Old Testament Micah 6:1-8
New Testament Matthew 5:1-12
Sermon
"Can We Handle the Truth?"
Some of us can quote these fairly holy words by heart:
In the criminal justice system, the people are represented by two separate and equally important groups. The police who investigate crime, and the district attorneys who prosecute the offenders. These are their stories.
"Law and Order," right? What a great show. Shows, plural. Reruns of shows. Revivals of shows. Crossovers of shows. The drama of crime and punishment. And that silver fox Sam Waterston. And then we've got our John Grisham novels. True Crime podcasts. Classic movies – like, 12 Angry Men. To Kill a Mockingbird. Legally Blonde. Legally Blonde 2. Thumbs way up.
We love the mystery. The emotion. The suspense. The Bible.
Wait. The Bible?
Yes, The Bible. Think about it. The Bible is the original legal thriller. Just look at ALL those laws. And look at ALL the order come down from God. And look at ALLLL the DIS-order by "people." Theft. Murder. Crime. Punishment. Justice! For legal drama, the Bible's ratings are #1.
There's Second Samuel 12:7. When the prophet Nathan points across the room at King David: "Thou art the man!" And David yells back, "You can't handle the truth!" I may be confusing my stories.
Today's scriptures give us Law and Order. And even more -- they give us TRUTH. The Bible gives us truth from the mouth of God. More truth than ANY of us can handle, comfortably.
To keep the Bible's truth is a gift. But it's also a burden. I think we all wrestle with the weight of that burden. Especially now. When every day we get fresh drama piled on top of yesterday's drama. When we wake up gritting our teeth for what's going to be in today's episode. How do we handle that truth?
How does God?
--
Let's rewind.
Today's first scripture – from the Prophet Micah – actually IS written as a courtroom drama. This is true. Read the transcript. There's an investigator. A prosecutor. A whole nation of defendants. It must have been a big, beautiful courtroom.
God is the District Attorney prosecuting the offenders. God's pleading a case against his alleged chosen people. God wants them to hear his charges. God wants them to handle their own truth. The truth is that they're not acting very chosen. They're being the opposite of godly. God's pointing and asking, "Who ARE you people?" WHOSE are you?
And then the second scripture today, from Matthew, is ALSO like a trial. The part of the trial where the verdict is read. Jesus reads it out loud. For the whole mountainside.
Jesus reads the verdict out loud. Each and every count – he calls the counts, "blessings." But those of us old enough to remember 45's – the records – we know: the "B-side" of a blessing is usually a curse. A song by Ringo. Maybe George.
And in a MAJOR plot twist, Jesus walks into the court and flips the tables of justice. Flipping tables is his thing. Like that T-shirt at Buc-ee's says – you may have seen it – it's usually in the women's section. Hanging up high next to the one about how wine isn't just for breakfast. It's that shirt that says, "'Bout to start flippin' tables like Jesus." I'd buy one, but they judge you if you're wearing women's clothing.
In typical Jesus fashion, he flips the tables – the tables of justice. He takes us to a place where the VICTIMS get reborn as VICTORS.
In Jesus's world, the VICTIMS aren't blamed. In HIS world, the victims are the heroes. He glorifies them. He blesses them.
But the VICTORS? They get -- dead silence. Nothing but empty silence for the hotshots with expensive lawyers who thought they had the judge and jury in their back pockets.
And then Jesus sits down. He leaves us to make the call. He asks us – I've given you the truth and nothing but the truth.
Can YOU handle it?
--
Back to Micah. Micah has God, pacing back and forth in the front of the courtroom. God says to the offender on trial:
"You. Mr. and Mrs. People of God.
"You allegedly chosen people. You good, A-Team people. The ones who show up every Sabbath. With your fancy clothes. You with your fine homes and your weekend donkeys. You with your heavenly burnt-end barbecues that make the angels' mouths water.
"You -- who make the priests smile when you bring your offerings.
"You -- with your fragrant oils and your bovine bragging.
