Monday of the 16th Week in Ordinary Time
Micah 6:1-4, 6-8
Heather, a woman who worked a couple of desks away, was on the phone with her husband, who had apparently bought her flowers as a way of apologizing for something.
It didn’t work. She said, “I don’t want flowers, Harry. And I don’t want you to just SAY you’re sorry. I want you to BE sorry.”
Today’s selection from Micah reminded me of that. In a way, Harry was on trial, just like Israel is in this reading.
The defendant? Israel.
The plaintiff? God.
The prosecutor? Micah.
The witnesses? The mountains and hills.
The evidence? Everything God had done for Israel over the centuries.
The people know they have failed. They’ve strayed from God time and again. They want to make good, but here they make their worst mistake: “What do you want, Lord – more animals, more oil, our first-born children?”
They completely misunderstand. God certainly doesn’t want child sacrifice, and He doesn’t want more empty ritual. He wants a change in their behavior, as He says through the prophet to close this reading: Do justice, love goodness, and walk humbly with the Lord your God.
Those beautiful words echo down the centuries to our own day.
Do justice. Give to God and to others what you owe them. What do we owe God? Everything! Without God, where would we be? What do we owe others? The dignity that belongs to them, for they too are made in the image and likeness of God.
Love goodness. There is no single word in our language for what is meant here. Imagine the person you love the most: How do you treat them, and what are you willing to do for them? This is that level of merciful, loving kindness; the kind of faithful love that keeps showing up, no matter how costly.
Walk humbly. We do this by recognizing our own God-given dignity while at the same time acknowledging our weaknesses. Without doing so, we can neither do justice nor love goodness.
Our perfect model for all of this is Christ. Who did justice more than he, who gave God the total gift of himself, and us the way to eternal life? Who loved more than he, who gave his life even for those who despised him? And who walked more humbly than he, who, though King of kings, lived and died as servant of all?
Like Heather, God isn’t looking for ‘flowers.’ He isn’t looking for bigger sacrifices or more impressive religious gestures but for converted hearts. And He doesn’t want us to just SAY we’re sorry. He wants a change of heart that leads to a change in behavior.
That’s exactly what Jesus came to make possible.
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