Title: WALKING THE MICAH ROAD

Focus: In order to walk the Micah Road, we need to follow Jesus’ directions; he provides us with a map, with travel companions, and with power.

Function: To encourage the people to act justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with our God.

Text: Luke 24:36-49

I still remember the first time that I got lost. I was 7 years old. My parents lived near the big City of Rotterdam; my grandfather lived in the countryside. And we loved visiting grandpa on his farm and staying with him for the summer weeks. So, in the summer of 1958, my mother brought us (my brother and me) to the train station in Rotterdam; she talked to the conductor of the steam locomotive, and she told him that we needed to get off the train at the railroad station in the small town of Den Briel.

So far, so good. My grandfather is waiting at the railroad station; we see him and we are ready to go to his farm. But there is a problem. Grandpa is poor and does not have a car. His only means of transportation is a bicycle. And only one of us could have a ride with grandpa on the bicycle. The other had to walk.

But grandpa solved the problem (so he thought). He told my brother Arie to take a seat on the bicycle and he told me to start walking in the direction of his farmhouse.

It was a good plan, because grandpa wanted to ride his bike about three miles down the road. Then he would tell my brother to go and finish the distance to the farmhouse by simply walking the last stretch. Dropping off my brother, grandpa then would turn around and meet me somewhere down the road, pick me up and ride me home. It all made sense to him.

As grandpa took off on his bicycle with my brother Arie on the back of the bicycle, he gave me simple directions to follow. But when I lost sight of my grandfather and my brother, I also lost my directions. I was confused and a bit scared.

So, I did the smart thing. I simply sat down on my suitcase and waited for my grandfather to come and pick me up. My grandpa was not pleased. First, he was worried when he could not find me where he thought I should be by the time that he had dropped off my brother close to the farmhouse. Then when he peddled all the way back to the train station and found me sitting on my suitcase waiting for him, he was downright “ornery.” “What happened to my directions?” he asked. “Why did not you walk?” He thought I was lazy. But really, I was lost, having forgotten my directions.

Today we learn that we must walk the Micah Road of life. In order to walk the Micah Road, we need to follow Jesus’ directions; and we also need to grasp some of its challenges. From the litany in our bulletin we learned that the Micah Road captures the words of God to Israel by way of the Prophet Micah: “Act justly, love mercy, walk humbly with your God.” Those words to the people of Israel so long ago are still valid for us today. Christians are called to walk the Micah Road of life. And that road comes with a lot of challenges.

For example, to act justly means that we must “help set things right.” And that means that we may have to say “I’m sorry” to our Mom or Dad, for something we did or said that was hurtful. It may mean that we make changes in our behavior so that we no longer hurt our co-worker, for example, or so that we no longer make life miserable for some poor person.

To help set things right is not always easy. For example, how do you help set things right for a person who is homeless, and who lives in a cardboard box under a bridge? Or how do you help set things right when your best friend is killed by a drunk driver? Sometimes, it seems impossible to help set things right. That’s why I say that the Micah Road comes with lots of challenges.

Here’s another challenge: To love mercy means that we must “show compassion at all times.” I don’t know about you, but that’s not always easy. Sometimes, instead of showing compassion, I feel like wringing the necks of some people. When some Islamic terrorists, for example, brutally kill innocent people and American soldiers, I feel like squashing these terrorists. Compassion does not come naturally for most of us. As we live our lives and walk the Micah Road, we need help and direction to show compassion at all times.

Here’s another challenge: To walk the Micah Road, I must “get rid of pride; I must stop depending on myself; I must learn to trust God deeply.” Well, that too, is tough to do at times. For it means that I must know my place before God; it means that I must live with the awareness and realization that all of life is God’s gift to me. The breath I take, the food I have, the friends and family I belong to—all these are God’s gifts to me. Health, strength, security, beauty and a zillion other wonderful things in life are God’s provisions to us.

Do I show my dependence upon God each day? Do I express thanks and gratitude to God each day? Do I go through life and walk the Micah Road with humility, knowing my place before God? Not always! That’s why I say: we need help and direction as we walk through life.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thank God for the risen Lord Jesus Christ! He has directions for us as we walk the Micah Road! Take a look at the gospel passage for today. There we encounter the risen Lord Jesus revealing himself to his disciples on that resurrection Sunday. The disciples are shocked to see Jesus. They seem to think that they are seeing a ghost. So Jesus says to them: “Why are you troubled, and why do doubts rise in your minds? Look at my hands and my feet. It is I myself! Touch me and see; a ghost does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have.” In other words, “I am not a spook! I’m the risen Lord Jesus Christ!”

