Commentary on Lectionary for January 30, 2011

Epiphany 4A

Micah 6:1-8; Psalm 15; 1 Corinthians 1:18-31; Matthew 5:1-12

A week after our President’s State of the Union address, opening Micah’s book to chapter six is like reading God’s State of the World address. Through Micah, God reminds the people of all He has done for them and asks: “What have I done unto thee? And wherein have I wearied thee?”

In our contemporary world, it is enlightening to review the scriptural passage from Numbers 22 to 24 that Micah references. Balak, king of Moab, asks Balaam to come and curse the burgeoning population of Israelites who are encroaching on Moabite territory. But Balaam’s first allegiance is to God, and there is no way he is going to curse a people whom God is blessing. In our world where business as usual often includes bribes and “incentives,” Balaam stands as one who refuses wealth and honor from Balak rather than go against his internal values of loyalty and honesty. He was lucky he didn’t get killed.

Jesus DID get killed. His values were not those of the power structure around him, nor could he find a place for himself in the cozy relationship the Jewish and Roman authorities had with each other. On the contrary, he elevated the values of meekness, poverty of spirit, thirst for justice, peacemaking, and so on in what we have come to call the “beatitudes.”

And so Paul, Jesus’s follower, talks about a whole different idea of wisdom. It is NOT the kind of wisdom you can get from a power retreat led by a motivational speaker. Paul readily admits that the wisdom aspired to by followers of Jesus is going to look at lot like foolishness. What could be more foolish than—in the words of Psalm 15—NOT to lend out money for usurious interest? –NOT to slander others with your tongue on, say, radio and TV talk shows? --NOT to accept any bribes against the innocent? (Ps. 15:5).

It is easy to read these passages and cast further blame on those who are today before judges or are already in prison. It is more difficult to ask what we ourselves have contributed to a culture that makes these crimes possible or even desirable (if you don’t get caught). Or we might ask for lessons in practicing the beatitudes and applying them in our lives, which could complicate our lives tremendously, and open us up to ridicule as people who are really foolish.

Or we could seek to practice every day and have as our mantra those most famous and oft-quoted words of Micah pertaining to what the Lord requires of us: “..Only to do the right and to love goodness, and to walk humbly with your God” (Micah 6:8).