What does the Lord require of you,
but to do justice, love mercy,
and walk humbly with your God? Micah 6.8
Translators note that “humbly” also means wisely or prudently.
I’m rambling all over the place. But the question is, What does the Lord require of me? That’s the question.
There are several attempts to sum up the Law. The Ten Commandments. Psalm 15 boils it down to 11 clauses. Jesus reduces it to two stated + one understood: (1) love God with all your being, (2) love your neighbor, (3) as [you love] yourself.
But the prophet called Micah achieves an elegant simplicity:
- justice,
- mercy,
- wisdom (which presumably engenders humility).
In Matthew 23.23-24 Jesus condemns the legalists who tithed the herbs in their garden but”neglected the weightier matters of the Law—justice, mercy, and faithfulness.” (TNIV) NRSV translates the same three virtues.
Do justice. Treat everybody fairly, or to go to the spirit of the Law: generously. Treat people as God treats them. For God sends rain on the just and the unjust. For the average American, the problem is that the people abused by our system are largely invisible. They may be the poor on the other side of town, or the destitute on the other side of the world. For us much of the world is as familiar as the dark side of the moon. So doing justice may require us to open our eyes and learn about people we never see, we never think of—people we have no intention of harming, but whom we do harm because of where and how we live.
Love mercy. This term mercy is a great Hebrew word hesed. It stands for love within covenant. It means that God requires us to treat the stranger kindly, that is, like kindred. Why? Because, it’s not the preacher or the deacon, not the brother or the sister, but it’s we ourselves who are standing in the need of God’s love.
Finally, walk humbly, wisely with God. Like Enoch did, like Adam and Eve in the garden did, like Jesus did. Walk is a metaphor throughout the Bible for life. How we live, day by day, hour by hour, must reflect God’s love and mercy to us.
Sorry if this post is a bit preachy. I’m preaching to myself. I’m none too happy with how I’m “burning daylight” as the Bard says.
“There’s a special Providence in the fall of a sparrow…. Readiness is all,” Hamlet tells Horatio just before his death.
I think that’s what God requires. Readiness for whatever God pleases. I hope to do better at that this coming week than I have in the past.
