This is certainly a strange little story. A man steals a large sum of money from his
mother who has uttered a curse against the one who stole it. The man now confesses and his mother gives
him nearly 20% of the money to have idols and gods made with it. Do these people not know the second
commandment against making idols? They
also make an ephod (remember the story of Gideon with the golden ephod which
became an idol and a snare to him) and a shrine is ready. All Micah needs is a priest to serve there
and, lo and behold, a Levite from Bethlehem comes walking past looking for
somewhere to sojourn and Micah makes him an offer to be his priest. Apparently the Levite isn't very scrupulous in
his religious sensibilities either as he is perfectly willing to serve as
priest for this idol. Micah believes God
will truly bless him now because he has a priest of his own. I wonder sometimes if we don’t too often
share this same idea today, that so long as we have a church then we will be
blessed by God when we are actually not worshipping Him at all.
What we make of the Son, Jesus, makes all the difference in
the world, this world and the world to come.
We can't have Jesus as just a teacher of ethics and morality, He says
that He has been given the power of judgment, the power of life and death. The Father, He says, judges no one, that
power and right was given to the Son and what we make of the Son says everything
about what we make of the Father. In our
first lesson, Micah and his priest both were willing to serve and idol, a safe
thing to do since idols are mute and ask nothing of us. Even though they are presumably in the
covenant community and know something of their own story they have rejected
God's claim on their lives by worshipping this idol. There is no fear of God in their lives. We have to come to Jesus as judge first and
then the giver of life after we have confessed and repented of our sins. We arise as children of God only to the
extent we recognize that He is co-equal with God, nothing less.
Stephen makes perfectly clear that all that matters is their
rejection of Jesus as Messiah. Up to
these last few sentences he had said nothing, absolutely nothing,
controversial. Only when he points to
Jesus and refers to Him as the Righteous One whom they murdered and betrayed,
does he say one word with which they would disagree. At that moment, however, everything turns and
now he must die. This is a scary moment
when a group of religious folk turn murderous simply because Stephen proclaimed
Jesus as the Righteous One. The scandal
of particularity, that Jesus is the only way to the Father, brings out the
worst in some people, always has and always will. They may not stone you but you will be an
outcast in some religious circles today, it is only going to get worse. You have to make a choice, either He is
everything or He is nothing all eternally.
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