Let Justice Roll Down

I hate, I despise your religious festivals;
    your assemblies are a stench to me.
Even though you bring me burnt offerings and grain offerings,
    I will not accept them.
Though you bring choice fellowship offerings,
    I will have no regard for them.
Away with the noise of your songs!
    I will not listen to the music of your harps.
But let justice roll on like a river,
    righteousness like a never-failing stream! - Micah 5:21-24

We Christians love to talk about things like fellowship, tithing, and worship music. Those are staples of our good religious lives. And yet, passages like this one are unnerving and disturbing. Fellowship, tithing, and worship music are all named in the passage as being despised by God. What?!

That’s how much justice matters to God. It’s not an add-on. It’s not an ‘action step’ after a Sunday sermon. It’s a whole way of life. It is, indeed, the way of Jesus. Caring about things like fair housing, food for the poor, and medical care for those who lack it - these are the sorts of things that qualify as ‘justice’ in the scriptures. And they are not easy. They are not simple. They are messy and overwhelming and uncomfortable. Welcome to the Christian life!

Some of care about these things because that’s the only way we can care for ourselves - because we need medical insurance, we are hungry, and we need safe housing. Some of us are privileged to get to choose into caring about these issues. One way or the other, it’s where Jesus is. Will we join him there, regardless of how we get there?