000 Allen FMT (i-xxii) - The Presbyterian Leader

Fourth Sunday after the Epiphany/Year A 19
that today’s church could be as inclusive with those who are different as
were Isaiah and Acts.
Third Sunday after the Epiphany/Year A
Isaiah 9:1–4
For comments on this text, please see Christmas Day 1/Year A.
Fourth Sunday after the Epiphany/Year A
Micah 6:1–8
Verses 6:6–8 of today’s reading are a remarkable encapsulation of what or,
as we shall see, whom God wants us to be and do. They are one of a number
of summaries of “all the law” such as are attributed to Hillel, Jesus,
and Paul. Verses 1–5 set up the dialogue that takes place in verses 6–8.
This is a good point at which to note the meaning of Micah’s name,
Mica-el, “who is like God?” Verses 1–6 answer the question that is Micah’s
name. They set forth the “controversy” (v. 2) that YHWH has with the
Lord’s people. The Lord demands to know “what have I done to you? In
what have I wearied you?” (v. 3). God wants to know this because God is
the God who “brought you up from the land of Egypt and delivered you
from slavery; and I sent before you Moses, Aaron, and Miriam” (v. 4). God
is the One who elected and redeemed Israel, the God of steadfast love.
Yet the people have engaged in unjust acts; “they covet fields, and seize
them; houses and take them away; they oppress householder and house,
people and their inheritance” (2:2). They trample on the teachings of
Torah concerning the poor, the orphan, and the widow; they violate the
teachings according to which the fields and houses, the boundaries of the
widows and orphans, shall be respected and the vulnerable be protected
from ravenous neighbors. And when the poor go to court to try to regain
what is rightfully theirs, “they [the affluent] abhor justice and pervert all
equity” (3:9). The rich get richer and the poor get poorer. Hence, the
Lord’s questions to the people.
At this point a different speaker asks: “With what shall I come before the
LORD, and bow myself before God on high?” (v. 6). Micah’s questioner wants
to know what he or she must bring before the Lord. Should it be “burnt
offerings,” “thousands of rams,” “my firstborn?” (vv. 6–7). The question is
what shall I bring. The suggestions put forward spiral up to “my firstborn.”