What Does the Lord Require of You?: A Meditation on Micah 6 for the 4th Sunday after Epiphany

Wherewith shall I come before the Lord, and bow myself before the high God?

shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves of a year old?

Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, or 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 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 Word of the Lord came to the Prophet Micah after the division of the Northern and Southern Kingdoms of Isreal and Judah, but before and during the great calamity of the Assyrian Exile which wiped out the northern tribes in the 8^th century BC.  Preaching in the southern kingdom, he would have been contemporaneous with Isaiah, sharing both warnings and promises from God for His wayward people.  While the northern tribes of Isreal were almost entirely consumed in pagan idolatry and the evils of surrounding pagan nations, the southern tribes vacillated between apostasy and faithfulness, and lasted a bit longer until their evils eventually brought upon them the Babylonian Captivity of the 6^th century BC.

 

Even so, the Word of the Lord came to His people, calling them to faith and repentance, because God did not wish to see the destruction of His people, but their redemption.  The 6^th chapter of Micah’s prophesies open with God calling His people to declare where and how He was unfaithful to them, even as God recounted the ways in which He had saved their fathers in every generation past.  Micah then answered hypothetically, asking what they could possibly bring as satisfaction for their sins, from the works of their hands to even the sacrifice of their own progeny (a horrific act forbidden by God, but often practiced by the pagans around them).  To those false answers, Micah received the great and resonating response:  He hath shown thee, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?

 

Justice, Mercy, and Humility are what God demands of His people, because they envelope the entire order of Creation from its beginning to its end.  Justice is related to the Law, demanding that God’s people follow His Word to avoid evil and embrace what is good, true, and beautiful, as He once thundered from Mt. Sinai and delivered to Moses on tablets of stone.  Mercy relates to the Gospel of grace, preferring forgiveness to vengeance, and foreshadowing the Vicarious Atonement of Jesus who would take away the sins of the whole world.  Humility before God enfolds both Faith which believes, loves, and trusts God above all things, and Repentance which turns from evil to walk again in the ways of the Lord.  Thus, in the prophecies of Micah 700 years before Jesus, we hear the foreshadowing of the Holy Gospel which Jesus would send His Apostles to preach unto the ends of the earth and until the end of time:  Repentance and the Forgiveness of sins in Jesus Christ alone.  Micah preached in type and form what Jesus would reveal fully by His life, death, and resurrection, with Justice, Mercy, and Humility all fulfilled in the Incarnation of the Eternal Word.

 

If it seems curious that the world is lacking in Justice, Mercy, and Humility, it should not.  Ours is an age in which many have abandoned humble faith and repentance before God in exchange for the intoxicating highs of Pride and self-worship.  Where is Justice found, when souls seek their own elevation and ignore the Creator who brought them into being, and to whom they must one day give an account? Who can discern Good and Evil when the Word of the Lord is rejected for social convenience and self-satisfaction? Where will Mercy be found when evil abounds, and the love of many grow cold?  Can forgiveness and grace be multiplied when there is no faith or repentance?  The humility of faith is what brings forth true justice and mercy in the lives of men, reflecting the Light of Christ who is the fullness of Justice, Mercy, and Humility. Without Christ, the world falls back into the old pagan darkness, surrounded by enemies they cannot defeat, where lawlessness and vindictiveness find their final fruits in death and destruction.

 

Yet we carry a greater hope than the darkness of any age, just as Micah carried that hope 2,700 years ago, and our forefathers carried it in every age since.  We may not be able in our own power to overcome the darkness, but Jesus has already done so.  It is Christ who calls the world to Faith and Repentance, that Love and Mercy might rain down upon every soul, every family, every parish, every community, and every nation who turns back to Him.  In Christ all Justice is satisfied, that His people might pursue what is good by the power of His Holy Spirit, speaking Mercy as it was spoken to them, and showing forth Humility in Faith and Repentance as our Lord has given it to them through His Cross.  Before the Light of Christ there is no darkness that cannot be put to flight, nor evil which cannot repelled— for Christ heals the wounds in every soul so that they might rise up in His Word to heal everyone else around them.  Now, even here, the Word and Light of Christ shines forth with undimmed glory, enlightening every soul who will turn to Him, believe and live.  Soli Deo Gloria!  Amen.

 

Fishers of Men: A Meditation on Matthew 4 for the 3rd Sunday after Epiphany

 From that time Jesus began to preach and to say, 

“Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

 

And Jesus, walking by the Sea of Galilee, saw two brothers,

Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother,

casting a net into the sea; for they were fishermen. 

Then He said to them, 

“Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.”

