Justice, Love, and Peace

R. Charles Grant, D.Min.

Bon Air Presbyterian Church - Richmond, Virginia

Texts:  Micah 6:6-8   Matthew 25:31-46

A Mediation upon the death of Nell Rogers

            Nell Roger’s commitment to the social witness of the church is known to us all.  Nell had a keen mind and a curious spirit.  She was well informed on matters of faith and society, as is also known to us all, Nell was never timid about sharing her faith convictions on such matters!  So, it comes as no surprise that I would choose the great prophetic statement of Micah and Matthew’s vision of the last judgment as appropriate texts for her memorial service.

            What may have surprised some of you was the selection for the organ interlude:  the old gospel favorite In the garden.  Nell was Presbyterian through and through, and In the garden hasn’t appeared in any Presbyterian Hymnal for more than fifty years. Yet it was a favorite of Nell’s.  Maybe her attachment to the hymn was simply that it was a favorite from the era of her youth.  But maybe it was also a favorite of hers because the hymn speaks of Christian faith in term of an intimate, personal relationship with the God we know and see in Jesus Christ.

            Too often in our day, Christian faith is presented as being about one of two things – either doing good works, or being a good and holy person.  Christian faith is doing acts of justice, offering a corporate and social witness, and building God’s kingdom here on earth.  OR, Christian faith is presented as being about having a personal religious experience of Jesus Christ.  Too often, Christian people are presented with a crazy choice of choosing to go one way or another.  And too often, these two expressions of faith are presented as the “sheep” and the “goats”.  But reading Matthew 25 and singing In the garden reminds us it isn’t that easy.

            For the prophet Micah reminds us that actually, God calls us to express our faith in THREE WAYS. We are called to do justice, love kindness, and to walk humbly with God.

As the people of God, we are called to DO JUSTICE.  In the words of Matthew, to extend the love and mercy of God to those considered the “least of these”:  the poor, the unemployed, the outcast, the hungry, the imprisoned.  As Jesus says in that last judgment scene, if you are gracious to people such as these, you are doing God’s work, for the people of God as called to do justice. 

 And as the people of God we are called to WALK HUMBLY WITH OUR GOD.  Now, the words, “and he walks with me and he talks with me and he tells me I am his own” may or may not speak to you as passionately as they did for Nell and for folks in an earlier time.  But there is no question that for the prophet Micah, religious faith is about prayer and worship and offering grateful thanksgiving to the God just as much as it is about doing justice.  In fact, I am not sure at all that Micah means justice work and walking with God to be different realities at all!  I think Micah’s insight is that doing justice and being in relationship with God cannot be separated.

            Nor can you separate doing justice and walking humbly with God from Micah’s second statement of what religious faith is all about:  LOVING KINDNESS.  A better translation of the Hebrew word here would be “live within God’s covenant of love and grace every day”.  Live in community with your brothers and sisters and in communion with the God who brings us all into being.  Honor and keep the promises you make to one another. For religious faith is always about doing justice AND loving kindness AND walking humbly with God.

            Today we are on the eve of Holy Week.  Tomorrow is Palm Sunday, and then there is Maundy Thursday and Good Friday, and finally and with joyful hope, we come to Easter Day, the day of resurrection.  Even in our grief – especially in our grief – the themes and memories and words of Holy Week surround us, and comfort us, and bring us hope.  For in Holy Week we are reminded again that the God who loves us and the God who calls us to faithfulness is also a God who walks with us in our darkest days and deepest sorrows.

            Of all of the Holy Week words, none speak to us more dearly than those words from John’s account of the Last Supper:  “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives.  Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid.”  Peace I leave with you. Peacemaking is our calling as God’s people in the church.  Peace is God’s gift to us, a peace which brings us comfort in our sorrows and hope in our despair.  And peace is God’s promise to us.  God’s promise that peace WILL be with you this day and forever.  That is the promise of the resurrection.  That is the hope of our faith.  That is the comfort and strength of our God.

            Dear friends:  peace be with you!  AMEN.   

Micah 6:6-8  

“With what shall I come before the LORD,

       and bow myself before God on high?

     Shall I come before him with burnt offerings,

       with calves a year old?

⁷    Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams,

       with ten thousands of rivers of oil?

     Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression,

       the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?”

⁸    He has told you, O mortal, what is good;

       and what does the LORD require of you

     but to do justice, and to love kindness,

       and to walk humbly with your God?

Matthew 25:31-46

³¹“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory. ³²All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, ³³and he will put the sheep at his right hand and the goats at the left. ³⁴Then the king will say to those at his right hand, ‘Come, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; ³⁵for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, ³⁶I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.’ ³⁷Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink? ³⁸And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing? ³⁹And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?’ ⁴⁰And the king will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.’ ⁴¹Then he will say to those at his left hand, ‘You that are accursed, depart from me into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels; ⁴²for I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, ⁴³I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not give me clothing, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’ ⁴⁴Then they also will answer, ‘Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not take care of you?’ ⁴⁵Then he will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, just as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’ ⁴⁶And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”