In Crisis Counsels this week our focus is on the following two passages:

With what shall I come before the Lord, and bow myself before God on high? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings…? He has told you, O mortal, what is good. What does the Lord require of you, but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?
Micah 6:6,8

Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint, dill, and cumin, but have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. It is these you ought to have practiced without neglecting the others.
words of Jesus in Matthew 23:23

“What does the Lord require of you?” asks the prophet Micah. He spells out three things – “to do justice,” “to love kindness,” and “to walk humbly with your God.” Jesus is alluding directly to Micah when in charging the scribes and Pharisees with hypocrisy he says that they have “neglected the weightier matters of the law.” What does he mean by the weightier matters of the law? He spells out the three realms that Micah had delineated – “justice,” “mercy,” and “faith.”

When people think of “justice” today, they typically think of criminals being brought into a courtroom. But when the Bible speaks of justice, it is referring to God’s intention for how people should live with one another. A “just society” is one in which people are treating one another with fairness and equity, and no one is left in complete impoverishment or robbed of his or her rights. In this context, the proceedings in a courtroom – in which wrongdoers are charged with trampling on the rights of others – are one part of a much larger picture of what it takes to have a just society. In years past in America, African-Americans experienced many forms of discrimination that were “perfectly legal” at the time, but the whole system was unjust. To “do justice” thus means much more than to follow or enforce the law (although being law-abiding is part of it!). To do justice means to work with God to create the kind of society that God intends for us all. So today it means taking action to eliminate racism! The words of Jesus and Micah in these verses are thus especially pertinent for the present hour, as we hear God calling us to create a more just society.

Prayer – Empower us, O God, to do justice today. Click To Tweet

If you missed Sunday worship, you can join with the recorded service of either the 9:30 or 10:30 worship hours at live.kentmethodist.org

About the Author

Dr. David A. Palmer has been the senior pastor at the United Methodist Church of Kent since 1995. He has a B.A. from Wittenberg University, a Master of Divinity from Duke University, and a Doctor of Ministry from Princeton Theological Seminary. A native of Wooster, Ohio, he has served three other churches in east Ohio before coming to Kent. He and his wife, Mavis, have three children.