SAM K. MATHEW, BD III
Call to Worship:
O Come, let us worship and
bow down, let us kneel before the Lord, our Maker!For he is our God, and we are
the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand.(Psalm 95:6,7)
Hymn: No. 57 (Selected Hymns and Order of Worship)
Kauma
Adoration:
Almighty God, our creator,
sovereign over all nations and powers, we adore you. Lord Jesus Christ, our
Messiah who through his birth, life, death, resurrection and promise of coming again
gives hope of just and peaceful living, we worship you. Holy Spirit, who
sanctifies us and prepares us to be able instruments of divine purposes in the
society, we glorify you. All honour, praise and glory be unto the Triune God,
now and forever, Amen.
Prayer of Confession:
No one who conceals
transgressions will prosper, but one who confesses and forsakes them will
obtain mercy. (Proverbs 28:13)
Leader: In an originally borderless world, we have built walls and
fences. But the bricks with which these walls of division are built could also
be used to build bridges of unity and peace. Instead of being makers of peace,
we have become breakers of peace. For these our sins.
Response: O Lord, forgive and reform us.
Leader: Our country is a witness to the inequality and injustice
meted out to the dalits and tribals. Being created in God’s own image and
placed as stewards of creation, it is our duty to treat everyone with justice
and equality. But often we become part of the dominant groups which marginalize
and segregate others for meeting selfish ends. For these our sins…
Response: O Lord, forgive and reform us.
Absolution:
Now may the Almighty God strengthen
us to build bridges of Unity and Peace and maintain Justice among our fellow
being .Amen
Prayer of Thanksgiving:
And whatever you do, in
word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God
the Father through him. (Colossians.
3:17)
Leader: Gladys Stains preached one of the greatest sermons after the
killing of her husband, Graham Stains and her two sons in Orissa. She had said
“I have forgiven the killers. Nothing I say or do will bring Graham and my sons
back.” She added “forgiving helps in the healing process”. Let us thank God for
such personalities who inspire us with their act of forgiveness, who bring
about peace and reconciliation amidst hatred and violence.
Response: O Lord, we thank you.
Leader: Thomas Acquinas has said “Mercy is to have pain seeing the
pain of another and to take pain to relieve that pain.” KiranBedi IPS, a social
reformer has worked for the reformation policies for prisoners and child
welfare programmes. She found two NGO’s, namely Navajyoti for welfare and
preventive policy and India Vision foundation for prisoner’s welfare.Let us
thank God for such examples which inspire us to feel the pain of fellow humans and
work for those in need of help.
Response: O Lord, we thank you.
Intercessory Prayer
Bible Reading: Micah 4:1-5
Sermon: Prophetic vision as a sign of
hope for Justice and peace
1.
Prophetic vision of reordering life
2. Prophetic vision of Justice and Peace
Prayer and Benediction.
Micah Ch 4:1-5.
In 1918 Nelson Mandela was born in a country which viewed
him as a second class citizen. When he died on 5th Dec 2013 he was
one of the most respected statesmen in the world. Late Nelson Mandela, the
first democratically elected President of South Africa from among the people of
colour led the African national congress’ struggle against the racially
oppressive apartheid regime. The cost he paid for the cause of justice and
peace was years of his life spent in captivity within the walls of prison. What
he achieved was awakening of a people and the attention of the world drawn
towards his people’s cry for life. His sacrificial life thus became a prophetic
sign of hope for the building of a just and peaceful society eradicating life
negating divisions and thus unifying the people of South Africa.
The book of Micah is attributed to an eighth-century Judean
prophet who ministered between 740 – 690 BCE. He is associated with the reigns
of three Judean kings: Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah and was a close contemporary
of Isaiah, Amos and Hosea. Micah was from Moresheth, a small village lying
southwest of Jerusalem. The name Micah means “Who is like Yahweh?”
