Doing Justice

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 6:8

Mississippi Burning        Normal Rockwell

This line from the prophet Micah always brings me home. Micah calls us to clean up our relationships with God and with each other. To do this does not mean increased piety, increased numbers of circuits around a rosary or increased hours meditating on scripture. 

What does the Lord require of you – 

YOU who already been declared as God’s beloved child?

Micah prophetically reminds us that God requires relationships; relationships with our neighbors and particularly with those who are being denied justice and those who are being ignored or treated unkindly. To be in relationship with these IS to walk humbly with God; to do what God requires of us.

God has already told us what is good. Now comes the time to do justice and to love kindness – for THAT is God’s call to action, and that is what develops a deeper relationship with God.    

Light

The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light;

those who lived in a land of deep darkness -- on them light has shined.  

Isaiah 9:1-2

                                                               Church of the Holy Nativity Bethlehem

In the beginning……

With these three words, what we know as The Bible begins. The writer describes the world (in the beginning) as formless, empty, and dark. Formless, empty and dark until God decided to speak – and God’s first words were, “Let there be light.”

Light is God’s plan for us; God’s plan for the world. Darkness just “is” until light enters in and then… everything changes! The world’s religions have formed around this idea: that we are people of the darkness until light enters in. It is the very bedrock of our faith.  

God called it into being and God invites us into it; beckons us.  The prophet Isaiah proclaims, “The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who lived in a land of deep darkness – on them light has shined.” Where in your life is there darkness? Where does God need to shine that light? Is it in our relationships? Or on our physical or mental health? On our sins? On our blessings.  

God’s first words were, “Let there be light.”  And there was light.  

Do We Mean It?

Almighty God: Grant that your people, illumined by your Word and Sacraments, may shine with the radiance of Christ's glory, that he may be known, worshipped, and obeyed to the ends of the earth;  from the Book of Common Prayer, p215.

The Blue Hole          Jenny Huang   c.2007

                                                                             

On Sunday, we will pray this prayer. Do we mean it?

In it, we ask God to allow us to shine the radiance of Christ’s glory to the whole world. In it, we pray that we will be given the responsibility to tell others about Christ. In It we pray that we will be allowed to lead others to worship and obedience. Do we mean it?

Evangelize for Jesus? Shine his Glory on the whole world? Not me, you might say. But, if not us, who? This is our task: to shine the light of Christ’s Glory not on ourselves, but on Him for all the world to see.  It is a bold prayer. Humbling, scary, and perhaps overwhelming. But, if not us, then who? This is the task we pray for.

Perhaps the best way to start is not by quoting scripture on street corners or threatening others with an eternity in hell. Perhaps the way to start is by using the very words of our Savior himself: Come and see. 

Come and see.  

Jesus came from Galilee to be baptized by John and the River Jordan. But John tried to deter him, saying,  “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?”   Matthew 3:13-14

Why did Jesus need to be baptized by John?

Jesus was without sin, yet he came to where John was baptizing sinners and asked his cousin John to baptize him. John was thunderstruck! “My cousin, You are without sin, why do you need the cleansing or repentance that I offer to this brood of vipers?” It’s a logical question.  Jesus did not need to repent; he did not need the ritual washing that John offered those out there in the wilderness.

So why?

Jesus came to that rocky, muddy bank of the Jordan for three simple reasons.  First, to show the world his Jewishness; his willingness to submit to  the traditions of Judaism.  Second, to bear witness to his Messiahship; to let the world know that He was the One about whom John had been preaching.  And finally, his baptism was a message to us. In entering those waters, Jesus demonstrated that he not only acknowledges our sinfulness, but that he is willing to immerse himself in the murky miasma of our sins. Talk about a metaphor!  He takes our sins upon himself in order to neutralize them. He did it symbolically in the waters of the Jordan, then did it again on the cross at Calvary.

Billy Graham summarized this way:

“Jesus — who was the sinless Son of God — took upon himself your sins and my sins, and the sins of the whole human race. Just as he didn’t have to die, so he didn’t have to be baptized — until he became the bearer of all our sins.”

And that is Good News.