Micah, scholars tell us, was...
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Micah, scholars tell us, was a younger contemporary of Isaiah. The world of God's people
was turned upside-down. The best and the brightest were hauled away into Babylon. The
temple was ransacked and left as a pile of rubble. The world as they knew it was swept
away. It was much like present-day Iraq must look. Micah's words were addressed to a
post-exilic people. The prophets had told them that one day they would go back home.
For years they had dreamed that dream and when they returned there was nothing there
but debris and chaos and poverty and rebuilding a whole new world. Micah addressed the
hearts of a very troubled people. He gave them a word of judgment and a word of hope
and encouragement. In today's lectionary passage, he turned them toward the little village
of Bethlehem. They would remember that the greatest king they ever had came from that
tiny place. And Micah said that once again someone will come "to feed his flock in the
strength of the Lord." If that were not enough he also told his people: "And they shall live
secure." Interestingly, Bethlehem means house of bread. One shall come that shall feed
them as a shepherd feeds his flock. On this Sunday before Christmas, we celebrate the
wonder that the hungers of our lives will find sustenance in this one who has come. In the
New Testament he has told them that he, himself, was the bread of life. He taught them a
prayer: "Give us this day our daily bread." Give us what we need for whatever it is we
have to do. From a tiny stable on a side street in Bethlehem has come the one who will
feed us with a bread that touches every basic hunger we face. Bethlehem, then, is the
source of the spring that runs wherever there is need and wherever wrongs need to be
righted.
