Amos 8:4-9, 11-12 (NRSV Abridged)
God said: Hear this, you that trample on the needy, and bring to ruin the poor of the land, saying, ‘When will the new moon be over so that we may sell grain; and the sabbath, so that we may offer wheat for sale? We will make the ephah small and the shekel great, and practice deceit with false balances, buying the poor for silver and the needy for a pair of sandals, and selling the sweepings of the wheat.’”
The Lord has sworn by the pride of Jacob: Surely I will never forget any of their deeds. Shall not the land tremble on this account, and everyone mourn who lives in it, and all of it rise like the Nile, and be tossed about and sink again, like the Nile of Egypt? On that day, says the Lord God, I will make the sun go down at noon, and darken the earth in broad daylight.....
The time is surely coming, says the Lord God, when I will send a famine on the land; not a famine of bread, or a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord. They shall wander from sea to sea, and from north to east; they shall run to and fro, seeking the word of the Lord, but they shall not find it.
This is our second week with the prophet Amos and this week’s reading is just as cheery as last week’s—which is to say, not cheery at all. It was another long reading so I pruned it down a bit—I removed several of the threats of dead bodies and destruction all over the place as just being repetitive and goodness knows there’s still plenty left to be gloomy about.
The difference this week—for me at least—lies not so much in the threatened results as in the reasons given for the threats—which is the way the supposed People of God are living and the things they are doing to each other.
This is what’s going on in Israel at this time:
I was really torn this week between using this NRSV translation and The Message version. I like the NRSV overall, but I prefer this one paragraph from The Message:
This one shook me to the core because Amos could be speaking to so many of the people of the US today (and the world in general). Pick up a newspaper, turn on the TV, log-on to the internet – these are the people you will see there--the selfish ones: the ones living their lavish lifestyles while others starve on the streets; the ones cheating everyone else at every opportunity; the ones who use the poor up and then simply discard them.
The drug companies that pushed opioids onto hundreds of thousands of innocent people just to inflate their bottom line—not to mention the medical people who enabled them. The charming people intoxicating themselves by chanting “Send her back” about a US citizen whose only crime is to have brown-toned skin (and dislike this president). Politicians who are more than happy to send others into wars or into super-dangerous situations such as the 9/11 attacks and then refuse to grant any funds to take care of those sickened and injured there. The “nimbys” of the world who just push the homeless populations down the road away from them, rather than do anything to actually help them. We could go on and on. Amos’ “sinners” are still among us.
The time is surely coming, say Amos, but is all that doom and gloom as inevitable for us today as it was for those long-ago people of Israel? A time when we will hunger, not for food and security, but for the authentic word of God. And yet, does it not sometimes feel as if we are in those days already? Prominent church leaders have already sold their souls for riches and prestige and their people follow them into ways Jesus would not validate. Politicians will say anything to get re-elected and to keep their corporate owners happy. Who can we believe?
We are an Easter people and instead of the heavy-handed Old Testament God of Amos we are blessed to know a more forgiving, loving God, through the life and teachings of Jesus. We do not fear our God and that God is still speaking – loudly and clearly. It’s just a case of using wisdom to know who we listen to and who we do not. And if we trust the Spirit within us we are daily shown the truth.
But still, we all have our failings. It is not always a case of “us” and “them”. Every one of us is sometimes “them.” We here are people of faith and we do try to be good, but is it enough? Can we do more? Do we speak out against injustice when it is going on around us? Do we speak out when our friends or neighbors spout racist ‘humor’? Do we speak up for fair wages and living conditions?
Is it, after all, a coincidence that we are reading Amos right now? Do any of you read Amos often? (I don’t.) What are the chances of us just happening to stumble into this obscure pericope from one of the minor prophets at a time when it all sounds like an everyday evening news broadcast?
Could it be that God is calling us to listen and to act? Perhaps the One who has cared for us our whole lives—who has made it possible for us to live, to work, to love in relative peace and comfort—perhaps this One is reminding us to consciously and openly live lives of active goodness.
Episcopal Bishop Steven Charleston, who is the author of the majority of the reflections I use to open our service each week, recently wrote: Economic injustice is one of the oldest challenges confronting people of faith. We don't need to fly above it, but to stand in the midst of it, here, on the ground, where people struggle to make ends meet and feed their kids.
