What's More Important than Being Right

What’s More Important than Being Right

Micah 6:6-8 ESV

A sermon delivered by the Rev. Dr. Randy K. Hammer on Feb. 2, 2020

“With what shall I come before the Lord?” Micah 6:6

What is required of man and woman in order to please God?  This is another perennial religious question that humans have asked and sought to answer, dating back to humankind’s first inclinations to address Deity and to worship.  It is a question that the eighth-century Hebrew prophet Micah addressed in his day, it is a question Jesus sought to address some 800 years later, and it is a question that at least some 21^st-century men and women may still seek to answer.

The three verses read from Micah are some of the most important, pivotal verses in the history of religious thought.  In fact, Micah 6:8 is one of the select Bible verses inscribed in the Library of Congress.  But in this one verse, Micah sought to sum up in a nutshell what the religious life is all about – doing justice with all our fellowmen and fellow women, living a life of kindness (or mercy) toward others, and walking humbly with God.  We can only try to imagine what a different world it would be if everyone, regardless of their nationality, ethnic origin, or religious affiliation sought to live by Micah’s teaching.

But, you see, there is a back story to Micah’s teachings.  We see in this chapter evidence of two competing religious schools of thought.  On the one hand, Micah addresses those of the priestly-sacrificial school, Israel’s sacrificial cult, those who believed that the way to please God, to win God’s favor, was through offering the proper ritual sacrifices upon the altar – calves, rams, and rivers of olive oil.  And the question is raised if the extreme practice of human sacrifice would please God.  For the most part, the practice of human sacrifice was considered to be abhorrent by the Jews, but there are hints scattered throughout the Old Testament that it may have occasionally been practiced early on.  But the point is, many believed that the way to best please God was through the sacrificial cult, right offerings.

But then on the other hand, a school of thought that stood in opposition to the belief that the way to please God is through right offerings was the school that stood on the side of right living.  This is where Micah, and Amos as well, stood.  God could not care less about your cultic sacrifices both Amos and Micah thundered.  What pleases God, the way to God’s heart, is through right living – doing justice and showing kindness to others.  Micah preached that one can sacrifice a thousand rams upon God’s altar, but if you are taking advantage of or not caring for others, your sacrifices are in vain and God will not hear your prayers.

Jesus was in agreement with Amos and Micah, as evidenced by his encounter with some of the religious leaders of his own day whom he accused of being obsessed with the right offerings down to the tiniest of herbs – mint, dill and cumin – while ignoring the most important elements of their faith and Law – justice, mercy (or kindness) and faithfulness (Matthew 23:23).

Now, with all of that having been said, the focus for the remainder of this sermon will be on the second point of Micah’s trinity of religious practice: kindness.

Kindness is one of the chief Christian virtues extolled by the early Christians and in the early Christian writings.  The Apostle Paul called it one of the nine “fruits of the Spirit,” evidences that one is living their life in fellowship with God (Galatians 5:22-23).

As sometimes occurs, that articles happen to appear at just the right time when I am working on a particular theme or topic, on Monday, when I began work on this sermon, an article came across my desk titled “Kindness to whom?”   And another arrived in my email box titled “Everyday kindness.”

Writing in the most recent issue of Christian Century magazine, Amy Peterson notes that in Middle English the words “kind” and “kin” were the same.  To be kind meant to be kin.  And Peterson observes, “practicing kindness requires, at minimum, a willingness to see the image of God in and to find a point of honest connection with, every person”¹ whom we look upon as kin.

And then in “Everyday kindness,” Kat Banakis shares what a difference the kindness of three different people – a medical technician, an Uber driver, and an insurance company rep – made in her life following a day of very disappointing and frustrating medical procedures.²  Kindness is something everyone wants and needs, and it is something every one of us can offer; and the good news is it doesn’t cost us anything to be kind.

Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, near the end of his life, observed, “When I was young, I used to admire intelligent people; as I grow older, I admire kind people.” 

There is a fable from India about a kind, quiet man who would pray in the Ganges River every morning.  One morning, after finishing his prayers, he saw a poisonous spider struggling in the water.  So the kind man cupped his hands under the spider and carried it to the shore.  But as he placed the spider upon the ground, the spider bit him.  However, the story goes that the man’s religious devotion and prayers for the world counteracted the poison.

The next morning the exact same thing occurred again – after his prayers, the kind man saw and rescued the spider, and the spider bit him, but because of his devotion and prayers, the poison did not affect him. 

On the third day the kind man was in knee deep water offering his prayers and again saw the poisonous spider struggling to stay alive.  As the man went to cup his hands under the spider again, the spider said to him, “Why do you keep lifting me out of the water?  Haven’t you learned that I will bite you every time, because that is what I do?”  And as the man cupped his hands under the spider yet again, he replied to the spider, “Because being kind is what I do.”³

When I first read that story, my original idea for a sermon topic was “Being Kind for What Reason?”  The reason for living a life of kindness is not in hopes of what we will gain from it in return.  The reason for being kind is because it is the faithful thing to do, it is the right thing to do, it is the fully human thing to do when we are being our best selves.  Could it be said of us that we are kind because that is what we do?

There is a common and well-known saying that has been attributed to and repeated by a number of people, the likes of which include Scott Fitzgerald, Andy Rooney, Anne Lamott, and H. Jackson Brown.  It is the saying from which I ultimately adapted today’s sermon title.  And the saying is this: “being kind is more important than being right.”  Micah certainly would agree, I think.

I must confess that I am not yet the mature, kind person I aspire to be.  And maybe you would have to admit that you are not either.  Whoever we are, I think all of us have some room to grow when it comes to living a life of human kindness.  Because it is not always easy to remember and to live by the truth that what’s more important than being right is being kind.  But may it be so for us.  Amen.

¹Amy Peterson, “Kindness to whom?”  Christian Century, January 29, 2020.     ²Kat Banakis, “Everyday kindness,” Sunday’s Coming, from the Christian Century, January 27, 2020.     ³adapted from Mark Nepo, The Book of Awakening.  Newburyport, MA: Red Wheel, 2020, pp. 20-21.