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"He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good and
what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly,
and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God."
Micah 6:8.
While Micah was declaiming against the corrupt politicians,
and mean and cruel employers in Jerusalem, the small farmers
living in Judaea and the Philistine plain, had Micah as their
champion against rapacious, unscrupulous landlords. Thirty
years before Micah, Amos had been deeply concerned about social
justice, and the imbalances in the living conditions of the
people for whom he acted, as the unelected spokesman, with
his plea for fair treatment for everybody. Micah felt the
same pressures on him as a man of God with a conscience, and
had a like determination to change what needed to be changed
in the making of a much better society.
Micah is the voice of all those who in every age, cry aloud
for justice for all. He was only too well aware of the abject
poverty of so many and found it a most distressing task to
describe their suffering from hunger and disease. The effects
of having to live under intolerable handicaps.
He was very angry at the way so many were ill-treated in
a society in which their rulers, employers and landlords wallowed
in luxury.
He said: "Shame on those who lie in bed planning
evil and wicked deeds and rise at daybreak to do them, knowing
that they have the power. They covet land and take it by force,
if they want a house they seize it; they rob a man of his
home and steal every man's inheritance." (2:1,2)
The prophet hopes that judgment will come upon a social system,
imbalanced to the extreme, and that those responsible for
it will be made to pay for their crimes.
Like other social reformers Micah was a lone voice much of
the time. Devout churchman that he was, he found his co-religionists
unresponsive to his appeal to them to join him in the fight
for a better country.
The oppressors of the poor were often those who provided
the money needed to pay for the church's necessities. Their
misdeeds were known, but no action was taken against them
to call them to account; for conscience can be deadened under
such circumstances. Vested interest and financial gain has
been known to prevent the Christian Church from heinotrite
to God; honest with people and at ease with itself.
It is the task of the church to be like the prophets, Amos,
Hosea, Isaiah and Micah, and to lead the people in their struggle
to make a good society, fair and just in its dealings with
all its citizens. The church should be the voice of the common
people in their fight for justice and proper treatment, speaking
out against whatever prevents them from making the most of
themselves. The church has displayed the weaknesses of humanity
when at times its attitudes have been a betrayal of the faith,
and the Christ who valued people equally and saw them as equally
precious in the sight of God.
Micah was not a prophet of doom. He was a realist who hoped
that people could be persuaded to turn to God and to enjoy
Him forever. He gave us the great Old Testament statement
on what is the nature of true religion.
"He has told you, O man, what he wants, and this
is all it is: to be fair and just and merciful, and to walk
humbly with your God."
The incredible growth of the church in Africa, Asia, Central
and South America is the evidence of a life-changing faith
in God allied to a developing social consciouness. It comes
from a wholehearted commitment to Christ: in the fellowship
of the church which is effective in its ministry of word and
deed; and in the happiness of shared fellowship and concern
for the well being of one another. The spiritual emphasis
is effective in practical outworking when faith and works
go together and we have the evidence of the church in action
as it should be.
Among the reasons for the weaknesses of the churlch in the
West is the lack of enthusiasm for the communication of the
faith; a loyalty which is weakened by conflicting interests;
an insensitiveness to the problems of fellow members and others.
Where the church is strong in its advocacy of the Gospel,
anxious to win people for Christ, there is life and growth
here as elsewhere.
The weaknesses of Christianity are the weaknesses of Christians
who refuse to take seriously what commitment to Christ and
the church entails in how we live and act as the people of
God in this place.
Rev. Canon Dr. S.E. Long
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