I preached on Micah 5.1-4 for the Second Sunday of Advent yesterday. One of the things that struck me that I hadn't particularly seen before (and you can blame me for that, though my professors might have landed on one and not the other) is the clear prophetic word against both the social injustice of their day as well as the spiritual rebellion.
It's particularly en vogue to address and speak out against and work for the eradication of social injustices in the world. Rightly so! There are many! Corrupt politicians and business leaders. Sex trafficking. Cyclical poverty. Drugs and crime. On and on and on.
But the thing that struck me in studying Micah was how he addressed both, and seemingly evenly. What's more, there were some particularly harsh words for priests who ministered with a wage instead of the Lord in mind and prophets who gladly said whatever garnered them some sort of gain. You can check me out in Micah 3.9-12 as an instance.
Even more, having reflected on it, I can only speak to our church and to our culture and point out that if you get the two out of order, you will cure neither. Social injustices are direct results of spiritual rebellion. So to address the former requires addressing the latter as a priority.
And all of that's fine and good in the broadest of terms. But let me bring it down: where are my rebellions and how are the affecting the social justice within my own family? neighborhood? circle of friends?
Societies get changed by changing the people within them. And that's not "those" people - it's this person.
But that's just me thinking thoughts...
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