This is our calling--to see injustice and to stand in the middle of it--to call it out for what it is and demand change, in ways both big and small. It sounds daunting, I know, but we can each find a way to be faithful to God’s call—even with physical limitations. Even with limited funds. even if we are sure we have to skills to talk about these things to others. The One who calls us will provide a way.
lessings on your journey.
The difference this week—for me at least—lies not so much in the threatened results as in the reasons given for the threats—which is the way the supposed People of God are living and the things they are doing to each other.
This is what’s going on in Israel at this time:
- Hear this, you that trample on the needy, and bring to ruin the poor of the land, saying, ‘When will the new moon be over so that we may sell grain; and the sabbath, so that we may offer wheat for sale? We will make the ephah small and the shekel great, and practice deceit with false balances, buying the poor for silver and the needy for a pair of sandals, and selling the sweepings of the wheat.
I was really torn this week between using this NRSV translation and The Message version. I like the NRSV overall, but I prefer this one paragraph from The Message:
- Listen to this, you who walk all over the weak, you who treat poor people as less than nothing. Who say, ‘When’s my next paycheck coming so I can go out and live it up? How long till the weekend when I can go out and have a good time?’ You who give little and take much, and never do an honest day’s work. You exploit the poor, using them—and then, when they’re used up, you discard them.
This one shook me to the core because Amos could be speaking to so many of the people of the US today (and the world in general). Pick up a newspaper, turn on the TV, log-on to the internet – these are the people you will see there--the selfish ones: the ones living their lavish lifestyles while others starve on the streets; the ones cheating everyone else at every opportunity; the ones who use the poor up and then simply discard them.
The drug companies that pushed opioids onto hundreds of thousands of innocent people just to inflate their bottom line—not to mention the medical people who enabled them. The charming people intoxicating themselves by chanting “Send her back” about a US citizen whose only crime is to have brown-toned skin (and dislike this president). Politicians who are more than happy to send others into wars or into super-dangerous situations such as the 9/11 attacks and then refuse to grant any funds to take care of those sickened and injured there. The “nimbys” of the world who just push the homeless populations down the road away from them, rather than do anything to actually help them. We could go on and on. Amos’ “sinners” are still among us.
The time is surely coming, say Amos, but is all that doom and gloom as inevitable for us today as it was for those long-ago people of Israel? A time when we will hunger, not for food and security, but for the authentic word of God. And yet, does it not sometimes feel as if we are in those days already? Prominent church leaders have already sold their souls for riches and prestige and their people follow them into ways Jesus would not validate. Politicians will say anything to get re-elected and to keep their corporate owners happy. Who can we believe?
We are an Easter people and instead of the heavy-handed Old Testament God of Amos we are blessed to know a more forgiving, loving God, through the life and teachings of Jesus. We do not fear our God and that God is still speaking – loudly and clearly. It’s just a case of using wisdom to know who we listen to and who we do not. And if we trust the Spirit within us we are daily shown the truth.
But still, we all have our failings. It is not always a case of “us” and “them”. Every one of us is sometimes “them.” We here are people of faith and we do try to be good, but is it enough? Can we do more? Do we speak out against injustice when it is going on around us? Do we speak out when our friends or neighbors spout racist ‘humor’? Do we speak up for fair wages and living conditions?
Is it, after all, a coincidence that we are reading Amos right now? Do any of you read Amos often? (I don’t.) What are the chances of us just happening to stumble into this obscure pericope from one of the minor prophets at a time when it all sounds like an everyday evening news broadcast?
Could it be that God is calling us to listen and to act? Perhaps the One who has cared for us our whole lives—who has made it possible for us to live, to work, to love in relative peace and comfort—perhaps this One is reminding us to consciously and openly live lives of active goodness.
Episcopal Bishop Steven Charleston, who is the author of the majority of the reflections I use to open our service each week, recently wrote: Economic injustice is one of the oldest challenges confronting people of faith. We don't need to fly above it, but to stand in the midst of it, here, on the ground, where people struggle to make ends meet and feed their kids.
This is our calling--to see injustice and to stand in the middle of it--to call it out for what it is and demand change, in ways both big and small. It sounds daunting, I know, but we can each find a way to be faithful to God’s call—even with physical limitations. Even with limited funds. even if we are sure we have to skills to talk about these things to others. The One who calls us will provide a way.
lessings on your journey.
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