MICAH’S  

THREE COMMANDMENTS

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for this 16^th Monday in Ordinary time is, “Micah’s Three Commandments.”

In today’s first reading we have Micah’s three commandments.

JEWISH THEOLOGY

If we study Jewish theology, one of the things we would learn is that different prophets and people in the Jewish scriptures came up with different answers to the question: “How do you sum up the Law?”

There are 613 commandments revealed to Moses. Some are positive commandments and some are negative commandments. In other words, “Do’s and Don’ts.”  If we knew Jewish theology, we would know that there were 365 negative commandments - one for each day of the year. There are also 248 positive commandments - one for each part of the body [based on one count of one’s body parts].

Next Jewish theology and Rabbi’s like to present a list of how different prophets and Biblical characters narrowed down the 613 Commandments to make them more manageable. For example, here is a short listing:

·        David had 11 principles; [Cf. Psalm 15]

·        Isaiah had 6 principles; [Cf. Isaiah 33:15-16]

·        Habakkuk had 1 principle [Cf. Habakkuk 2:4]

·        Micah had 3 principles or commandments; [Cf. Micah 6:8]

REFLECTION

It would be wise for us to reflect once and a while on what principles, no no’s and do do’s - that guide our lives.

It would be wise to jot down what we come up with. Then compare them with other people’s lists.

At the big funeral at St. Mary’s this morning, the brother of Kellie Shiley said he received a poem at St. Mary’s - a long list of guidelines for life. Then he added that he gave them to his sister who taped it on her door. Then she put them into practice. I don’t have a copy of what the list was, but a few would be these - depending on how good my memory was. “If you think you can’t, you probably won’t. If you think you can, you probably will.” “Do it today, because you might not have a tomorrow.”

TODAY’S GOSPEL

Today’s gospel talks about how people look for signs.  Has that been your experience? People often want signs from God. They look to the heavens. They look to the waters. They look to prayer and they light candles looking for light.

In today’s New York Times there is an article about a tree in West New York, New Jersey. Some people are seeing the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe in the tree trunk. Some think this is bunk or crazy or idolatry and some swear by it. Whatever, the article says it’s costing the police $1,000 a day.  I think the cost of a similar happening in Conyers, Georgia was costing the area a lot of money because of traffic and the crowds. [1]

Every once and a while you’ll notice the same story of people seeing Jesus or the Virgin Mary in doors, barns, donuts and vegetables.

When I was a kid I remember going with lots of people to a church about 20 blocks away. It was supposed to have an image of Mary on the wall.  In time it was a water stain on the wall that looked like an image of Mary.

When it comes to these kinds of events and signs, I would hope people would see God and Christ in us. I would hope we would be a sign of the presence of God and his love.

CONCLUSION

How do we do that. That brings us back to our way of doing our life - what commandments, what principles, what plan we’re following. We know that Jesus was asked to sum up the Law and the Prophets and he gave the Great Commandment to love the Lord our God with our whole heart, mind, soul and strength - and then to love our neighbor as ourselves [Confer Luke 10:25-28]

Another answer would be Micah’s Three Commandments - the title of this homily - the message he gives at the end of today’s first reading - the famous Micah 6:8 quote. His words are translated in various ways. I prefer to list his 3 commandments this way:

1) To do life justly - to be fair with one another;

2) To love mercy - to do the works of mercy each day;

3) To walk humbly or modestly with our God.

NOTES

[1] Confer New York Times, July 22, 2012, “In New Jersey, a Knot in a Tree Trunk Draws the Faithful and the Skeptical” by Nate Schweber; confer Google, Conyers, Georgia, Apparitions of Jesus and Mary. If you’re really interested in doing research on “apparitions” just type that word into Google or your favorite search engine.