Micah 3:1-8
Luke 10:1-16
In our reading today, Micah takes particular offense at those prophets who “say ‘peace’ when they have something to eat, but declare war against those who put nothing into their mouths” (Micah 3:5). As a result God will withhold all visions and revelations from them (v. 6). Without these there is no way a prophet can function, so their work will come to a halt. Our reading from Luke offers a different set of circumstances. As Jesus tells his followers, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into the harvest” (Luke 10:2).
For Micah the issue is false prophecy. For Jesus the issue is lethargy or apathy. What is common to each is that there is always a place for the truth of God’s word and always work to be done for the coming reign of God. But if we insist on seeing things only in human terms we will often find ourselves in opposition to what God is doing. We simply cannot take God’s word and try to pass it off as something it is not. Nor can we ignore the people around us who need so desperately to hear God’s word in the first place. Jesus says that the laborers are few. What he might have said is that the honest, trustworthy laborers are few, just as Micah points out that there is no shortage of false prophets who would rather look after their own needs and not those of the people.
So which kind of work are we doing? Are we shaping a message that makes us feel better and calling it God’s word? Or are we honestly addressing those issues that confound our world according to God’s will, regardless of how unpopular it makes us or how insignificant we may feel? It’s a crucial question, because if we are going to be the body of Christ as we’ve been called to be, we need to “talk the talk” as well as “walk the walk.”
Prayer: Lord, bless us in our living today, that we may serve you faithfully and obediently and may not find ourselves ignoring your word for our own sake. In Jesus Name. Amen.
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