Micah 3:9-11a
Hear this, you leaders of Jacob,
you rulers of Israel,
who despise justice
and distort all that is right;
10 who build Zion with bloodshed,
and Jerusalem with wickedness.
11 Her leaders judge for a bribe,
her priests teach for a price,
and her prophets tell fortunes for money.
Just in case we’d missed it, these verses reinforce for us the great contrast between the leaders of Micah’s day, and the perfect prophet, priest and ruler, Jesus. The leaders of Jacob hated justice, but when God’s prophet came he was filled with justice. Those with power in Micah’s day used it to build their own kingdom, shedding the blood of the people in the process. Jesus came to build God’s kingdom, shedding his own blood to bring God’s people back to him. The rulers of Israel distorted what was right. When Jesus came he only ever lived and spoke rightly. Israel’s leaders, priests and prophets were out for what they could get. Jesus came to pour himself out generously for the good of others.
If we were in any doubt all about how to tell the difference between a false prophet and one who truly speaks God’s words, these contrasting pictures might give us a clue. Of course, sometimes false teachers come as wolves in sheep’s clothing, looking quite persuasive on the outside. We’ll always need to weigh their words carefully to discern whether they are teaching truth. And it’s also true that no human preacher of God’s word will be completely perfect, apart from Jesus. They will sin, and need to repent, just like the rest of us. But where leaders are characterised by greed, or injustice, or a callous disregard for their people we shouldn’t ignore those things just because they claim to be ‘building Jerusalem.’ God’s kingdom-building project of growing and maturing his church is not one where ‘the end justifies the means.’ You can’t build the body of Christ by being determinedy un-Christlike. You can’t bring a message of grace to the world if your motivation is greed rather than generosity.
So let’s ask God to show us the areas of our lives where we have more in common with the leaders of Micah’s day than with the character of Jesus. We can do this confident of his grace to forgive and change us. And let’s pray for the leaders that God has given us, that he would enable them to do their work in ways that increasingly reflect his character and priorities.
