Domes - Our Monthly Newsletter
Dunbar UCC
February 18, 2007
Micah 6:6-8
Matthew 5:1-3
A Good Story
- We just heard from the prophet Micah that God requires us to act justly and be merciful, kind and humble. Then, in his “Sermon on the mount,” Jesus said that the poor in spirit are blessed. The problem is, we live in a corrupt world. Whether you’re in America or China, the rich get a better deal than the poor. It’s like a New Yorker cartoon where a person went to see a lawyer and the lawyer leaned across his desk and said to the potential client: “So -- how much justice can you afford.” In our culture, we see more revenge than mercy. The weak forgive, the strong get even. And humility -- who knows what that means. We don’t use that word anymore. Humility has become a character flaw.
- Even if we wanted to be good -- the apostle Paul said we can’t. It’s not in our nature. According to our scriptures, we’re more like Judah than Jesus.
- Judah was the fourth son of Jacob. He helped to kidnap his youngest brother, Joseph, and thought about killing him but sold him to slave traders instead. He was jealous and thought his life would be better if he could get rid of his youngest brother, who was his father’s favorite. When he was grown, Judah married and had three sons. The first two were so bad, God struck them dead. Then Judah broke the Jewish law and kicked his daughter-in-law out of the family. Now she had no means of support. Disguised as a prostitute, she seduced Judah, who made her pregnant. When he discovered she was pregnant, he said, “Take her out and let her be burned!” Then she proved to him that he was the father.
- At this point, Judah looked at his life: He kidnapped his youngest brother and sold him to slave traders. Then he lied to his father -- said wild animals killed his son. When he had sons of his own, two turned out to be rotten, and they died. At this point, Judah abandoned his daughter-in-law, got her pregnant, and ordered her burned to death for committing adultery -- while he was the adulterer! Now Judah broke down -- he felt remorse for the first time and told Tamar, his daughter-in-law, “You are a better person than I". By the end of Genesis, he was a different man. He’d become Christlike, willing to die so others could live.
- How do we get from knowing what God wants from us -- kindness, mercy, humility -- to “doing” it? How do we become Christlike -- which, as followers of Jesus, is what we want? That’s part of the mystery of the Bible. As a son, a father, and a human being, Judah was a failure. From lying to stealing to incest, he committed terrible sins. And yet he became like Christ. What kind of story is this? This is our story. Judah and Tamar are our parents. And if you look at the geneology in the Gospel of Matthew, you’ll see that they were great, (great ....) grandparents of Jesus. I think the Bible is saying that no matter who we are, or no matter what we’ve done, God will still give each of us the Holy Spirit, and the heart of Jesus Christ. Goodness isn’t something we accomplish, or earn. It’s always a gift.