God is Just--Thank God!
a sermon based on Malachi 3:1-4
by Rev. Thomas Hall

Strange name, Malachi. It’s not surprising, given this obscure, minor league prophet, that Malachi doesn’t land on our short list when we think of Advent. The guy pens only four chapters on the biblical landscape. This guy’s no Paul. Or Isaiah. Or John the Baptist. We know those Advent characters. But Malachi?

And just look what he writes in today’s lesson. Seems to be real bad news. Wants to wipe out the half of the world that makes their living on evil business-those who are faithless to their families, those who own sweatshops, those who don’t lift a finger to help single parent families, and those who do hateful things to refugees. The other half of the world at least has a chance to get their act together.

That’s Malachi. Blunt. Jabbing. Turn or burn. So what right does the lectionary team have to stick Malachi into our Advent menagerie? The Grinch is already making the rounds at the theatre; do we really need another one?

Recently I was sitting with my small group during a class in pastoral counseling in the seminary where I attend. That’s where I encountered Malachi first hand. A friend in the circle began to share with us that he and his wife had recently adopted a sixteen year old boy. They had agreed to adopt the kid when the detention center called to see if anything could be done for the boy because he was so unruly.

The next step was the youth detention center. After counseling with the boy several times, my friend discovered a young man who was so scared that he didn’t know how to relate to the society around him. He had been physically and psychologically abused from infancy. His father would come home drunk and drag him out of bed and begin pounding on him. Some days he would do it just for kicks, completely sober. Often the boy’s eyes would be swollen shut for days and he was unable to go to school. But every time he tried to run away, the police would nab him, until finally his father physically threw him out the door, flinging his few clothes out behind him. "I’ll kill you if you ever show up here again," his father had yelled after him.

"I befriended this young boy," my friend explained, "and eventually discovered that the boy had been living in the woods in an abandoned shack for two years. The kid had not been to school in two years and had been washing dishes in a local bar for $4.00 an hour so he could buy food. The money was paid to him under the table, and no one ever bothered to ask what someone his age was doing working at nights in a kitchen or buying food at the supermarket."

When the seminary student finished telling his story, dead silence lingered. Each face in the circle betrayed similar emotions. Righteous indignation. It’s as if all the bones in their bodies cried out together, "Where’s the justice?"

That’s Malachi speaking. Malachi asks, "where’s the justice?" At first blush, everything seemed to be in order. Worship going on as usual at the Temple. Check. Lavish offerings being given. Check. Well-informed community of faith. Check. Excellent, educated priests. Check. But behind the gilded edges, Malachi saw what others ignored: dust mites were eating into the fabric of their community. Religion was a fine thing, but outside the Temple little serious connection was made between faith and relationship. Sermons were fine, too. But yet there was a disconnect between religion and daily life. People on the streets were left to fend for themselves-widows and orphans roamed the streets searching for food to survive while the wealthy enjoyed their Temple sacrifices, as well as the priest, who got his cut of flank.

So you can understand Malachi’s words in the setting of his day. But all this sounds strangely similar, doesn’t it? But before we compare our society to Malachi’s and become depressed, let’s take another look at the message.

Did you know that the name, "Malachi" means message? So, what is the message? The whole of Malachi’s Malachi is some very good news: Messiah is coming! When Messiah comes, the folks who live but one paycheck from losing their house, the next day’s meal, or the soup kitchen will be treated with dignity and treated fairly. And those who are putting poor, honest folks out on the street will get what’s coming to them.

That’s what made Jesus such a popular Messiah. Jesus spent his time mostly with the very ones we rip off. He befriended the poor. Lepers were some of his best friends. Widows and orphans tagged along too. They also saw this Malachi-Messiah point his bony finger into the face of the establishment more than once and say, "God will judge you severely, you hypocrites."

In Christ, the crowds thought "justice has finally come to us!" They wanted him to begin the judging. This Jesus must be Malachi’s guy, they thought-the one who would come as God’s Messenger! Well, he was that messenger, but everyone seemed to miss one very important step.

As the seminary student finished his story about adopting this young youth, everyone’s eyes burned with anger. So the group began to talk it out. One person wanted to find this abusive father and hang him by his toenails, others spoke things not fit for print. A few emotionally intelligent members of the small group raised issues of criminal action papers that could be filed, friends who were lawyers who would work for free for a just cause, Christian psychiatrists who would sit for hours and counsel the boy. Then the resident Presbyterian spoke up, "perhaps these parents have also been raised in an abusive atmosphere." Coughs, clearing of throats. Most wanted to let the comment pass. "After all," the seminarian continued, "most persons simply pass on to their children, the very qualities and worst behaviors that they have experienced."

Finally, a young Baptist ministerial student spoke, "What would Jesus do?" she asked.

"What would Jesus do?" sank into the small group. And we began to realize something about ourselves that we didn’t like. We had been quick to blame and slow to see ourselves in need of forgiveness. I thought of the ministers who preach the wrath and holiness of God and then get nabbed in cheap hotels doing the wrong thing. Where is the justice? I thought of Christian businessmen and Christian athletes who boast of their success and their giving to missions. Meanwhile, the workers in their plants aren’t even given adequate healthcare salaries. Where is the justice?

I thought of the beautiful cathedrals and churches in Philadelphia-empty six days a week, except for the homeless who huddle together on the front steps until the police come and kick them out. I thought of the widows an orphans in those same neighborhoods who can’t buy food for the next day’s meal. Where is the justice? Then I thought of myself. Preaching forgiveness, love and good news, while I complain how tough it is to give up three more years of my life to seminary education. "God, don’t you know that all my friends have nice cars and homes . . . what about me?" And then I drive down the street and see the bag lady with her shopping cart-everything she owns inside of that cart. And as much as I hate to put myself into this . . . where is the justice?

In the same way that my friend reached out to an abandoned and abused kid, so God reaches out to us through the cross. You see, my friend was so willing to adopt a child because he and his wife lost both of their children several years ago-killed by a drunk driver. There is no justice in that. As tragic as that may seem to us, God at least knows how it feels. He lost a son too, once. He lost a Son because God demanded justice. We had fallen into disrepair -just weren’t in the right temperament or place to enjoy a relationship with God.

Where’s the justice? God didn’t come blazing out of heaven to consume us. But his passion to deal with justice did cost the life of his Son.

God hates injustice-that’s what Malachi discovered. But God also longs to show mercy. And that’s part of Malachi’s message too. And God’s simple plan is that we do the same-even to abusive parents, shady business people, and phony religious leaders. We have no right to hate others, but we do have a Mission to become God’s justice right here on earth. How? By standing up for those who are important to God but not necessarily valued by our culture-the widows, the unemployed, the unskilled, untrained, or uneducated, the homeless, the orphans, those suffering with AIDS, those too old, too poor, or too much to bother with. These are God’s heroes for us to honor!

Though we sigh in the face of injustice and long for God, the Great Equalizer, to act now, bringing down and raising up, Malachi brings us good news as we seek to become God’s hands and feet of mercy to our world that the God of Justice will come. Amen.