Peace Sunday 2008

The eighth-century (B.C.E.) rural prophet Micah was a contemporary of the prophet Isaiah. Micah was a country prophet who spoke for poor farmers suffering under the hands of powerful landlords. In his prophetic speeches he spoke to leaders in power—the leaders of Jerusalem, the wealthy, rulers, landowners, judges, priests and prophets — about their perpetration of and complicity in injustice.

Chapter three of Micah is a bold and blunt indictment of leaders of Jerusalem who abuse their power. These leaders do not know justice and “hate the good and love the evil.” Their exploitation of the common people makes them like voracious cannibals who “tear the skin off my people” and “eat the flesh.” The lives of the peasants who live off the land are being devoured by injustice.

Micah castigates the prophets who disconnect peace and justice and serve their own needs. They cry “peace,” but declare war on the poor by supporting and legitimizing the injustices of the land, which rob them of their food and well-being. Their power is self-serving.

The prophet Micah contrasts his lifestyle with the leaders of Jerusalem. Micah is filled with a different kind of power from the power that exploits, abuses, subjugates, oppresses and dehumanizes. He is filled with “the Spirit of the Lord and with justice and might.” This spirit comes from God, who will inspire Micah to envision a day when nations will “beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks,” instruments of destruction transformed into productive and peaceful instruments for the common good (Micah 4:3).

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