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Hello, friends, and welcome back. I’m the Rev. Sare Liz Anuszkiewicz and this is the Sunday Sermon. If you’re looking for the bits of the bible I’ve referenced in this sermon, you can find the link right here on the website where you found this audio file. For the nerds in the know, this is the fourth Sunday after the Epiphany, and here’s the sermon I preached on Sunday, January 29, 2023. 

Good morning! This morning I want to talk about the portion of the sermon on the mount that we get from the Gospel of Matthew this morning, as well as the beautiful portion from the Prophet Micah. Let’s begin with Micah.

So, Micah is a prophet smack dab in the middle of the period of the monarchy in ancient Israel. And the thing about the monarchy is that it was better than the chaos that came before it, but that didn’t mean that every king was a good king, and that the nation lived up to the promises they made to be good people. So we have a funny little scene here where the prophet, in God’s voice, invites the Nation of Israel to explain themselves, to go ahead and try to justify their actions. God holds court among the mountains and hills, and calls them to be the jury. And the point is that the mountains and hills have witnessed all the things Israel has done wrong, so there’s no way out of this for Israel. 

Then this odd little prophetic scene goes on, shifting from a courtroom setting, back to a temple setting – which would have made sense to the ancient Jewish mindset; in the court, or before the powers you’re found guilty, and then in the temple you have to go and pay your debt, make it right again, offer sacrifice. And the images we’re given in this temple scene are meant to be over the top, ridiculous, but somehow strangely appropriate for the level of shenanigans the Nation of Israel has been up to, which Micah has gone in depth with in the previous five chapters which we didn’t have to read today. But the over the top sacrifices that God and the prophet suggest are just that – ridiculous, but yet strangely appropriate. Thousands of rams. Ten thousands of rivers of oil. With actual human sacrifice of our firstborn sons.

And then the ridiculous is cut off, just at its height – suggesting human sacrifice, like the neighboring gods require. And it’s just the voice of the prophet wiping all that away, making the slate clean again. Because it’s not about the rituals we do. It’s not about the sacrifices we make, then or now. It’s not about superstitions, or cause and effect. It’s not about making a show of being good or following the rules.

Micah says, ‘God’s already told you what is good. The only thing God requires of you is to do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with your God.’

Do justice. Love kindness. Walk humbly with God.

That is a recipe for a good life. It is a recipe for a holy life. It’s not going to win you wars. It’s not going to win elections. It’s not going to make you the big bucks. It’s not going to make you famous, and it’s not going to make you popular. It’s old advice – it’s 2800 years old, and Micah’s point even at the time was that it was old, then, too.

Do justice. Love kindness. Walk humbly with God.

And eight hundred years later, Jesus’ sermon on the mount only gives more details. You’re blessed if they persecute you for doing what is right – for doing justice. You’re blessed if you’re merciful – if you love kindness.

And Jesus is pointing out something, indirectly. Jesus is saying, ‘don’t expect to be popular for doing what is right and good to do. Don’t expect to be lauded and praised for loving your neighbor – your neighbor may spit on you and steal your garbage cans. But blessed are you anyway because the point isn’t to make your neighbor love you. The point is to be good, and God sees that you are good. The point is to be good, and to let the light of goodness shine out of you – and that does have a trickle-down effect. That does illuminate all things around you. Can you use it to manipulate people into doing what you want them to do? Nope. But it makes a difference, even if it’s one you can’t see.

And just like Micah, Jesus’ sermon on the mount – the whole thing, not just the little piece we read today, but Matthew chapter five and six and seven – is a recipe for a good life. A recipe for a holy life. It’s not going to win you wars. It’s not going to win elections. It’s not going to make you the big bucks. It’s not going to make you famous, and it’s not going to make you popular. But it will lead you clearly and directly back to God, and it will keep you on a safe, well-lit highway as you drive through the valley of the shadow of death.

Amen.