Lord of the Streets, Houston
August 17, 2025
Proper 15, C
Jeremiah 23:23-29
Psalm 82
Luke 12:49-56
During the time of the kings of Israel, from King David all the way up to 700 years before Jesus was born, they had a series of good kings, and decent kings, and really terrible kings. The bad kings forgot about following God and God’s ways and instead began worshipping other gods and idols. They treated the people terribly with injustice, oppressing the lowly, and gaining wealth through lies and exploiting workers. Under their leadership, others did the same, and Israel became a place of injustice, exploitation, and oppression.
The very worst of these bad kings was Ahab. Ahab was married to Jezebel, who was famous for her devotion to Baal, the deity of her native country. Ahab started worshipping Baal with Jezebel, and that led to all sorts of other atrocities. He even had a man killed because he wanted the man’s field. Never mind that he had no legal right to the field. He wanted it, so he killed the man and took it.
Long afterwards, the prophet Micah told the people of Israel that they were doing the same things as when Ahab was king: injustice, oppression, exploitation. They weren’t worshipping Baal. Their words and prayers were worship to God, but by their actions, they were worshipping something other than God. It wasn’t called Baal, but it was something other than God. If you’re practicing injustice, oppression, and exploitation, you can’t be worshipping God, even if your words say you are.
So, Micah told the people of Israel they were living in a time just like when Ahab was king, and as a result, God was going to give them over to oblivion. They would work and produced nothing good. They would never be satisfied or filled. Children would rise against their parents, and their enemies would be members of their own households.
Well golly, that’s just what Jesus said in our Gospel reading today. “I’ve come not to bring peace, but division. From now on five in one household will be divided, three against two and two against three; they will be divided: father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.”
That was God’s judgment against Israel during the time when Micah was prophesying, and Jesus was declaring God’s same judgment for the same reasons. Jesus was declaring to the people of Israel, Y’all are living just like during the time of Ahab. Y’all are living with injustice, oppression, and exploitation.
There will be division, Jesus was proclaiming, because of how so many in Israel were going along with oppression. Then, in addition to proclaiming God’s judgment, Jesus asked them how they could be so blind to the injustice of their leaders.
You can tell when it’s about to rain, Jesus said. How can you guys not realize you are living in the time of Ahab? How can you not tell that your leaders are sending you down paths of oppression of the lowly, injustice, and exploitation? How do you guys not get it? Jesus wondered.
When we have leaders who oppress people, who give unjust rulings and support unjust laws, who exploit workers to get as much wealth for the rich as they can, then we too are living in the time of Ahab. When we live in the time of Ahab, then we will live in a society that is divided. We will live in a society that can never get enough. We will live in a society that works constantly and yet finds mostly emptiness for all of our labor.
That sounds kinda like today, and I find Jesus’ words are just as relevant now as they were when he spoke them. Divisiveness and emptiness are the judgements of God for a nation that lives with injustice, oppression, and exploitation. We have a nation deeply divided. We have so much emptiness in our lives. We strive for fame and fortune as for a lover, and we’re left empty because neither fame nor fortune can love us back. We strive for power and possessions as for a dear friend, and we’re left empty because neither power nor possessions can love us back.
We’re living in the time of Ahab, just as Israel was when Micah prophesied to them and just as Israel was when Jesus spoke to the people. So, what are we to do about living in a time of injustice, oppression, and exploitation? Are we to fight, and kill, and destroy leaders who are taking us down these dark paths? Of course not.
Where there is hatred, we are to live in love. Where there is discord, we are to bring about communion. Where there is darkness, we get to be light for one another. Where there is sadness and misery, we get to hold one another and cry together.
We are to worship God in word and in action. We are to remember that when we follow paths of injustice, oppression, and exploitation, we can’t actually worship God, no matter what our words say.
So what do we do with our hatred, with our anger, with our desires for vengeance? We offer those desires to God as part of our worship. We say, “Here you go, God. Here is my hatred. Here is my anger. Here is my desire for vengeance. I don’t know what to do with it all, so I am giving it to you, and you can do with it whatever you know is right.”
We make offerings of praise and shouts of joy to God, and that is true worship. Just as our offerings of rage are true worship. That way, we give our rage to God and don’t take it out on one another.
We follow the teachings of Jesus to show our faith truly is in God and not in something else. We live the kingdom of God and follow our prayers and worship with actions that make our words true.
Throughout our lives, we’re going to have good leaders and bad leaders. We’re going to have leaders who seek justice and those who seek injustice. We are called to follow not the way of those leaders, but the way of Jesus who is the way, the truth, and the life. Our leaders are not our God, and no matter how good or bad they are, no matter how much harm or healing they bring to the world, our calling as the church is to follow Jesus. Our leaders come and go. Jesus remains forever. Following Jesus, we seek justice. We seek to lift up the oppressed. We seek to help the exploited.
In how we vote, in what we tell our elected leaders, in how we treat one another, in how we rise in the morning, and how we go to sleep at night, we seek justice. We offer love and mercy. We walk humbly with God.
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