Thomas J Parlette
“What is Required”
Micah 6: 1-8
2/1/26
January 20th, 1977 was a cold day in Washington DC. Under a bright blue sky with a mild wind blowing, the 25 degree day felt more like 10 degrees. At precisely noon, President-elect Jimmy Carter stepped up to the podium to take his oath of office as the 39th President of the United States. On the podium that day was the Washington Bible, often used for Inaugurations. But Carter also brought his own personal bible, a Christmas present from his brother, Billy.
Carter’s Bible was a New Marked Reference Bible, a King James translation, with all his personal notes in the margins and contact information for his Sunday School teacher. As he took the oath of office, his Bible was open to our passage from Micah for today – “What does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God.” Throughout his Inaugural address, Carter referred to this well-known verse as his guide for the next four years of his administration.
The Book of Micah is divided into 3 major sections, each beginning with the word, “Hear.” The sections alternate between words of doom and gloom and glimmers of hope.
Our passage today, from chapter 6, is among the chapters that offer hope. It begins with the portrayal of God and the people facing off in a courtroom drama (1).
The prophet begins the proceedings, sounding like a bailiff or other courtroom official – “Rise, plead your case… for the Lord has a controversy with his people, and he will contend with Israel.
Then God steps up – “O my people, what have done to you? How have I wearied you? Answer me!”
God follows with a laundry list of what he has done for the people over the years, urging them to remember these things done so that you may know the saving acts of the Lord.
Next up, Israel answers God’s charges, basically saying, “What do you want from me? What is it you expect?”
Israel then offers a bunch of examples of various sacrifices, getting increasingly melodramatic, leading up to the final, “Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?”
Finally, the Prophet steps back in, sounding more like a judge this time – “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?”
All of our lectionary passages for today have something to say about what the Lord requires of us. Psalm 15 reminds us that those who do right live in the presence of God. In the Gospel of Matthew, we heard the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount, when Jesus talks about the Beatitudes – “Blessed are the poor in spirit, those who mourn, the meek, those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, those who are merciful, reviled or persecuted, and blessed are the peacemakers.”
And that brings us to Micah’s words about what God requires of us. This well-known verse has earned nicknames over the years such as “Biblical ethics in a nutshell,” and “The Golden verse of the Old Testament.” Do justice, love kindness and walk humbly with your God.
In the court case we read this morning, the one being accused by God assumes that God is looking for a certain kind of sacrifice. The response to God’s charges gets increasingly dramatic and ends with a fairly ridiculous statement – “Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression…?” Fortunately, God and the Prophet recognize this is a pretty sarcastic response, and counter with the idea that God does not demand a sacrifice at all, at least not the kind that the accused is expecting. What God desires is a certain way of living.
God requires a life lived in the pursuit of justice. By this, Micah means a life that seeks to establish and restore community, while aiming to balance personal good with the common good. To do justice means to work for the establishment of equity for all, especially the powerless and the marginalized, those who are persecuted or threatened. ( 2)
God also requires a life that demonstrates a love of kindness. A life marked by and grace is what God expects. You can keep your elaborate sacrifices and fancy words and ceremonies – just be kind, be merciful, show others the same kind of grace God has shown you.
The third requirement of the kind of life God requires is to walk humbly with your God. It’s tempting to focus on the adverb “humbly” in that phrase, but the verb “walk” is actually more important.
We often describe the life of faith as a walk, as a journey. In Judaism the word for ethics is “halacha”, which means “walking.” So, the idea is that the task of ethics is to describe how one ought to walk one’s day-to-day life. (3 ) Just recently, we listened to Jesus call to “Follow me.” Jesus never said “Believe this or believe that.” He said “Follow me,” or perhaps, “Come, take a walk with me.”
So, when Micah says walk humbly with God, he is encouraging us to walk with God and be still, be quiet in a spirit of humility – because you just might learn something. That’s what God wants. God wants us to come, take a walk.
Over the centuries, Christian theologians have interpreted these verses from Micah in a variety of ways. For Cyril, the important thing here was God’s compassion. For Tertullian, he emphasized that God expects people to act with the same divine mercy and compassion that have been bestowed upon them. Augustine notes that the love of God, the love of neighbor, and the offering of self in loving service to one another are far superior to any other sacrifice or burnt offering. ( 4) From the earliest days of Christianity, the church has understood these three qualities are what God requires of us.
I began today with the story of how President Carter had his personal bible open to this passage during his Inauguration. During his rather short speech that today, he referred to Micah on numerous occasions, with words and ideas that still ring true today, especially in light of what is happening all around the country in regards to immigration enforcement. Let me share just some of what President Carter said in 1977:
“As my high school teacher, Miss Julia Coleman used to say: We must adjust to changing times and still hold to unchanging principles…”
“Let our recent mistakes bring a resurgent commitment to the basic principles of our Nation, for we know that if we despise our own government, we have no future. We recall in special times when we have stood briefly, but magnificently, united. In those times no prize was beyond our grasp.”
“But we cannot dwell upon remembered glory. We cannot afford to drift. We reject the prospect of failure or mediocrity or an inferior quality of life for any person. Our government must at the same time be both competent and compassionate…”
“It is my hope that when my time as your President has ended, people might say this about our Nation: That we remembered the words of Micah and renewed our search for humility, mercy and justice…” (5)
So as we gather at the Lord’s table once more, let us ask – What does God expect from us? What is required to live the life calls us to?
Micah boils it down to just three things:
Do justice,
Love kindness,
And walk humbly with your God.
May God be praised. Amen.
1. James Limburg, Interpretation: Hosea – Micah, John Knox Press, 1988, p 159-161.
2. Carol Dempsey, Feasting on the Word, Year A, Vol. 1 Westminster John Knox Press, p 294.
3. James Limburg… p 193.
4. Carol Dempsey … p 294.
5. Inaugural Address of Jimmy Carter, Thursday, January 20th, 1977, The Avalon Project, https://avalon.law.yale.edu/20th_century/carter.asp
