I’ve never watched the “reality” food show “Chopped,” but I understand that it’s a cooking competition where four chefs compete across three rounds (appetizer, entree, dessert) with the aim of not being the one “chopped” for that round. The title of the show is of course a play on an integral part of the art of cooking, chopping ingredients, but getting chopped is not good for the contestants themselves, whether literally (because the chefs are working so quickly accidents are common) or figuratively.
Micah 6:7-15 makes great use of the Hebrew word for “cut off” or “chop,” ending with it in verse 9 in regard to Israel’s enemies, then speaking four times in verses 10 to 13 of God cutting off from people various aspects of their power and culture. Their horses, cities, sorceries and idols will all be cut off and destroyed. These are all aspects of human life on which people tend to rely rather than on God. So the Lord is going to chop from His kitchen every person and ingredient which does not belong.
The violence of the metaphor is increased in that it follows verse 8 in which the remnant of Israel is promised a transformation from being like sheep to being themselves like a raging lion among sheep, ripping and devouring their foes.
One important thing to note, however, is that both the transformation of God’s people from weakness to power and the cutting off of that which distracts us from Him is God’s work. God is the chopper, not us. Even when His people become a devouring lion, that’s God’s decision and action, not a human choice.
It might be better for us to focus on the last few verses and wonder what God might want to chop from our lives and hearts. Where and how have we foolishly relied on substitutes for God rather than on Him? Certainly military might and social power continue as temptations. We might think ourselves exempt from reliance on sorcery and fortune-telling, but how does our dependence on technology and statistics compare? And of course as idols appear again in Micah’s focus we must acknowledge that idolatry is still very possible for us.
Let us, like the rich young man in this week’s Gospel reading from Mark 10:17-31, discern what needs to get chopped in order that we might last to the end of the show and inherit our Lord’s kingdom.
If we are vines in a vineyard, then sometimes God has to prune back the branches to keep us healthy.
the israeli/ palestinian war has changed the way i read the bible. contemporary events add a jarring note to so many texts for me now. hard not to conflate the israelis and the israelites, the moabites philistines etc. and the palestinians. since i find it hard to find either side in the right in the current war, it is hard for me to read the old testament with the partisan certainty of former years.