Michigan West | Chapel Sermons at Calvin University
Micah speaks straight to young people hungry for authenticity in a fake world. He calls out leaders, influencers, and institutions that “build Zion with bloodshed and Jerusalem with injustice” (3:10)—think corrupt politicians, greedy corporations, or clout-chasing pastors. In an age of performative activism and filtered lives, Micah’s demand is raw: stop the rituals, drop the flex, and actually “act justly, love mercy, walk humbly” (6:8).
That single verse has become a tattoo, a protest sign, and a life motto for millions of Gen Z and Millennials precisely because it’s the opposite of cringe: it’s simple, doable, and refuses to let privilege or power excuse cruelty. Micah also dreams of a world where “everyone sits under their own vine and fig tree” and “no one makes them afraid” (4:4)—a vision of safety, dignity, and peace that resonates deeply with a generation facing climate anxiety, gun violence, and economic precarity. Micah says: your rage at injustice is valid, but channel it into real fairness and kindness, not just tweets.
Q. Is the Bible “Literal Magic” or “Inherited Symbolic Wisdom”?
If you treat the miracles as symbolic wisdom only, you are doing exactly what Greco-Roman intellectuals did with their own myths—and the New Testament writers explicitly reject that move. If you treat them as literal history, you are at odds with the consensus of modern historical-critical scholarship and with post-Enlightenment views of nature.
To wit:
Do you accept the Bible’s own claim that it is reporting actual divine invasions of history, or do you place it, against its own self-understanding, into the same genre as the myths that surrounding cultures themselves often admitted were not historical? Most young people today instinctively lean toward the symbolic/spiritual-poetry reading because it feels sophisticated and non-threatening. But that reading would have baffled (and angered) Micah, Jesus, and Paul, who staked everything on the claim that these things really happened.
Calvin College | Kent County Michigan
