“Don’t preach to me” (or “at me,” or as a T-shirt evidently says, “on me”) is a widespread and common injunction. Children say it to parents (as in a Madonna song that uses the phrase) and irreligious people say it in general to the religious people around them (as on the T-shirt). It can be an expression to decline any spiritual instruction or persuasion, but it’s also often used to decline any moral censure or even instruction.
Our text for this coming Sunday, Micah 2:1-11, shows that the desire not to be preached to has been around a long time. In verse 6, those who hear Micah’s prophecy against coveting and stealing land from others, especially from the poor, respond by saying they don’t wish to hear such messages of judgment, “one should not preach of such things…”
One current form of this ancient imperative has a venerable history among American Christians, both Protestant and Catholic. Then Cardinal Bernadin spoke at my Ph.D. commencement at Notre Dame, talking about, among other things, some of the economic injustices in the world. When my father-in-law heard it, he said that the Cardinal should stick to his own business in the Church and leave economics and such matters to others.
Many American Christians would agree that the only concern of preachers should be private, individual morality. Public morality should not be addressed from the pulpit. It’s often expressed as a principle that preachers should not talk about political matters. Such a restriction is supported by the view that religious tax exemption excludes churches and preachers from the political arena.
Without trying to resolve the thorny issues around tax exemption, separation of church and state, etc. I will simply note that neither Micah nor the rest of the biblical prophets accepted that “do not preach of such things” principle. They felt led by God to challenge injustice even at the government level and to call the rich and powerful to repentance.
As we read this text we may feel convicted of our own covetousness and thirst for acquisition, even if we do not perceive any direct injustice to others in wanting and obtaining more money and property. Let’s not respond like Judah did to Micah, “Do not preach…,” but instead be willing to hear and apply the word of God to the changing of our minds and lives.