Micah 6:1-8

One of the few Micah entries in the 3 year cycle. In year C, for advent, he gets to prophesy:

“But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah,
      though you are small among the clans of Judah,
out of you will come for me
      one who will be ruler over Israel,
whose origins are from of old,
      from ancient times.”

That is in the next chapter, a continuation of this section where God is promising to restore Zion while also prosecuting them for their sins and reminding them of all the great things he's done. The Temple has been destroyed and people are in exile. We hear a lot about corruption in the capitals, similar to Isaiah. Micah mixes his talk of punishment with some assurance that God will keep his promise that he made to Abraham. (That also comes in the next chapter).

1 Corinthians 1:18-31

This week expands on the closing verse from last week, about the foolishness of the cross. He expands on “foolishness” by denigrating Greek wisdom. I have never understood the case theologians make for Christianity being corrupted by Greek philosophy. It appears to me that they developed along side each other and that Christianity without philosophy would not have survived. I am not well versed enough in philosophy to make that case. But I think we can at least see here that Paul thought something was going on. His statements here would not stand up to modern philosophers as actual philosophical arguments, but that doesn't necessarily make them wrong. Just because you haven't made your case, it doesn't mean there isn't a case to be made. So it is left up to modern theologians to attempt to do that.

We have a little more data to work with on the question of whether or not Paul thinks you should think for yourself at all. Paul does recommend using your mind at other times (Rom 12:2 for example), but I certainly would not give him an honorary degree in logic. Augustine will later make some very clear anti-intellectual statements,


I think we can still give Paul some benefit of the doubt that he is okay with technological progress, but he obviously thinks there is something much more important. He is also speaking to the same people Jesus did, those not born to noble families, those who had no opportunity for education. He is telling them they have something of value to contribute. I see more educated people today showing appreciation for the contributions of everyone. Hopefully that trend toward equality continues.

Matthew 5:1-12

This introduction to the Sermon on the Mount makes a good companion to what Paul was trying to say to the Corinthians. Jesus, or whomever may have preached this, is lifting the poor, the meek and the hungry up to a higher status. Unfortunately it also says this status won't be achieved until either death, or the apocalypse. Sometimes it's great, “blessed are the merciful”, sometimes you can see where Christians get their persecution complex, clearly 5:10 says you're blessed if you do that.

If these are all sincerely delivered, they still aren't much help until Jesus comes back. They don't give us much to work with in this life. If you view them cynically, they could be someone trying to tell people to be happy with their lower status and to not have desires to improve it, since you will “see God”. Regardless of intent, it's easy to find large groups of people who took the words that way. The worst part of these is that they don't encourage and in fact discourage working with others who are not like you. I can forgive this as ancient thinking, but in today's pluralistic world, I can give it no pass.

For a thorough review of this sermon, I recommend Matt Dillahunty's criticism of this sermon. I will draw on it for the next couple lections. Matt's focus is on the claim that the Sermon is so profound, it must come from the divine. I agree with him that it is not that profound, but there are some things Matt does not cover.