Justice and Mercy

Micah 3:5-12New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

Thus says the Lord concerning the prophets
    who lead my people astray,
who cry “Peace”
    when they have something to eat,
but declare war against those
    who put nothing into their mouths.
Therefore it shall be night to you, without vision,
    and darkness to you, without revelation.
The sun shall go down upon the prophets,
    and the day shall be black over them;
the seers shall be disgraced,
    and the diviners put to shame;
they shall all cover their lips,
    for there is no answer from God.
But as for me, I am filled with power,
    with the spirit of the Lord,
    and with justice and might,
to declare to Jacob his transgression
    and to Israel his sin.

Hear this, you rulers of the house of Jacob
    and chiefs of the house of Israel,
who abhor justice
    and pervert all equity,
who build Zion with blood
    and Jerusalem with wrong!
Its rulers give judgment for a bribe,
    its priests teach for a price,
    its prophets give oracles for money;
yet they lean upon the Lord and say,
    “Surely the Lord is with us!
    No harm shall come upon us.”
Therefore because of you
    Zion shall be plowed as a field;
Jerusalem shall become a heap of ruins,
    and the mountain of the house a wooded height.

Here's the thing.  From the days of Israel and Judah, God had something to say about how his kingdoms should be governed.  God had something to say about justice and mercy and through his prophet Micah, God made clear that prophets who were comfortable - and not concerned with the poor and dispossessed - were in fact not God's prophets.

These are heavy words.  And words that have a much bearing today.  Are there still prophets who fill their own pockets while declaring war on those who have nothing to put in their mouths?  Are there still rulers who abhor justice and pervert equity?

Politics and religion are two of those things we're not supposed to talk about in mixed (or polite) society.  Or we aren't supposed to talk about them together.

But from day one, God's prophets talked of little else: they talked about them together and they talked about them in mixed society.  

And they weren't always polite about it!

And it got them in lots of trouble lots of the time.

But this Micah is the same one who later on will warn that what it is that God truly requires is for God's people to "do justice, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with our God."

Justice and mercy are inexorably tied to politics and religion.  A reminder perhaps that seems cautionary and something to think about on election week.  Quite honestly, these days it's probably hard to find candidates who earnestly walk that path.

But Micah reminds us that perhaps it always was.

God of mercy and justice, remind those who are our leaders to walk humbly and faithfully in service to all of your children.  Amen.