"You -- with your empty prayers: "I love you so much, Lord, I'd give you my first-born, just like Abraham. Wink, wink, Bruh."
"You who get rich while you work your people like slaves. You who own slaves you let starve…"
Now, I'm dramatizing. Just like they do on Law and Order. But if you think I'm exaggerating, please read the transcripts. Read Micah. Read Amos. Read Hosea. Read Joel. Read all the Prophets. Because most of the time, they're not prophesying the future of Jesus yet to come. They're predicting JUDGMENT coming NOW. They're proclaiming God's judgment against INJUSTICE happening NOW. God's wrath against the huge bits of coin of the One Percent -- weighed against the worthless pennies they throw to the remnant. The Prophets were [angry]. And like the best rappers, they made it rhyme.
Oh, yes, they had hope. Hope for the future. But they knew -- the future's TBD. When they were talking about present-day, there was no TB, just D. That's the bitter truth of the Bible. And it OUGHT to be hard to handle.
God says, "I'm sorry, did I put too much of a burden on y'all? Is it too hard to just Do Justice, Love Kindness, and Walk Humbly with me?"
"Did I put too heavy a yoke on you?
And then, hundreds of years later, Jesus picks up the prosecution where Micah left off. We usually read Matthew 11:28 as a blessing. But is it?
He says: "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light."
You can read that as Jesus promising the sweet life. But the part he doesn't say out loud is the part that says, before you can pick up his yoke – before you can do justice, and love kindness, and walk humbly with Jesus, Lord Emmanuel, God-with-us -- before we can do that -- We've got a lot of [junk] – to lay down.
--
In his sermon on the Mountaintop – and in all the Bible, mountaintops are the literal closest you can get to God. So when somebody's on a mountain, we better listen up. When JESUS is on a mountain, hold onto your hats. In his Sermon on the Mount, Jesus pronounces blessing. Blessing and…. Matthew's DOJ kindly leaves out the curses. See Luke for the unredacted version.
You read – YOU read -- the words of Jesus himself this morning. Just as how Micah opened his mouth and God's voice came out. When you read the Sermon on the Mount, it was as if Jesus was coming out of you. And he said, and you said for him:
"Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
"Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
"Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.
"Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.
"Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.
"Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.
"Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.
"Blessed are those who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
"Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets (like, Micah) who were before you.
That's the truth. That's God's honest truth. Literally. From the Bible. The whole truth and nothing but the truth.
And we know the truth. We say it. We might even have it hanging on our walls. Or embroidered on pillows. Or on a bumper sticker. It's the truth. It's what Judge Jesus said. It's his words, his Word, his decision.
But here's the flipside of that verdict.
What if – like the people of Micah's time (and Jesus's too) –
What if we turn the words into nothing but cozy pillows for our own comfort --
While people literally die, literally freeze, literally bleed on our own streets --
What if we comfort ourselves saying, "Oh, it's a relatively small percentage of the general population"?
Well, try telling that to the Good Shepherd who refuses to let one sheep – one sheep out of a hundred – refuses to let just one – one – be lost.
What if we convict ourselves with our own words,
what if we convict ourselves with our own actions, with our own SILENCE?
With our own INACTION?
What if we turn Law and Order into just one big, never-ending show?
Brought to you by the highest bidders.
Jesus rendered his verdict, standing on the mountaintop. Micah rendered his, standing in God's courtroom. They gave us a choice. They pronounced infinitely generous blessings. And they spoke the damning silence of life WITHOUT blessing.
All through scripture – ALL throughout the Bible – again and again and again...
God hands US the gavel.
God hands US the gavel.
We can rationalize. We can make excuses. We can cite statistics.
(We can move to Greenland. Although I hear they're not real happy to see us right now.)
We can put our conscience to sleep -- on the comfy pillow of empty words.
We SAY we want the truth.
But can we handle it?
As far as I can tell, the jury's still out on that one.
I just hope, I just pray: God doesn't get tired… of our reruns.
[eos]