The earliest prophecies in the Book were written before the
destruction of the northern kingdom of Israel in 722 BCE. It was a period when
these nations had raised to heights of economic affluence but had fallen to
insurmountable depths as far as spirituality was concerned. Micah’s task was to alert the people
to the danger and to challenge their reliance on the hope that God will always
protect them, in spite of their disobedience to God. Soon the nation Israel
fell and the people were taken as captives. Judah avoided a similar fate but
paid a high price in the form of huge tributes, loss of complete independence,
and corruption of its traditions by the incorporation of religious practices of
the dominant foreign power.
In this time when the fortunes of God’s people had already
declined and the future looked even worse, Micah provided a theological
interpretation of crucial events facing the nation and its people. Many
scholars consider the later parts of the Book as exilic and post-exilic in
nature. The read passage, Micah 4:1-5 is part of the prophetic envisioning of a
world order based on justice, peace and unity of all the people, in God. This
rationalizes the message of hope amidst oracles of judgment. The situation of
ordinary citizens was of great concern to Micah. He felt compassion for the
poor and dispossessed, and held the corruption of the leaders responsible for
their suffering. God is the judge and the saviour of the world; he has a
special covenant with the people of Israel and cares for the whole world. Thus
it proclaims salvation, not only for Israel, but the establishment of the just
reign of God throughout the world. This leads us to the main theme of our
meditation:
Chapter 4:1-5 is an exilic or post-exilic expression of hope
written at a time when Judah as a nation was looking at a very bleak future. The destruction of Jerusalem and oppression
by foreign tyrants is not the end of the story. These verses express a strong
desire for relief from oppression, a return of what was lost, a world in which
God reigns supreme, God’s sovereignty is recognized by all and justice is
finally a reality. In the Old Testament the desire for justice is sometimes
very closely related to a human desire for vengeance on enemies who have caused
great hurt to God’s people, however in this passage we see a fresh dimension of
God’s relationship with the nations of the world which marks their peaceful
inclusion in God’s plan. The reestablishment of Jerusalem in Micah thus is not
a mark of exclusion or of defeating others but a sign of Peace and justice.
From the read text, I would like to point out two ways in which the prophetic message
helps us to envision rebuilding of community life.
1) Prophetic vision of re-ordering life
Micah 4:1-2 is an oracle of hope which pronounces the vision
of the rebuilding of Jerusalem. It is a direct answer to the oracles of
punishment in previous chapters, especially the climax in 3:9-12 which says
about the ploughing down of Zion and destruction of Jerusalem which was built
by blood and wrong. Micah condemned the rulers, merchants, and prophets for the
degraded social and economic situation of the people. He prophesied against the
society where the rich and powerful used their influence to exploit the
vulnerable and to create even greater inequalities of wealth and influence. The
worship at the Jerusalem temple was disrupted. This brought shame upon Israel
who was called God’s elect people.
Here in this passage Prophet Micah envisions the
establishment of a new world order. The use of the word “mountain” in the
second part of the first verse is important because as the counterpart of the
heavenly throne, Zion was always viewed as towering above all other mountains.
But in terms of physical geography Zion was actually lower than several other
mountains surrounding Jerusalem. This usage is important because ancient people
considered mountains as holy. Mount Sinai (Deut. 33:2; Judges 5:4-5) and Mount
Zion (Ps.68:16) were specifically honoured by the Hebrews as the places of
God’s revelation and abode. When this new world order is established it will be
made the centre of worship. The primacy of the mountain of God will be made
evident to all and peoples from all nations will flock to it. Just as
Israelites had long made their pilgrimages to the holy city, so also now
streams of people from all nations will join them.
Rebuilding lives requires concentrating all attention on the
highest mountain, that is, God Almighty. It is a pilgrimage from living
scattered lives of disorder, sin and shame to a common agenda which brings orderliness.
This common agenda is to know God and follow his paths. The high mountain of
Zion gives all a sense of direction towards which the journey has to be
undertaken. It calls for giving God the most prominent place in life. All
thoughts, words and deeds should show the desire to grow towards God and
understand him more closely. There should be constant desire to hear the word
of God and live according to his instruction.
