Saying no to false gods (Micah 6:1-8)
It is a challenging task to do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with God.
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Micah 6:8 is one of Christians’ favorite biblical texts. We print it on mugs and T-shirts and post it on social media.
This passage gives us a sense of peace, because it reminds us that God does not want us to bring offerings and sacrifices in exchange for God’s love, acceptance, and forgiveness. It gives us relief to know that all God wants from us is to do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with our God. God wants us to be active participants in God’s salvific plan for humanity.
However, it is a challenging task to do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with God—for we live in a world where we are constantly tempted by false gods that try to pull us away from God’s desire for our lives.
For Archbishop Oscar Romero (now a saint), the source of all evil and injustice was the worship of false gods: the gods of money, power, pride, egoism, state, lust, and so on. In his sermon from February 24, 1980, “Cuaresma, Triunfo del Proyecto Salvador de Dios en la Historia,” he talks about the gods of power and money. Reflecting on the temptation of Jesus in the wilderness, Romero identifies two plans: the plan of God and the plan of the devil.
The devil’s plan is idolatry to the false gods, while God’s plan is to free people from the claws of evil. God’s plan is a plan of justice.
In this sermon, Romero unmasks the idolatry of the false gods of money and power and their strategies to keep people kneeling before them. By naming the gods and their deeds, he intends to unveil their reality and empower people to resist them. Romero explains that this is one of the services the church can offer to the world, for the true liberation of the people is found in understanding that there is a struggle between the powers of the earth and the power of God.
Doing justice, loving kindness, and walking humbly with God means saying no to the false gods daily. People who do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with God lovingly offer their whole being to the true and only God for the world’s healing and liberation.
