“Fingers in the Cookie Jar” (Micah 6:1-8 & Matthew 5:1-12)

Norah, our two-year old granddaughter in Helena, loves sweets.  She loves them a lot.  And, she is smart.  She knows where her mother and father keep all the candy and treats in the house . . . up on the counter in the kitchen.  She also knows how to climb up on a stool, crawl across the counter, and help herself to whatever her heart desires.  Her only problem is that she is not very sneaky and always gets caught with her hand in the proverbial “cookie jar”.

Of course, every two-year old has a slew of excuses for whenever they are caught doing something they shouldn’t be doing.  She was hungry.  Her older sisters—Harper and Finley—made her do it.  She was getting something for her six-month old sister, Marley . . . who just happened to be wanting some candy.  Her parents have heard every excuse and know better.  When this doesn’t work the waterworks explode complete with moaning and groaning . . . complaints that they don’t love her . . . don’t feed her enough.  Yada, yada, yada come the laments.

What my granddaughter is attempting to do is to state her case to her parents for the crimes she has committed and for her lamenting for being such a deprived child of such uncaring parents.  Those of you who are parents or grandparents . . . those of us who were children in the same shoes . . . well, we know this drill quite well.  We probably practiced it in our own childhoods . . . we are familiar with what is going on.

Knowing this, picture the scene we have just read in the book of the prophet Micah.  God has gathered the people together.  They have been caught in not quite living up to the expectations of God . . . they have been caught moaning and groaning about the demands God has placed upon them . . . they are not happy with the Lord.  So, God has gathered them together and lets them know that enough is enough.  God wants to know what God has done to deserve all this lamenting that is taking place.  God demands: “My people, what have I done to you?  How have I burdened you?  Answer me.”

God wants to know.  God wants to know what the problem is . . . after all, God has treated them well.  In fact, in the reading from Micah, God tallies up all the good things that God has done for the people . . . tells them of all the saving acts that have been done on their behalf.  As far as God is concerned, God has treated them better than they deserved . . . so, what is their beef?  God wants to know.  If there is any problem, it is the problem that the people do not live up to the expectations of God.

Of course, that is the problem.  God expects too much.  In the minds of the people it is too hard . . . it is too much to expect.  Thus, they far short of God’s expectations . . . they commit sins.  As they argue their case before God and nature, they are confronted with the simplicity of God’s demands upon them: “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 the Lord.”  God does not want sacrifices or extravagant offerings . . . No!  God wants relationships that are grounded in love . . . between them and God . . . between them and others.

That is what God wants.  That is what God has always wanted.  Unfortunately, as other prophets have spoken, God’s children are a “stiff-necked people”.  They are stubborn.  They are lazy.  And, they want to do things their way.  Our scriptures are filled with the struggle between God’s will and humanity’s will.

I have often told people that I see that the Old Testament is the story of a parent who is attempting to bring the children up in certain ways . . . in the parent’s ways.  To raise the children right.  In this story we see every parenting trick played out . . . spankings, sent to their rooms, denied things . . . we see it all.  And, we see that nothing changes the way that the children behave.  Which then shifts us over to the second half of the story—the New Testament.  Here God, the parent, takes a different ploy.  God decides to show the children how they are to act through God’s own actions.  This is the story of Jesus.  Through Jesus we are shown how to act.

Now shift to generations after the people we met in the Book of Micah . . . shift to Jesus’ time.  There is oppression.  There is violence.  There is every sort of wrong-doing one could imagine.  The people are not treating one another well . . . it is every person for him or herself.  There is not much justice . . . mercy . . . or humbleness.  People have come to accept that the means justify the end even if they are wrong, unjust, and go against the Lord.  The world is a mess. 

It is into this world that Jesus appears.

It is what brings us to our second reading this morning . . . the
“Beatitudes”.  Here God no longer cares to get in a “tit for tat” argument with the people.  Through Jesus, God lays it all out . . . and, through Jesus, God will demonstrate how it is done.  How it is for people to live lives of justice and mercy . . . how to live lives grounded in love.  As Jesus addresses the disciples and the gathered crowd, he tells them what they are to do.  Justice and mercy are big words . . . big words with lots of meanings.  But he keeps it simple.  “Justice” is in treating others and living life as you would want for yourself.  It is in doing the right thing . . . of putting the other before one’s self.  “Mercy” is action . . . it is everything from forgiving sins to healing the sick . . . it is “active compassion”.  It is putting others first before ourselves . . . Jesus turns the world upside down as we are called to remember that God finds favor—finds blessing—upon those who have been left behind.

God, through Jesus, calls for a change in culture . . . change in the way that the world is viewed and how we relate to others.  It is not a “feeling” but an “action” that works towards alleviating those situations and conditions mentioned by Jesus in the Beatitudes.  It is to rid the world of poverty and the causes of poverty . . . righting disparity . . . fighting injustice . . . seeking peace not war . . . treating people with respect and dignity as the children of God.  It is living right . . . or as stated in Micah, “To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with the Lord.”

And, Jesus shows us the way.

Now, shift once again . . . not much has changed has it?  Despite God’s efforts through Jesus, nothing has changed since Micah’s time and before.  God’s will is still the same . . . it has never changed.  God’s expectations have always been the same since the beginning.  Neither has humanity changed a whole bunch.  The problems addressed by Jesus still exist.  I would imagine that there is not even one of us gathered here this morning who haven’t thought about the dire condition of the world we live in.  I have heard more than a few say that our only hope is for God to end it all . . . that the way humanity is living points to the end coming . . . we are all going to hell in a handbasket.  As I said, it doesn’t seem as if too much has changed.

And, who is to blame?  God wants to know.

Well, we have been caught with our fingers in the cookie jar.  None of us likes being pointed at as the culprit.  And, yet, at the same time, we need to be honest with ourselves . . . if not us, then who?  God wants to know.

God laid it out simply.  Through Jesus God demonstrated how it could be.  This is God’s desire for all of God’s creation . . . and, it is hard.  Really, really hard.  What God wants from us is hard.  It is not what the world wants, and the world works hard at destroying it and justifying its own ways.  But the world is wrong.

I know that it is hard to live up to the desires of God . . . “To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with the Lord.”  Yet Jesus shows us that it can be done.  He tells us how . . . he shows us how . . . and God wants to know, if not us . . . then who?

We live in difficult times . . . times where none of like the way that humanity treats itself.  We live in a world that has gone crazy . . . a world that none of us like.  We witness daily those who have put themselves ahead of everyone else . . . who fight to preserve themselves at the expense of everyone else . . . who do things that rub us the wrong way.  And, we stand witness to these difficult times and this crazy world in which we live . . . if we cannot live up to God’s desires . . . to Jesus’ admonitions . . . then who will.  God wants to know.  God tells the people of Micah’s time, just as God tells us, “My people, what have I done to you? Answer me.”

May we all find the strength of a two-year old’s argument who has been caught with her fingers in the cookie jar to fight for what is right.  And what does God desire? “. . . what does the Lord require of you?  To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with the Lord.”  Amen.