2024 Sun July 14

By Dan Clendenin for Journey with Jesus

Amos, Cologne Cathedral, 12th century

“It’s hard to read Mark 6 about the beheading of John the Baptist and not think about the grotesque images of ISIS. Whatever else ISIS is doing, it’s pimping religion for a political cause.

“And that’s exactly what this week’s reading from Amos is about.

“Amos wrote 2,800 years ago, but his prophecy reads like today’s newspaper. He lived under king Jeroboam II, who reigned for forty-one years (786–746 BC). Jeroboam’s kingdom was characterized by territorial expansion, aggressive militarism, and unprecedented economic prosperity.

“Times were good. Or so people thought.

“The people of the day interpreted their good fortune as God’s favor. Amos says that the people were intensely and sincerely religious.

“But theirs was a privatized religion of personal benefit. They ignored the poor, the widow, the alien, and the orphan. Their form of religion degraded faith to culturally acceptable rituals.

“Making things worse, Israel’s religious leaders sanctioned the political and economic status quo. They pimped their religion for Jeroboam’s empire.

“Enter Amos. Amos preached from the pessimistic and unpatriotic fringe. He was blue collar rather than blue blooded. He admits that he was neither a prophet nor even the son of a prophet in the professional sense of the term.

” Amos was a shepherd, a farmer, and a tender of fig trees. He was a small town boy who grew up in Tekoa…. The cultured elites despised him as a redneck [and]… an unwelcome outsider. Born in the southern kingdom of Judah, God called him to thunder a prophetic word to the northern kingdom of Israel. And that’s what this rough hewn prophet did. He opposed the political powers of his day and the religious stooges who supported them. With graphic details that make you wince, Amos describes how the rich crushed the poor; the affluent with their expensive lotions, elaborate music, and vacation homes with beds of inlaid ivory; sexual debauchery in which a man and his son abused the same woman; a corrupt legal system that sold justice to the highest bidder; predatory lenders who exploited vulnerable families; and religious leaders who sanctioned it all.

“To the priests who defended, legitimized, and justified Jeroboam’s corrupt kingdom, Amos delivered an uncompromising word of warning. After Amaziah the priest informed Jeroboam that Amos’s preaching was unpatriotic and seditious, he tried to run him out of town. Then Amaziah said something that reveals how completely he had identified religious faith with political power and economic gain. It ought to send a chill up the spine of every religious leader who ever thought about sucking up to political power: ‘Don’t prophesy anymore at Bethel, because this is the king’s sanctuary and the temple of the kingdom.’ (7:13). With those words, the religious justification of political empire is complete, and faith is reduced to patriotic cheer-leading. But Amos wouldn’t be bullied. He had a word of his own for every priest who pimped religion for empire.”

I. Theme –  Participation in Christ’s Ministry and Mission

The lectionary readings are here  or individually: 

Old Testament – Amos 7:7-15
Psalm – Psalm 85:8-13 Page 709, BCP
Epistle –Ephesians 1:3-14
Gospel – Mark 6:14-29  

Today’s readings invite us to reflect on our participation in Christ’s mission and ministry. A unifying theme in today’s scriptures is that when we try to be people-pleasers, when we say what others want to hear, we are denying the fullness of God’s intention for us. Rather, when we give ourselves over to God–when we authentically praise God with our words, our actions, our very lives–we find our own fulfillment and satisfaction in participating in God’s reign on earth. However, if we are like Herod, wanting to hear the word of God but wanting to please others, we end up doing things contrary to the Gospel. We talk the talk but don’t walk the walk, so to speak. God’s desire for us is the fullness of life, and in order to achieve that we must give ourselves fully to God’s ways of justice, love and peace.

Sometimes, like Amos, following God’s call is very difficult, even life-threatening. Amos defends his prophetic calling in the face of opposition from Israel’s rulers. In 2 Samuel, David brings the ark of the covenant to Jerusalem with song and dancing. The author of Ephesians reminds us that God has chosen us from the beginning to share in the redemptive work of Christ. Jesus instructs and sends out twelve disciples to share in his ministry.

We might expect a drum roll, or at least a lightning flash, when God chooses human beings to participate in God’s work. Yet in today’s readings we see a more human, humble face of the choice described so beautifully to the Ephesians. God “chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless before him in love.”

Amos is an example of the lord’s stamp of destiny on responsive people, whom God may call from any modest quarter, fill with the Holy Spirit, and commission to speak God’s word. Amos had no credentials as a prophet, and sounds rather bewildered that he was called away from his sheep and sycamores. Nevertheless, he had no doubt that he had been divinely called to speak God’s word.

Like the people in Nazareth who turned a deaf ear to Jesus, so Amos’s listeners rejected his unpopular message. In less than fifty years, however, his prediction came true.

When Jesus sent out twelve disciples, they were ill-equipped by our standards—no bread, no bag, no money in their belts, no extra clothes. Only sandals on their feet—to carry them to the receptive and away from the unreceptive; and a staff—a support for walking and perhaps a symbol of the shepherd’s profession. Neither were they prepared for their mission by understanding fully what it was all about. Jesus sent them out with a message that had made him offensive even to his own family. Yet something about him must have impelled them to go forth with the same message.

How then do we follow their model? Perhaps they show us that we needn’t have our own houses perfectly in order before we minister to others. Nor do we need to spruce up our credentials: apparently none of the disciples took theology courses in the seminary. Jesus calls them in their ordinary clothes, pursuing their usual routines. To do his work, it seems more important to have a companion than a new wardrobe.

Their willingness enables them to drive out demons and cure the sick. They discover powers they didn’t know they had. And people knew there had been followers of Jesus among them. These disciples had been chosen for an astonishing destiny.

Read more

Click here to view in a new window.