He has shown you, O Man, What Is Good, Micah 6: 8

Dan Doyle

To be a Christian is to recognize the astounding grace God has given us in and through his generous gift of Sacred Scripture. In the Scriptures we encounter the wisdom, the righteousness, mercy, and love of God. We find countless examples of human sinfulness and, again and again, we witness God’s stunning, always faithful and unconditional love and mercy toward us. In God’s law we are given the means to contemplate what is really good and righteous in God’s eyes. Ultimately, in Jesus, the Word made flesh, we are shown the narrow path that will lead us through the often wide and wild wastes of our own desert wanderings as we struggle, with the help of God’s grace, to escape our own slavery to sin. All of this is made possible if we learn to live and to love as Jesus loved us.

In Micah 6:8 we see these powerful words: “He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” In another translation it goes like this: “You have been told, O man, what is good, and what the Lord requires of you: Only to do the right and to love goodness, and to walk humbly with your God.” It begins with a simple, declarative sentence, revealing that we have already been shown what is good- that is, what is really good, in the absolute, divine sense of goodness, the moral good, that which is righteous in all times and in all places. It implies that what the world often passes off as ‘good’ is, all too often, only the appearance of good, or that which is not really good dressed in attractive disguises.

This passage also reveals the nature of our relationship with God. God is God, and we are not. We are his creatures. To be better put, we are his children, and he is our Father. He made us in his love, and his love is always faithful. Even though we, like winsome, rebellious teenagers, often naively and arrogantly reject his love, claiming our own authority to determine what is right and good for “me,” he offers us his mercy and forgiveness, and calls us back to righteousness, again and again. Jesus, the Son of God, came into the world to show us this incomprehensible, sacrificial love in the flesh, so that we might learn from him to live justly, that is, to treat others rightly, righteously, as we ourselves desire to be treated.

We are called by Christ’s life and love to come to know what real moral goodness is and to act toward others, all others, in the manner that he loved us. We are to love and care for all others deeply, to show kindness by serving those in need, and to learn to forgive more readily rather than falling into the habits of self-righteous judgementalism. The temptation, of course, is to hear all of this as sentimental mush and unrealistic, but that is the ruler of the world speaking, not God, Who Is Love through and through. Even the skeptic can see that if Christians really behaved in the way God has counseled Micah here in this passage, the world would be a far better place than it is right now. These words are not the dictates or the ‘wisdom’ of any human political system, philosophy, or ideology. Rather, this advice comes from the Author of Wisdom, the very Ground of Being in whom all that is true, good, and beautiful finds its genesis, its flower, and its fruit.

The stunning thing is that this advice is given to us, in our weakness, in our brokenness. It is given to us because of God’s love for us and his confidence in our ability not to just hear his words of advice but to take them personally, and to begin, with confidence in his grace, to practice this wisdom no matter how haltingly, fearfully, or awkwardly we can. It is in trying that we gain the graces of experience and greater wisdom. Love is a practical virtue. When it is taken up, absorbed into one’s daily awareness and action, it dwells in God’s presence, and because of this it always works for the good of others. Is this not what the world needs today? Who will model this to a world confused by countless appeals to power, greed, and even cruelty, if not a few courageous, faithful, loving Christians imitating Christ in the little places of their homes and neighborhoods? That’s where conversion begins, just as every journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step.

Jesus, Lord, we pray that you would give us the grace not just to hear your word but to make it our own in our daily lives. Help us to live lives of righteousness and mercy in Your name, in our homes, our neighborhoods, and in our places of work. Enable us to see the wisdom and give us the courage to walk humbly in imitation of you each day of our lives. We pray all of these things in your most holy name, Jesus. Amen.