And in order to make his point emphatically, the Lord Jesus asks for something to eat. There can be no mistake. Jesus is not a ghost. He is the “real McCoy;” he is the crucified Son of God, who died, and three days later rose again from the dead!

Then Jesus gives his disciples some instructions. And these instructions are for us today the directions we need to apply as we walk the Micah Road.

Number One: Jesus points to the Scriptures; he explains to his followers how he has fulfilled the Scriptures and how he has done everything that the Scriptures foretold about the Messiah: “Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms…The Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day.”

Jesus, then, points to the Scriptures as the road map by which he was living his earthly life; and in so doing the Lord Jesus validates the Scriptures and its authority for us as well. We must pay attention to the Scriptures, for the Word of God is like lamp unto our feet.

If we wish to act justly, the Scriptures will tell us stories of justice and injustice, and the Scriptures will guide us on the way. If we are to love mercy, the Scriptures have many examples of a merciful God, reaching out to his people and enemies and showing mercy to them; if we are to learn humility and gratitude, we must turn again to Scriptures. For the Scriptures show us how to live before God, and how to know our place before him. The Scriptures, then, is the road map for us to follow on the Micah Road of life.

Number Two: Jesus directs us to find and walk the Micah Road of life with travel companions. Speaking to his disciples, the Lord Jesus says that “repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.” In other words, the gospel message must be proclaimed to all people. The good news of forgiveness of sins and the call to repent and live for Christ and walk the Micah Road come to all nations. And whoever responds in faith will be united to the Lord Jesus. That is, whoever comes to Christ becomes part of his body, the Church.

When Jesus spoke these words, the disciples did not see the church; they did not see their travel companions yet, because the gospel had not yet been proclaimed. All that the disciples see at the moment is the HEAD of the Church, that is, Jesus. They see the risen Christ.

We don’t see the risen Christ with our own eyes today. He is physically in heaven; we are here on earth. But we see what the disciples did not see when they encountered the Lord Jesus on that resurrection Sunday. We see the body of Christ—the Church today. And that body of Christ makes up our travel companions on the Micah Road of life.

Let me emphasize this as strongly as I can. Do not travel the Micah Road alone. Don’t fool yourself thinking that you can do without the members of Christ’s body. Don’t fall into the trap that so many fall into today—the trap that says “Give me Jesus, forget the church!” I tell you: the head and the body cannot be separated. The head and the body must remain united for the body to have life and strength and purpose and nurture. Christ and Christians belong together. And together we walk the Micah Road.

The Church as our travel companion on the Micah Road provides us with good news every Sunday; the Church is the community that declares good news of eternal life and forgiveness of sins. The Church helps us and teaches us to act justly, to love mercy and to walk humbly with our God. The Church is the community where the sparks of faith fly, where discouragement is conquered with encouragement and testimonies of others.

The Church is the place and community that shows the way as it declares the Scriptures and appeals to God’s heavenly power. As I needed the company of my grandpa and his bicycle to get to his farmhouse, so you and I need the church as we travel the Micah Road of life.

It is the will of the risen Lord Jesus Christ—the head of the body that you and I stay united to him and to our travel companions, so that we make up Jesus’ body here on earth. Using the Scriptures as her map, the Church travels on the Micah Road.

Jesus gives us one more direction: Number Three: We must be clothed with power from above. Listen to Jesus speaking to his disciples: “I am going to send you what my Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.” In other words, don’t move forward on the Micah Road until you have received my Holy Spirit.

You see, folks, we cannot meet the challenges of the Micah Road of life in our own strength. To act justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with our God we need the grace and power of God to do what does not come naturally to us. It is the Holy Spirit—who has come on that Pentecost Sunday so long ago—who empowers us to travel and complete our life’s journey. That means that we must ask each day for God’s Spirit to fill us with his presence. Each day we need heavenly wisdom and energy to produce fruits of kindness, grace, and patience, for example.

So let’s be clear on this and hear the good news one more time:

In order to walk the Micah Road, we need to follow Jesus’ directions; he provides us with a map, with travel companions, and with power. Do not go alone through life. Walk with Jesus. Follow his directions.

In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.