They immediately left their nets and followed Him.

 

St. Matthew notes in the 4^th chapter of his Gospel a prophecy of Isaiah fulfilled, which was that people who sat in deep darkness had seen a great light.  That Light was not just a general enlightenment or sense of progressive social improvement, but the Word of God Incarnate walking, talking, and teaching among them. The Light of Christ broke through all forms of darkness to reach the individual mind and soul of everyone who would listen to Him, liberating them from their demonic fetters to sin, death, and hell which the devil held over them after their Fall.  Jesus was not just a philosopher or political activist, nor was He a revolutionary.  On the contrary, Jesus was the Messiah, the Son of David by human ancestry and heir of the Davidic Throne, yet also the Son of God begotten of the Father before all ages, and through whom all things were created.  The Kingdom of the Son of God is eternal, His throne unassailable, and His power absolute.  When the Light of Christ entered the world as the Word Incarnate, it was the greatest Light the creation had witnessed since the dawn of creation itself, veiled in the humanity received of His blessed mother, which he assumed into His divine Person, for the salvation of the world.

 

As the Light of Christ is never separated from the Father and the Holy Spirit, who together form the divine community-in-unity as the Most Holy Trinity, so the Light of Christ in the world does not dwell alone.  Jesus knew and ordained His disciples from before the foundation of the world, yet in the fullness of time, He walked along the lakeshore and called two to Himself:  Simon, who would later be called Peter, and Andrew his brother, both fishermen by trade.  Jesus’ calling to them rings out:  Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.  Recognizing the Light which had come to call them, both Simon Peter and Andrew left their fishing tackle on the shore, and followed Jesus into a mission that would become the pivot of the ages.  While the covenants with Noah, Abraham, and Moses would prepare and safeguard the people of God in the ancient world, they were ultimately preparing His people to receive the fullness of salvation in the Lamb of God who took away the sins of the world.  Peter and Andrew were now conscripted into that monumental series of events.

 

Even so, it was Christ alone who satisfied the wrath due to mankind for their fall into sin, and Christ alone who rose victorious over sin, death, hell, and the devil on Easter morning.  Only Jesus was and is and ever shall be the Eternally Begotten Son of the Father, full of grace and truth, and only Jesus would stand before the Father on behalf of the world as Prophet, Priest, Sacrifice, and King.  Only Jesus was the Master to His disciples, as only Jesus was the True Vine into which all living branches must be grafted.  The disciples were not called to accomplish or re-accomplish the unique work of Christ and share His glory, but to live in the gracious victory Christ’s work provided to them, receiving the forgiveness of sins, eternal life, and salvation from every enemy of man.  Living in that salvation by grace through faith in Christ alone, they were raised up to make disciples of Jesus from all nations, baptizing them in the Name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and teaching them to observe everything that Jesus first taught His disciples.  The mission was not to add to Jesus’ work for the salvation of the world, but to bring others to the Savior while living in His Salvation.

 

Many ages past, and our age in particular, can lose focus of these truths.  To be made fishers of men is not to dream up new initiatives, new methods, new persuasions, new doctrines, or new political structures, as if human ingenuity would add anything to the Eternal Word or the Gospel Testament He wrote in His own Blood.  Rather, to be made fishers of men by the King of the Universe is to bear witness to the love of God in Christ Jesus; to preach repentance and the forgiveness of sins in His most holy name alone; to be good and faithful stewards of the Mysteries of God given to the Church as His Word and Sacraments; to live and to love one another as Christ first lived and loved us.  Jesus’ disciples become fishers of men because they abide in Christ and His Word, and that Word moves through them with the power of the Holy Spirit to bear witness to the salvation Jesus offers to everyone who will turn and follow in Him.  The fishers of men whom Jesus raises up are not merely engaged in political, economic, or sociological enterprises, but like the holy angels, are sent to show forth the wonders of God’s love and grace to a dark and dying world, each according to his vocation.

 

And that is the beauty and mystery of the Church’s history across the ages, despite her sins and failings:  it is Christ who dwells in her as He dwells in every baptized Christian, His Word and Spirit raising them up into a newness of life which cannot help but testify of what great things God has done for them.  Some He makes pastors and teachers, others evangelists and missionaries; but most He makes into faithful fathers and mothers, husbands and wives, brothers and sisters of every good and noble trade or profession, each singing out with their unique voices the love of God which has saved them.  Thus by the grace of God in Christ Jesus alone, are we all made fishers of men, that the world may see that great and eternal Light, believing and living in Christ unto ages of ages in eternal His Kingdom.  Soli Deo Gloria!  Amen.