Sermon - Micah 5.2-5a

Micah 5.2-5a
Advent 4 – 20th December 2009

Introduction – Prophet and Loss

Through this Advent season we’ve been reading some of the OT prophets. Perhaps we should have heeded the warning of Martin Luther, who famously wrote of the prophets:

They have a queer way of talking, like people who, instead of proceeding in an orderly manner, ramble off from one thing to the next, so that you cannot make head or tail of them or see what they are getting at.

Fair comment! But the prophets were also extraordinary visionaries and their books give us unique insights into the human condition and the trajectory of history, insights which point clearly towards later developments in the New Testament and beyond.

Today is the turn of Micah, another prophet who sees beyond the chaos, confusion and hopelessness of exile to a time of restoration and renewal. The passage we are looking at reads like a riddle and contains a remarkable triple movement with regard to hope.

1. Hope concentrated

In the first of these movements, there is a concentration of hope. What do I mean by this? The fears and dreams of any group of people are pretty diverse – take us for example - and Micah’s fellow Jews were no exception. Most people were deeply fearful of the military threat and aware of their nation’s weakness compared to its neighbours. But within this general sense of forboding there was a variety of explanations and concerns. There was a lack of strong political leadership, there was a morally bankrupt religious leadership, a broken relationship with God. There was also great inequality in society, with some living in extreme poverty and hunger, others exploiting the situation and living very comfortably.

For some, the answer would be in the formation of an alliance with a neighbouring country, for others the need was for a strong king in the line of David, for others only a religious revival and purification would do. What we find in Micah 5 is a pulling together of these fears and dreams, a concentration or focusing of hope; firstly into a single place and secondly a specific person.

The place in which hope is focused is Bethlehem (‘the house of bread’), a small and insignificant place and yet also the birthplace of King David. Verse 2 prophecies that Bethlehem will be the place from which rescue and salvation will come and this hope is focused in a greater ruler than David, also born in Bethlehem but someone whose origins are from of old, from ancient times. The birth of this ruler will be a signal that the abandonment of Israel is coming to end and will be the beginning of a dramatic change of fortune. He will have the qualities of king and shepherd and under his reign God’s people will live in peace and security.

The birth of a child and the election of a new political leader are always a reason for hope, but this individual will be unique. All the different hopes of Israel are to be concentrated in this one person and nothing will ever be the same again after his coming.

2. Hope widened

At the same time as hope is concentrated into the prophesied coming of a single person, it is also widened in a surprising way. In verse 3 we are told that his coming will bring about the return of the rest of his brothers to join the Israelites. And in verse 4 that his greatness will reach to the ends of the earth.

This is a highly significant development because although the OT contains many hints of God’s wider concerns and plans, the OT writers for the most part seem to view the God of Israel as a tribal God, just a more powerful one than the tribal Gods of other nations.

In Micah 5 we have a universalizing of the hope of Israel to become the hope of the nations, the hope of all people and all peoples. The coming ruler, the shepherd-king, will not have a flock consisting only of Israel. He will bring home into his flock all of his brothers and sisters from around the world. This of course has implications for how they should treat their ‘enemies’, implications which will become clearer in the teaching of Jesus.

3. Hope deepened

As well as the concentration of hope into a prophecy of a single person from Bethlehem and the widening of that hope to include all people, Micah also encourages a deepening of hope. To pick this up, we have to pay careful attention to the language he uses.

We have already noticed in verse 2 that the origins of this coming Saviour are from of old, from ancient times, and in verse 4 we read that He will stand and shepherd his flock in the strength of the LORD, in the majesty of the name of the LORD his God.

This is the riddle which Micah presents to his readers, without knowing the answer himself. How can a human being have such ancient origins and how can he act with the strength of God and in the majesty of God’s name?

An even stronger signal comes at the end of our reading, verse 5:
And he will be their peace…

Not he will bring peace or secure peace for them, but he will be their peace. And this is a far deeper peace than the mere absence of conflict. The word translated ‘peace’ is actually the much richer Hebrew word ‘shalom’ – wholeness, security, wellbeing, completeness – these qualities will be embodied in this messiah, this shepherd king, this saviour of all the world. This shalom will be made available to all people through him, healing the deepest wounds of humanity, dispelling the deepest darkness with His perfect life.

4. Living in hope

In Micah we see the hope of Israel becoming concentrated into a single person, widened to include all people and deepened to deal with the deepest needs of humanity and of each individual person. As Christians it is easy to see this hope fulfilled in Jesus Christ, but we should also allow these verses to challenge our understanding of Jesus and our level of engagement with him. What God asks us to do may well run against what society expects and against our natural inclinations.

• When I studied Investment as part of my banking diploma one of the most important principles I learned was that you should spread your risk – don’t put all your eggs in one basket, as the saying goes. But this is precisely what the Bible teaches us to do – put all our hope in Christ alone. To do this may be against our instinct and against our personal interests, but it is what we need to do if we are to flourish as Christians, to experience ‘shalom’ and to share it with others.

• How wide is our vision of God’s mercy? Do we think it is just for a few or for everyone? What Micah and Isaiah and the other prophets prophesied, Jesus made a reality, blasting open the gates of the kingdom and inviting everyone in. In the book of Acts we see the apostles living out the implications of this and spreading the gospel far and wide. We need to share that vision and continue that work. How tragic it is when the church restricts the wideness of God’s mercy.

• How deep is the hope we have in Christ? Are we happy to keep it as a fairly superficial lifestyle choice or do we see and hope for the depth of transformation which is needed in ourselves and in our society?