Sermon: What the Lord Requires
What the Lord Requires
Who knew that, throughout the history of Biblical religion, prophets and psalmists—read, poets and songsters—have articulated entry requirements necessary to fully participate in the worship of the God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Jesus?
Take Psalm 15. Likely written before there even was a Temple atop Mount Zion in Jerusalem, it asks the pivotal question: “Lord, who may dwell in your tabernacle? who may abide upon your holy hill?” We often imagine that, when it came time for worship, everyone was—and always had been—welcomed. “The Episcopal Church Welcomes You!”
But this is not at all how Psalm 15 depicts things. Before one can enter the tabernacle, one must already be engaged in the kind of life that reflects the God in whose image we have been created—a God who is merciful, slow to anger, compassionate, and abounding in steadfast love. The psalmist lists the qualities required: live a blameless life, speak truth from the heart, and do no evil to one’s neighbor.
Writing some 800 years before the time of Christ, the prophet Micah envisions the Lord God putting the faithfulness of the covenant community on trial. We would do well to note who is in the jury box: creation itself—mountains, hills, and the “foundations of the earth.” The question is put forward: Will the Lord be pleased with burnt offerings, calves, rams, or thousands of rivers of oil? Shall we double down on the standard requirements of Temple liturgies?
The answer is almost deafening: “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?”
In our current climate—with its nearly total lack of humility—Micah’s prophecy might seem like more than we can handle. But he challenges us to see that the entry requirements to worship hinge entirely on how we live the other six days of the week. The Apostle Paul reminds the Corinthians that, to the rest of the world, the kind of sacrifice and compassion symbolized by the Cross looks like weakness and foolishness. He reminds them that God chose what is low and despised in the world to reduce to nothing things that are, so that no one might boast in the presence of God.
This brings us to the Beatitudes. Long thought to be aspirational, these Blessings appear to be statements of fact. Jesus lifts up those who are already peacemakers, who already hunger and thirst for righteousness. He recognizes those who demonstrate for the rest of us what it means to do justice, perform deeds of loving kindness, and walk humbly with our God.
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