What Does God Desire?

 Many of us are familiar with this passage from Micah 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? Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?" 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?

But what is justice? What does it mean to love kindness? What does it look like to walk humbly with your God?

Jesus spends the vast majority of his time on earth showing us exactly what justice looks like. Take for example Luke 21:1-4. Jesus was sitting where he can see where people where putting their gifts into the treasury. You can imagine the scene of people of all walks of life depositing their tithes. He saw a poor widow put in two small copper coins. Too many people misinterpreted this passage as being an example of sacrificial giving and that we should be like the poor widow. This is not Jesus' point. His point has to with the expectation of this poor widow giving anything to the treasury. Justice would say that the people who have much should be looking after the one with so little. You see, she not only gave up her two little coppers, she may have had to give up eating for the day, or not pay her rent, or not afford to tend to her children. The others make no such sacrifice. Justice stands up for those who are being trampled on by the rich.

"Beware of the scribes, who like to walk around in long robes, and love to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces, and to have the best seats in the synagogues and places of honor at banquets. They devour widows' houses and for the sake of appearance say long prayers. They will receive the greater condemnation." (Luke 20:46-47)

Jesus also shows us what it means to love kindness. In John 4 we find Jesus in Samaria. He is thirsty and finds himself a well. A woman approaches and Jesus asks for a drink. Now, this woman knows that Israelites and Samaritans should not be friendly, she knows that a woman should not be with a man in public that is not her husband or relative. She also knows that she is of a different class from this man who is asking her for a drink. Instead of walking away and ignoring Jesus, she engages him. The language used by her is as an equal, and Jesus responds as her equal. In fact the two engage in word play and story telling. Kindness is at play in this story. So much so that she shares her deepest hope, "I know that Messiah is coming." Because of this burgeoning friendship she comes to know who Jesus might be and through her many come to believe. Loving kindness is look at the other as fully equal, fully worthy of the love of God.

"For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. "Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. (John 3:16-17)

Jesus leans into what God is doing in the world and that we are just a part. In John 7 we have Jesus attending the Jewish Festival of Booths. He does not announce himself, or enters with his entourage. He goes on his own, quietly. He walks around enjoying the festival. He finally wanders up to the temple and begins to teach. The people are struggling to understand where this man and this teaching is coming from. At this point Jesus could announce "I AM THE MESSIAH!" Instead he shares that the teaching is not his but God's. In fact, in a very humble moment, he says if you follow God then you will know that what I say is of God. It is as if Jesus is saying, check it out for yourself! It is a humble move on Jesus part. We should follow this, too; to lift up God before all else, to lift up God's Word above all else.

Then Jesus cried out as he was teaching in the temple, "You know me, and you know where I am from. I have not come on my own. But the one who sent me is true, and you do not know him. I know him, because I am from him, and he sent me." (John 7:28-29)

What does God require of you? To share from your abundance to lift up the lowly. To sit with others as
equals so that the water of life is offered. To place God in the center of all that you do - to humble your ego before the creator.

It is amazing to me how often we wonder about what we are called to do as if it is some grand secret. We are called to do just as Jesus - give, love, and be humble.