it serves as a means towards an end that provides a sense both of how to produce it and how to make good use of it. Once profit becomes the exclusive goal, if it is produced by improper means and without the common good as its ultimate end, it risks destroying wealth and creating poverty.”

It’s doubtful that the mainstream media will want to focus as much on the role of religion in public discourse -

“Religious freedom does not mean religious indifferentism, nor does it imply that all religions are equal. Discernment is needed regarding the contribution of cultures and religions, especially on the part of those who wield political power, if the social community is to be built up in a spirit of respect for the common good. Such discernment has to be based on the criterion of charity and truth. . . .
“The exclusion of religion from the public square — and, at the other extreme, religious fundamentalism — hinders an encounter between persons and their collaboration for the progress of humanity. Public life is sapped of its motivation and politics takes on a domineering and aggressive character. Human rights risk being ignored either because they are robbed of their transcendent foundation or because personal freedom is not acknowledged. Secularism and fundamentalism exclude the possibility of fruitful dialogue and effective cooperation between reason and religious faith. Reason always stands in need of being purified by faith: this also holds true for political reason, which must not consider itself omnipotent.”

. . . or on the deeper underlying themes of our accountability for one another:

“Hence, in the pursuit of development, there is a need for “the deep thought and reflection of wise men in search of a new humanism which will enable modern man to find himself anew”. But that is not all. Underdevelopment has an even more important cause than lack of deep thought: it is “the lack of brotherhood among individuals and peoples”. Will it ever be possible to obtain this brotherhood by human effort alone? As society becomes ever more globalized, it makes us neighbours but does not make us brothers.”

Anyway, you may want to study the full text of the letter here.

6 I will strengthen the house of Judah, and I will save the house of Joseph. I will bring them back because I have compassion on them, and they shall be as though I had not rejected them; for I am the Lord their God and I will answer them.
7 Then the people of Ephraim shall become like warriors, and their hearts shall be glad as with wine. Their children shall see it and rejoice, their hearts shall exult in the Lord.
8 I will signal for them and gather them in, for I have redeemed them, and they shall be as numerous as they were before.
9 Though I scattered them among the nations, yet in far countries they shall remember me, and they shall rear their children and return.
10 I will bring them home from the land of Egypt, and gather them from Assyria; I will bring them to the land of Gilead and to Lebanon, until there is no room for them.
11 They shall pass through the sea of distress, and the waves of the sea shall be struck down, and all the depths of the Nile dried up. The pride of Assyria shall be laid low, and the scepter of Egypt shall depart.
12 I will make them strong in the Lord, and they shall walk in his name, says the Lord.  Zech 10:6-12 (NRSV)

Matthew Henry commented on verses 6-12 as follows:

Here are precious promises to the people of God, which look to the state of the Jews, and even to the latter days of the church. Preaching the gospel is God’s call for souls to come to Jesus Christ. Those whom Christ redeemed by his blood, God will gather by his grace.—Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary

The main point for us to consider is not so much the specifics of God’s actions as contained in the verses above, but God’s motivation for doing so.  Read the verses again and pick out the words that signify why it is that God plans to restore the people of Israel to Jerusalem.  More on Zechariah later this week.

23 ”When he was forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his relatives, the Israelites.
24 When he saw one of them being wronged, he defended the oppressed man and avenged him by striking down the Egyptian.
25 He supposed that his kinsfolk would understand that God through him was rescuing them, but they did not understand.
26 The next day he came to some of them as they were quarreling and tried to reconcile them, saying, ‘Men, you are brothers; why do you wrong each other?’
27 But the man who was wronging his neighbor pushed Moses aside, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and a judge over us?
28 Do you want to kill me as you killed the Egyptian yesterday?’
29 When he heard this, Moses fled and became a resident alien in the land of Midian. There he became the father of two sons.  Acts 7:23-29 (NRSV)

“But they did not understand”.  Didn’t understand Moses.  Didn’t understand Stephen.  Didn’t understand Jesus.

Sometimes we just don’t get it.

To be chosen, to be set apart, is to be holy, not exclusive.  To be one is to be united in our God-given diversity, not to march in lock-step.  The law is to bring us closer to God, not to burden us with guilt.  As we move on toward perfection, that is what we must keep in mind and that requires prayer, submission and calling upon the grace of God.  That requires loving God and loving our neighbors as God loves.

21 Be subject to one another out of reverence for Christ.
22 Wives, be subject to your husbands as you are to the Lord.
23 For the husband is the head of the wife just as Christ is the head of the church, the body of which he is the Savior.
24 Just as the church is subject to Christ, so also wives ought to be, in everything, to their husbands.
25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her,
26 in order to make her holy by cleansing her with the washing of water by the word,
27 so as to present the church to himself in splendor, without a spot or wrinkle or anything of the kind—yes, so that she may be holy and without blemish.
28 In the same way, husbands should love their wives as they do their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself.
29 For no one ever hates his own body, but he nourishes and tenderly cares for it, just as Christ does for the church,
30 because we are members of his body.
31 ”For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.”
32 This is a great mystery, and I am applying it to Christ and the church.
33 Each of you, however, should love his wife as himself, and a wife should respect her husband.  Eph 5:21-33 (NRSV)

1 Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.
2 ”Honor your father and mother”—this is the first commandment with a promise:
3 ”so that it may be well with you and you may live long on the earth.”
4 And, fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.  Eph 6:1-4 (NRSV)

12 As God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience.
13 Bear with one another and, if anyone has a complaint against another, forgive each other; just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.
14 Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.
15 And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in the one body. And be thankful.
16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly; teach and admonish one another in all wisdom; and with gratitude in your hearts sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs to God.
17 And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

18 Wives, be subject to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord.
19 Husbands, love your wives and never treat them harshly.
20 Children, obey your parents in everything, for this is your acceptable duty in the Lord.
21 Fathers, do not provoke your children, or they may lose heart.
22 Slaves, obey your earthly masters in everything, not only while being watched and in order to please them, but wholeheartedly, fearing the Lord.
23 Whatever your task, put yourselves into it, as done for the Lord and not for your masters,
24 since you know that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward; you serve the Lord Christ. (Colossians 3:12-24)