Who is this guy Malachi and what does he have to say to us? He speaks to God's people struggling to rebuild their land after 70 years of being deported to a foreign country. He reminds them that God loves them and actually has looked after them. And that reminder in chapter 1 is a key to the whole prophecy as Malachi challenges the people to respond to God's love; to keep faith with God. And in this section he tells us to respond to God's love by loving one another; to keep faith with God in how we treat the people around us.
Powerful People:
In Israel, the priests were powerful people. God wanted the priests to use their spiritual power and influence to lead the people in "A covenant of life" (5-7) They were able to pronounce blessings on God's people in the expectation that something would happen. (As the people of God, our words matter!)
We have spiritual power. We must use it in submission to God. We must be "Resolved to honour” the Lord. And we must avoid all forms of spiritual power that don't acknowledge God. Mal 3. 5 tells us God speaks against “sorcerers””. From star-signs to seances, from crystals to lucky charms, avoid!
And the priests had power over people - people looked to them for "Torah" - teaching based on revelation from God; and it was they who declared what was "clean"or "unclean". They were the ones who made sacrifices. Everyone depended on them.
But they were giving "Wrong teaching" (v. 8) I don't know what that sounded like: maybe they were not clear enough about the fact that God is one and cannot be replaced by idols or false gods. Whatever it was, as a result people had been caused to stumble.
And they were "Showing partiality' (v. 9) Certain people – probably the rich and powerful, were being allowed to get away with things; the law, which covered not only sacrifices and ritual cleanliness but touched every area of life, was being applied more firmly for some people than for others. Partiality can influence teaching – when we teach what is popular instead of what is right! Partiality can happen when we fail to challenge – on the grounds of friendship (faithful are the wounds of a friend), or gender or money or power; or sentiment.
The priests were in a position of power. But God is more powerful! He tells the priests they are under "the curse" (not just "a curse"... but "the Curse of 'Dt 28 v 20: "if you will not obey the voice of the Lord your God". priests had spiritual power, but in the exercise of such power needed to honour God's name -or risk being daubed with the dung -the bowels of the animals sacrificed - and as that was burned outside the camp they risked being thrown out of their priesthood.
So, how do we use power? How do we treat people who depend on us?
Family people.
Relationships matter to God - both in the Church & in other contexts. What God says about family life, he says in the context of being a community who all have "one father"(v 10). Yes, by the time Malachi prophesied, Judah was a nation that had been a nation for hundreds of years & had been through times of serious national crisis. But their nationhood was based on kinship: they were literally related. They shared the same DNA.
For Israel / Judah, then, question of how they behaved in family life, were theological... It was an expression of their being non of the one Father, that their human family life was right. But there were two things going wrong
1. Marrying "Daughters of a foreign God" that is to say women with a different religion. Malachi expects that the man who did this would be cut off from the Nation. (V 12) And it is often the case that a Christian who gets into a relationship with someone who is not a Christian, will lose their way spiritually.
2. Unfaithfulness in marriage...cheating on or simply dumping the person you married when you were young. V 13: "There's no point weeping &wailing in prayer, when someone is weeping & wailing because of the hurt you have caused them. God's plan for marriage is "One Man, One woman, for life". Yes, God has grace for when we mess up. But what we are aiming for is to make right, unselfish, generous, wise and faithful choices.
People in society.
Finally, God says “you have wearied me with your words” Another of those “How have we?” moments. And God says “You have questioned my justice.” We try to out-god God. We wonder how God can allow bad stuff to happen to god people. (Especially to us!) We follow the norms of our own society or our own convenience. Believing that evil is rewarded, and living as though evil is good, are two sides of the same coin. God says “I will be quick to testify against sorcerers, adulterers and perjurers, against those who defraud labourers of their wages, who oppress the widows and the fatherless, and deprive the foreigners among you of justice, but do not fear me. “ (Malachi 3. 5).
We've already looked at power and family life. The other things God speaks against are about how we behave in society: speaking the truth, paying our workers fairly and at the right time; (for us that may mean paying our bills on time.) Taking care of widows and orphans – or any who have nobody else to take care of them. Making sure that strangers, foreigners are treated fairly, instead of pushing weaker people out of the way. God is concerned about how we treat people, in our financial & commercial dealings.
When a person became a monk or a nun, they took vows of poverty, chastity and obedience. It's about how that person relates to God and to the people round about him or her. Someone summed that up nicely as Money, sex and power... This section challenges us to work our our relationship with God, in our relationships with one another. And much of what goes wrong in our dealings with one another, is in how we handle money, sex, and power.
The people were wondering what God was up to because he had not come to their refurbished temple. But, he says, one day he will turn up. “But who can endure the day of his coming?” (Malachi 3. 2)
He is not just coming to overwhelm the priests and be present , but to make demands, to refine! I want to see God coming in power! But I need to be prepared for him to come like a refiner's fire! When God turns up, we need to be treating one another right, in the areas of money sex and power.
©Gilmour Lilly June 2016
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