The temple mount in Jerusalem will now become the highest of
the mountains, a dramatic description of the new status of the once humiliated
Jerusalem. Not just that, the re-established community now consists of members
from all nations who have been united to reorder lives together. As people see
the eternality and the strength of God’s glory, they will begin to search after
and long for what he provides. The promise results in the rise of the kingdom
which then draws the people. This newly formed community would display unity
and peace beyond all measure. Thus broken lives can be reordered only with God
at the centre of everything.
But this unity among communities stands a chance of being
hampered by selfishness to have more and the fear of being suppressed by the
other. To understand how Micah envisions a way out for this, we move to the
second subtheme.
2) Prophetic vision of justice and peace
In a world of nations with conflicts, ever growing
ambitions to gain more and subdue others, one always had to fight for its own
way. It was very common for nations to go at war with other nations to fight
for what they believed was rightfully theirs. Kings, prophets, seers would
serve as members of the decision making body to decide on a certain course of
action for an entire community against another. Even though peace was the
desired ultimate destiny for one’s own kingdom, it would be achieved with the most
violent of ways. It was believed to be achieved only at the expense of the
other’s pain. Creating and learning to use the most destructive war weapons
used up most of the time of young men. Kings would consider themselves the best
judges in all situations. But all of their efforts only drove them away from
harmony, away from actual peace for all. Here Micah sees a counter vision.
In verse 4:3, it identifies the setting in
which the law is given by depicting the role of YHWH. He sits as royal judge on
His sacred mount. The result of God’s rule in this time will be that the
nations of the world will experience peace. The prophecy is national and even
universal in scope and looks forward to a time when the nations will come so
fully under the influence of God’ s Word that war can be no more. When YHWH
himself is arbitrator among nations and his authority determines the
resolutions to their problems, there leaves no room for war. God sits as king
and exhibits ultimate authority on all matters resulting in nations fashioning
weapons of mass destruction into agricultural elements. The sword is a weapon
for killing. Ploughshare is a tool for agriculture, an instrument for
generating and enhancing life. Both are created by people in the community of
the same metal and so one can be converted into another. Only a community that
has experienced justice and is motivated by peace can convert swords into
ploughshares. All this to say, once the New Jerusalem is established YHWH will
rule as the ultimate authoritative body. God will judge directly without the
interruption of sinful human institutions. Here a community enjoys security and
safety as their members sit under their vines and fig trees.
Here we learn that true peace comes only from
God. No human institution, no matter how well planned out, can truly provide
peace in its purest sense. Peace comes only from knowledge of and obedience to
the Father. The people will dwell in peace and safety because of the word of
the Lord Almighty, and not because of their own strength. Micah uses the
military title for God, YHWH Seba’ot, to bring out the certainty of the
promise and to focus attention not so much on the prediction as on the one who
made it. This helps to authenticate the
prophecy as an expression of what YHWH himself has said, and not a creation of
the prophet himself. This verse is important because it proves the justice and peacefulness
of God’s plan, and the countless faults in ours. As soon as people recognize
the demonstrative functions of God’s kingdom, they will realize that fighting
is no longer necessary. They have all they need. They always have the option to
live peacefully, having been completely satisfied and fulfilled.
Through this portion, we were able to look at the life of a
community which was called to covenant relationship and yet was led to its doom
because of their sins. When in peril, Micah shared with them his prophetic
vision, which gave them a hope for unity and peace. Under the theme Prophetic vision as a sign of hope for justice
and peace, we discussed two subthemes
Prophetic
vision of reordering life
Prophetic
vision of justice and peace
This beautiful oracle anticipates a time when all the people
of the world live in peace and harmony. They will recognize the one true God,
seek to learn what God expects from them, and no longer pursue war as a means
of settling disputes rather God will now arbitrate all conflicts between
nations. Individuals and communities can always choose to live in unity and
peace. Even though peace and justice is a gift from God this vision calls us to
respond to God’s initiative of peace and justice. It is a call to commit our
lives for a world where everyone would have adequate livelihood and there is no
fear of uprooting. Let the triune God
enable us to continue our journey with Christ that leads us to a justice and
peace.