What Does the Lord Require?

A reflection on the readings for the fourth Sunday after the Epiphany.

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Sometimes when I’m reading Paul’s letters, I imagine that he’s preaching on a particular Gospel passage even though I know that his letters were written before what we call the four Gospels were penned. Or perhaps and more likely Paul would be pondering the words of the prophet Micah or the Psalmist as he wrote to the people of the church of Corinth. Today’s readings so beautifully weave together that I wonder if those who arranged our lectionary had similar thoughts. If you haven’t read the lessons for today or heard them read out-loud in the worship you have attended today, I encourage you to read them before continuing (use the link above) and perhaps even to keep them close this week and read them each day. These are some of the most poignant descriptions of what it is to live in God’s Kingdom-on-earth-as-in-heaven in our holy scriptures. And in the US today, more than ever, we need to absorb these words into our very beings as an antidote to the poisonous form of power being forced upon us.

Over and over again throughout the history of God’s people, prophets reminded God’s people that God didn’t give them laws so that they could earn more of God’s admiration or favor. The laws of God are to teach us how to love well. Over and over again throughout the history of ever, some of God’s people misuse the law to raise themselves above others, to instill fear in others so they could manipulate and control others in order to maintain their own seats of power. When God’s people take their eyes off of God and see only the wealth and prestige they can gain for themselves at the expense of others, they have absolutely lost the plot of God’s story. God’s story is a story of relationship, of love, of mutuality, dignity, and humility. If our earthly leaders are not demonstrating these characteristics we can rest assured they are not following God, even if they claim they are.

The prophet Micah tells us plainly that what God asks of us is to do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with God. The demonstration of strength in God’s Kingdom isn’t physical force or domination but the willingness to stand up for those who are on the margins, to speak for those whose voices have been diminished, and to raise others up when the world refuses to see their value as God’s beloved. The demonstration of strength in God’s Kingdom is showing responsibilty for each other’s wellbeing.

Life following Jesus isn’t about rising to the top or being the most powerful. Life following Jesus is about doing life together, on equal footing, grounded by the power of God’s Love. Life following Jesus isn’t about getting others to follow us but to follow Jesus with us.

All that the prophets, Paul, and our gospel stories teach us about who it is God calls us to be describe a life of nurtured relationships, not a life of transactions. Our response to God’s love for us is to be loving toward others to the best of our abilities and with God’s help. In God’s Kingdom it is the poor, the weak, the downtrodden who are the richest because they aren’t distracted by maintaining their own power or wealth. Those who have more than we need give to those with less not so we can prove ourselves worthy of God but because we see all people as God’s beloved. This is what Jesus preaches in our Gospel reading from Matthew 5.

What good does excess do me? But my excess can raise others up. And together with all that we have and all that we are and all that we do, we bring glory to God for God’s sake not ours.

Even now, in our modern western world culture we can’t seem to keep our eyes on God and use God’s words to learn to love others better. So many attempt to use God’s words as a weapon to dehumanize others. The one thing that has changed is our emphasis on the individual and individualistic living – making sure I have all that I want and more, even if I have to satisfy my wants at the expense of others. The people whom the prophets spoke to directly as well as those of Jesus’ day and Paul’s church plants lived with the understanding that we needed each other to survive. That’s why being cast out was such a severe punishment. Without the security of a community, one could not live. God created us to live as people bound together by God’s love, not as a group of individuals bumping into each other. And to the world this communal living is foolish. Yet, over and over again, the wisdom of God shows us that we thrive together, all looking out for each other as we walk humbly with God. This is how we are made to live.

We are all following our One Teacher on the same path even as we maintain our uniqueness. We each bring a necessary piece of the Kingdom puzzle, a beautiful thread to the tapestry of God’s Love. I cannot be fully who God makes me to be without you. Love requires ‘the other’ and the more love we give the more love there is. In God’s Kingdom-on-earth-as-in-heaven, giving doesn’t deplete the resources of justice, kindness, and compassion, giving increases them.

Pray that we all are given the ears to hear the cries of pain and suffering in our world. Pray that we all have the eyes to see the image of God in each other. Pray for the wisdom to know what is ours to do to relieve the suffering and the strength to stand up and speak up for God’s righteousness.

Our country is at a crossroads and we must choose whose wisdom we will listen to: the wisdom of the world that says ‘me first’ or the wisdom of God that enables us all to live fully as God created and calls us to live. We cannot be silent wishing that things will get better. We must stand together in the sure and certain hope that God’s Way of Love is the most powerful force there is. Control by fear and the violence that fear of losing power perpetuates is never the way of God. And those who try to twist the good news of God into ‘us versus them’ to justify hatred and violence are not on the side of God’s truth.

Together we can do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with God. The Kingdom of Heaven is ours, given to us, paid for by the death and resurrection of Jesus, so that we can know now the fullness of life lived in the power of love.

Keep lovin’ louder than the hate, y’all.

P.S. For those who saw my weekday posts two weeks ago, I apologize for missing this past week. I was traveling and thought I’d have the time to write them but didn’t. I’ll be back on track this coming week.