Bible Text: Micah 6:1-8, Matthew 5:1-12 | Preacher: Rev. Jenn Geddes
The digital music service and website, Spotify, gives subscribers access to millions of songs from many types of genres. In fact, Spotify has listed 1,300 genres of music in the world. So, if you are looking for Appalachian folk or Bulgarian folk, classical crossover or deep funk revival, then Spotify is a great site for you. I recently heard on an episode of CBC’s “Under the Influence” that Spotify has also done some research on how loyal listeners are to a particular genre. For example you might love Japanese orchestral but every once in a while you delve into musical theatre. What Spotify discovered is that there is one genre of music that has fans who love it and are incredibly loyal to it, meaning they rarely switch to a different genre of music. These listeners are so loyal that the number 2 genre of pop music is way down the list in comparison. It turns out that these fans are so loyal that they are devout, steadfast and unwavering in their commitment to this genre. Any guesses what genre it might be? Metal music. Metal fans are more loyal to their favourite musicians than any other fan base. You might be disappointed to find out that classical and blues fans were the least loyal to that particular genre. It made me wonder, why is it that these fans of loud, angry, head banging music are so loyal? But I have watched enough documentaries on the topic to know that it is in part because these fans create a tribe unto themselves. There is little required of them but to love the music, seek others out from the tribe, and humbly hear the guitar riffs from the greats. Oh that the rest of our commitments and devotion could be so easy.
Micah asks, what does the Lord require of you? What is it that will maintain loyalty? What is God asking us to do so that we can demonstrate devotion and be unwavering in our commitment to God? Yes, if you think I just compared the devotion of a Metal music fan to our devotion to God, you would be right and hopefully you don’t think I’m a heretic…yet…so bear with me. What I am trying to say is that what God requires of us can be as simple as being loyal to a particular musical genre. The problem is that we complicate it with all kinds of other requirements, that the basics get lost. Then again, Micah 6:6-8 might be really familiar but the preceding verses are a bit more complicated.
The passage begins with God challenging Israel, in fact in our NRSV translation that is the subheading for this chapter. It is the very reason why God is speaking to the people through Micah. As I mentioned Micah spoke to the people, likely during the 8th century B.C.E. Specifically to the people in Judah who, at that time were vassals for the Assyrian Empire. Meaning, they were selling themselves, their land, and their people, all to pay a hefty tribute to this awful power. Due to this debt and major financial burden the state of Judah has zero money to support their own people. They have dismissed their loyalty to God and have become loyal to the Assyrians. As a result, God is not happy, and in the first couple of verses of our passage we hear God calling them to task and asking the mountains and hills to act as jury for Judah. God then recites in verses 3-5 all the gifts God has given the people and they are just throwing it away. God has consistently assisted the people in being a strong nation and still they go and sell themselves out of fear to this oppressive power.
It is the people who then reply, “What can we do? How can we worship? What is it you want? We will give you your favourite sacrifice!” The people are asking what kind of loyalty do you want, what type of sacrifice would make you happy. Yet the response is not based on what kind of offering would make God happy but rather what kind of person. The people ask God, what can we do to make things right and God responds with be my people. Be people who seek justice, love kindness and walk humbly with God. That is all that is required to demonstrate your loyalty to me. While it is a simple verse, to live out these requirements is a much greater task. Thankfully, Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount and the beatitudes help us to remember that it is also not just about us but about others.
The Sermon on the Mount is Jesus’ first detailed public act in the book of Matthew. This might actually say more about Matthew than it does Jesus, in that for Matthew Jesus as teacher is extremely important. Matthew’s Gospel more than the others tell of great teaching moments it also means that in order for us to be taught by Jesus we must be loyal students. Ready to listen and learn. How many of us have heard the beatitudes before and have let them wash over us as another nice teaching by Jesus? But if we were really disciples, really students, Jesus’ words would surprise us and shock us.
The term blessed is both ethical and eschatological. It is ethical because it follows a description of an attitude that Christians’ should exhibit in their lives and eschatological because it conveys a promise of what will be in the future. The word beatitude comes from the Latin word for blessedness, beatitudo. The Greek word for blessed is makarioi which really means to be fully satisfied. While we discussed in the children’s time that part of the word means happy, it is also true that blessedness means so much more than an emotion. It is about the knowledge of God’s favour upon us regardless of situation. This is exactly what Jesus preaches on in his beatitudes. The poor in spirit refers to followers who may be economically poor but are particularly spiritually poor-meaning that God is our only hope. Those who mourn refers to those who are experiencing an intense sense of loss and helplessness. We have all been there! The word meek is synonymous with the word poor or poverty, meaning people who are totally empty-handed. The beatitudes are talking about people here and now just as much as they are talking about people in Jesus’ day. They were preached to the disciples and followers in the 1st century of the Common Era but they speak to us today. And how do they make us loyal disciples?
These are not a list of moral dos and don’ts as is found in our Psalm passage, but rather they are said to empower us. God’s requirements might simply be to seek justice, love kindness and walk humbly with God…but they are not so simple to follow. Thankfully we can be blessed, be fully satisfied in this relationship because of grace, because even when we are disloyal, God welcomes us back and says, you are loved regardless of righteousness, regardless of economic status, regardless of struggles, regardless of purity of heart. Now that’s a program I want to be loyal to. What a blessing! Amen