Micah 6:6-8

6 ‘With what shall I come before the Lord,
    and bow myself before God on high?
Shall I come before him with burnt-offerings,
    with calves a year old?
7 Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams,
    with tens of thousands of rivers of oil?
Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression,
    the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?’
8 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?

This is a famous passage from the Bible, especially vs. 8. Vs. 8 describes three things that are required of human beings – to do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with God. Many words have been written about these three – and with trepidation I offer a few thoughts.

The three are together – it is not that some people do justice and other people do kindness and others walk humbly with God – the three connect, are to be lived together. Justice matters, wrong cannot be allowed to prevail; injustice must be resisted. But justice by itself, justice alone, can become brittle, harsh, vengeful – it becomes “an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.” The answer to the harshness of justice is kindness. As the prophet Hosea said, God desires mercy not sacrifice. So justice and kindness are to walk together. This is not letting people off from the wrong they have done, but it is responding to the wrongdoer with kindness, responding to the difficult person with kindness, showing kindness to the adversary.

But how to get the balance correct – how to live both justice and kindness – that is the fundamental question this passage invites us to ask. The answer to this very human predicament is to walk humbly with God. Human beings left to our own devices will get the mix wrong, only has we walk in step with the Holy Spirit will we be shaped into people who balance justice and kindness in proper measure. Only as we let the Holy Spirit draw us deeper into walking the Jesus Way will we begin to be shaped into people who do justice and love kindness in the way that Jesus did. And it is Jesus who is our example.

PRAYER:

O Lord, we want to be people who do justice and love kindness, but we find it difficult to keep those in balance, too often one outweighs the other in our actions. Shape us to be humble people who walk with You the balanced path of doing justice and loving kindness. In Jesus’ name. Amen. 

2 Samuel 9:1-8

9 David asked, ‘Is there still anyone left of the house of Saul to whom I may show kindness for Jonathan’s sake?’ 2 Now there was a servant of the house of Saul whose name was Ziba, and he was summoned to David. The king said to him, ‘Are you Ziba?’ And he said, ‘At your service!’ 3 The king said, ‘Is there anyone remaining of the house of Saul to whom I may show the kindness of God?’ Ziba said to the king, ‘There remains a son of Jonathan; he is crippled in his feet.’ 4 The king said to him, ‘Where is he?’ Ziba said to the king, ‘He is in the house of Machir son of Ammiel, at Lo-debar.’ 5 Then King David sent and brought him from the house of Machir son of Ammiel, at Lo-debar. 6 Mephibosheth son of Jonathan son of Saul came to David, and fell on his face and did obeisance. David said, ‘Mephibosheth!’ He answered, ‘I am your servant.’ 7 David said to him, ‘Do not be afraid, for I will show you kindness for the sake of your father Jonathan; I will restore to you all the land of your grandfather Saul, and you yourself shall eat at my table always.’ 8 He did obeisance and said, ‘What is your servant, that you should look upon a dead dog such as I am?’

 David was now king, and was looking for the descendants of King Saul to whom he could show kindness. This is a surprising decision on David’s part – to show kindness to the descendants of the previous king, the king who David has replaced. The descendants of the previous king have a claim to the throne that David is now on – they are in a word possible opponents – contenders for the throne who would try and overthrow David. But David chose to be kind to potential enemies. (Yes, his friendship with Jonathan shapes his actions, but that does not minimize how out of step with expectations David’s actions are.)

David’s kindness includes giving to Mephibosheth all the ancestral lands of his grandfather Saul. Mephibosheth who would have been terrified out of his mind when he is called before David, expecting the worst (death) is given the family land which David would have taken as his own, since he had become king on Saul’s place.

In our lives there are likely people who, because of our past history, worry that we will try to get back at them for the things that have happened. (I use “get back at” as a way to include all forms of pay-back.) David’s actions here challenge us to be kind instead of seeking revenge, to offer care instead of gloating when the opponent is facing difficulties. We can only do this by the help and strength of the Holy Spirit.

We need to participate with the Holy Spirit – we need to step out, doing the Jesus thing of showing kindness to enemies. And then we will find having taken the step of faith that the Holy Spirit joins us in deepening that action of care and kindness, beginning to shape our lives to move towards forgiveness. The path to forgiveness often starts by choosing to be kind of an opponent or difficult person.

An additional comment from 2 Samuel 16:1-4, it appears that Mephibosheth was not moved by all of David’s still believing that he, Mephibosheth, would be able to be king some day.

PRAYER:

O Lord, we so often want to punish our opponents and those people who support them. Shape us to be kind people, people who show kindness to the difficult, the abrasive, those who are our adversaries. In Jesus’ name. Amen.