Amos 5:4-7, 10-12, 14
Dr. Anne M. Cameron
September 12, 2010
Lake Highlands Presbyterian Church
Third in series on Planet Earth
You may be ready to move back into the New Testament, but we are going to stay put in the Old Testament for at least half of the sermons in the next month. The Old Testament constitutes, after all, 60% of our scripture. In this sermon series on Planet Earth, we have visited the books of Leviticus and Genesis. Today we visit Amos, as we consider the question of justice for people on God's planet earth.
Amos sounds like it could be a rather innocuous text. "Amos", a solid, earthy name. Amos, however, is not a softie. Amos is one of the so-called 'minor prophets,' but this does not mean Amos packs a minor punch. Amos strikes us right in the place where we live---in what he calls our 'stone mansions.' I can't help but think of those great big brick and stone houses with the turrets on them that seem to be ubiquitous in some of our northern suburbs but which have even crept inside the bubble of Lake Highlands.
4 This is what the LORD says to the house of Israel:
“Seek me and live;
5 do not seek Bethel,
do not go to Gilgal,
do not journey to Beersheba.
For Gilgal will surely go into exile,
and Bethel will be reduced to nothing. ”
6 Seek the LORD and live,
or he will sweep through the house of Joseph like a fire;
it will devour,
and Bethel will have no one to quench it.
7 You who turn justice into bitterness
and cast righteousness to the ground
10 you hate the one who reproves in court
and despise him who tells the truth.
11 You trample on the poor
and force him to give you grain.
Therefore, though you have built stone mansions,
you will not live in them;
though you have planted lush vineyards,
you will not drink their wine.
12 For I know how many are your offenses
and how great your sins.
You oppress the righteous and take bribes
and you deprive the poor of justice in the courts.
14 Seek good, not evil,
that you may live.
Then the LORD God Almighty will be with you,
just as you say he is.
If we were going to tell the story of our own times and put it into biblical times, we would be hard pressed to find a more similar context than the one faced by the prophet Amos. At the time of Amos (785 BC), these things were true in Israel:
It is a time of national prosperity and military domination.
The nation is marked by extravagant indulgence and immoral living.
The gap between rich and poor is wide.
The court system is corrupt and is especially unfair to the poor and uneducated.
The rich take advantage of the poor.
The poor are burdened with backbreaking jobs which benefit the rich.
Rich and poor are isolated one from another.
The wealthy are comfortable and complacent, often unaware of the plight of the poor.
There is the sense that, in light of all these things, the nation may soon decline.
Into this context the prophet Amos speaks a word, a word that could almost be carried verbatim into our own context.
Listen to me, people of the United States. I have some very tragic news to deliver: America is going to fall flat on her face. Imagine her, shot down in the desert, her body left for the vultures and the wild creatures to desecrate.
No one is there to help her. I am long gone.
God has a word for us, if only we will listen. We are not very good at listening. There are so many competing voices, so many things screaming for our attention. The still, small voice of God cries out,
“Seek me and live.
Look for ME, don't be fooled by a cheap imitation!
Don't look for the answer that the economic engine supplies.
Do not be fooled---the skyscrapers of power are a waste of time.
Don't bother with celebrities who preach the prosperity gospel
the 'get rich quick' gospel)
They are not my workers, though they claim to be.
Do not put your trust in banks and securities,
They are here today and gone tomorrow.
Hollywood is all show and no substance.
Seek me and live! I am the narrow gate.
I am the eye of the needle.
I am the door.
I am the way.
I am the light no darkness can overcome, even the deepest,
broadest and most fearsome darkness.
Look for me, and you will find me.
I am always with you. It is you who have gone away from me.
It is you who have been distracted by all that glitters.
It is you who have been mesmerized by Madison Avenue
So that your eyes are blinded
And your hearts are jaded
And you find yourselves scrambling,
Scrabbling, grabbing for all you can get.
You lock yourselves in gated communities
You try to erase the signs of gangs and violence in your cities
You drug yourselves to sleep with booze and food, ambien and antidepressants.
But you are only putting bandaids on a wound that is deep and wide; a wound that needs me.
Only I can heal it, if only you will seek me.
The only other option is death. Death because you have abandoned me. Death because there is nothing human left in you. You are eaten up with greed and gluttony and overconsumption. Death to your human spirit (remember, you were created in my Image). Death because you trample your fellow human beings. In doing this, you trample Me, and you trample your own hope for joy and peace.
Trample? You ask? Me? I am not trampling. I mind my own business. I go to church and try to live a good life. There is more than one way to trample, and our feet are so used to it we are numb.
There is no satisfaction in this other way you have chosen. There is no peace. There is only emptiness. You may have your rich houses, for a while, but this too, will pass. You may enjoy a life of pleasure and leisure, but life here will end.
When we sit idly by and allow others to be taken advantage of, we are oppessors.
When we are not part of the solution, we are part of the problem.
When we exclude the "other" from our schools, our clubs, our churches, our workplaces, we are unjust.
When we benefit from underpaid workers in our company,
When we pay someone "under the table,"
When we vote against fair housing,
When we petition to exclude the homeless or the aged or the downtrodden from our neighborhoods, we reject God.
There is an antidote, God says, It is me.
Seek me and live.
Do not get distracted. Stay focused.
There are many places you would rather go,
Many places that demand your time, talent, money.
Many places that look more attractive than Me.
Seek me! Where will you find Me?
In prisons and on the streets
Picking your lettuce and tomatoes
Sewing your fashionable clothing in Malaysia and Viet Nam.
Pulling nets from the ocean in Senegal
Diving for pearls off the coast of Japan
Chopping onions in your kitchens, scrubbing your toilets.
Where do I live?
In tenements and dangerous housing.
With relatives in crowded rooms.
Alone in a boarding house.
What do I do?
The dirty jobs you and your children will not do.
Painting houses, mowing lawns.
Working in meat packing plants and at mind numbing assembly
line jobs.
Who am I?
I am the uneducated youth with no support system. I am a foot soldier in Afghanistan.
I am the elderly woman with no children and no pension.
I am the single mother with no skills.
I work for contractors at less than minimum wage.
I pay no social security tax because I am illegal, but still I care for
your babies. I love them and treat them as my own.
Seek Me. Look for ways to include me. Do things to change the
systems which oppress me. Vote. Be informed. Petition. March.
Seek me and live! I am the narrow gate.
I am the door.
I am the way.
I am the light no darkness can overcome, even the deepest,
broadest and most fearsome darkness.
Look for me, and you will find me.
How will you know that you have found me?
How will you know you are on the right track?
A very old rabbi once asked his students how they could tell the darkness had ended and the dawn was on its way back.
"Could it be," said one student, "when you see an animal in the distance and you can tell whether it is a dog or a sheep?" "No," said the rabbi.
"Could it be," said another student, "when you see a tree and you can tell whether it is a fig tree or a peach tree?" "No," said the rabbi.
"Then what is it?" the students demanded. "It is when you look at the face of any man or woman and you see he or she is your sister or brother. Because if you cannot do this, then no matter what time it is, it is still night." 1
Any man. Any woman. The servant. The convict. The prostitute. The man with no arms. Your brother. Your sister. The face of justice. The face of God.
