I have been reading quite a lot about Amos this week and a quote that has stuck in my head is, “if you like the prophet Amos then you probably do not understand him.”
Certainly, these harsh words seem unlikely to make him a lot of friends. It seems charisma and popularity were not the most important traits to God when calling prophets (something perhaps the modern church would do well to remember). But I like him and more importantly his message forms part of our sacred Scriptures and the story of God amongst us and so it has been good to spend time with his words this week. His impassioned and poetic cries for justice and mercy and equality for the poor point me yet again to God’s heart for the oppressed. Something I am sure you too will notice as we delve into his story and his message this morning.
Let’s pray, “We thank You, holy God, for Your word which You have revealed to us in creation, through Jesus our saviour and our sacred Scriptures. We pray this morning that you will speak to us afresh through this word and that it may dwell in us and amongst us. Amen.
Amos is the third of the minor prophets. Unlike Joel who we reflected on last week the book of Amos tells us a lot more about the prophet and the when and where of his message.
Amos prophesied in the 8th century BCE. He was a contemporary of Hosea, Micah, possibly Jonah, as you can hopefully see on the PP. It was the time of the divided Kingdom. Although Amos was from the Southern Kingdom of Judah, his message was mostly to the Northern Kingdom of Israel before the fall to Assyria. Although the book does also include indictments against Judah and the surrounding nations.
The King of Judah at the time was Uzziah and the king of Israel was Jeroboam the second. Jeroboam reigned from 789 to 748 BCE. 41 years, the longest ever for a Northern monarch.
It was a time of relative strength and prosperity for both Israel and Judah. Scholars sometimes refer to it as a biblical “silver age,” second only to the golden age of David and Solomon.
However, it was not silver age when it came to right living. The Book of Kings reports (as it often does) that King Jeroboam did evil in the sight of the Lord. And many Israelites too, as a consequence of their newfound wealth and political power, adopted hedonistic and opulent lifestyles – they sold the poor into slavery and engaged in other forms of corruption to meet their growing expenses.
Their behaviour earned them the fierce condemnation of Amos. He is scathing of those who enjoy a life of carefree luxury and remain at the same time oblivious to the violence and oppression on which is based. He picks up this theme a lot but one example from chapter 8 goes,
“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 practise 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.”
Amos was a shepherd. In the reading today he describes himself as “a herdsman and a dresser of sycamore trees.” Like many of God’s prophets he is an outsider to the halls of power and prestige. He, and his words are unwelcome to the power people. They are a threat to them and so as we see in this reading today, in which we now turn, they try to silence him.
There are five visions in the book of Amos. This is the third. They all begin as this one does, “this is what he showed me.”
In this vision, what the Lord shows Amos is a plumb line. A plumbline, as you can see in the picture is simply a weight suspended from a string and is used to determine an exact vertical. It is a reference line used by carpenters to keep their work straight. The plumb line sets the standard and it does not change with the whim of the carpenter. It remains true and all work must line up with it.
In Amos’ vision God was using the plumb line to measure Israel’s faithfulness to His Law. Sadly, they did not line up.
Amos then declares that because of this God will no longer pass them by. Amos is referring to the exodus and the first Passover in which God liberated the Hebrews from slavery. Rather, now God will rise against the house of Jeroboam and Israel will go into exile.
The priest of Bethel, Amaziah, sends word to King Jeroboam of Amos’ words. Bethel means house of God. This place was named by Jacob, after his wrestle with God at this very place centuries before in Genesis 28.
And yet Amaziah declares to Amos, “never again prophesy at Bethel for it is the king’s sanctuary and the temple of the kingdom.” Amaziah has become so beholden to the king and the king’s agenda that he just hands over the temple and the temple worship to the king.
Is it only me or does this not yet again seem eerily contemporary? The great divide between the rich and the poor. The ways that people in power (in all forms of life across the spectrum of left and right) try to silence voices that call them out. The way that the church sometimes becomes so aligned with a particular political leader, party or agenda that it becomes about their kingdom rather than the kingdom of God.
Amos makes it quite clear what God thinks about this, in his incredibly harsh proclamation against Amaziah and his family and Israel in today’s passage. But he is perhaps even more adamant in chapter 5 in which God says,
I hate, I despise your festivals, and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies. Even though you offer me your burnt-offerings and grain-offerings, I will not accept them; and the offerings of well-being of your fatted animals I will not look upon.
Take away from me the noise of your songs; I will not listen to the melody of your harps. But let justice roll down like waters and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.
This last line of course was used by Martin Luther King Junior in his “I have a dream” speech. In fact, as you can see on the picture, the Alabama Civil Rights Memorial actually attributes it to him. But it is far older than King. I think, though Amos would be pleased with this use of it.
“There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights, “When will you be satisfied?” We can never be satisfied as long as the Negro is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality. We cannot be satisfied as long as the negro’s basic mobility is from a smaller ghetto to a larger one. We can never be satisfied as long as our children are stripped of their self-hood and robbed of their dignity by signs stating: “For Whites Only.” We cannot be satisfied as long as a Negro in Mississippi cannot vote and a Negro in New York believes he has nothing for which to vote. No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until “justice rolls down like waters, and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
In all this Amos anticipates Jesus who also lamented and was angered by the violation of the temple. The ways it had become more about market ideology that excluded the poor than right worship of God. Mark 11 tells us,
“Jesus entered the temple courts and drove out all who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves. “It is written,” he said to them, “‘My house will be called a house of prayer,’ but you are making it ‘a den of robbers.’”
Jesus was also deeply concerned about how we treat the poor and oppressed. He begins his ministry with the words of Isaiah,
The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.’
Like many of you, I have been deeply disheartened this week with the reintroduction of the use of spit hoods on young people in the NT. Given that the Australian Federal Police has stopped using spit hoods altogether due to a comprehensive review which found their risk outweighed the benefits of their use, it blows my mind that the NT would think it appropriate to use them on children. Now it is not ok to be spat at and front-line workers, need resources and mechanisms that protect them and so the AFP have provided equipment and implemented procedures that they believe better protect members from spitting and biting. I am sure the NT government could also provide this equipment and implement these procedures.
This is not to deny that youth crime and violence is something that is really harming our community. Like a lot of you I have experienced it. It hurts. Young people need to know that and that it is not ok. And so, I am not saying it does not need to be addressed. It does. But in ways that lead young people to commit less crime not more.
This is hard and complicated and of course nothing works for everyone. There are not many easy answers but something that is very clear in all the research is that measures that further traumatise and dehumanise like spit hoods do not reduce crime. They make it worse.
It is also very clear to me that this issue is deeply intertwined with poverty and inequality and as we have read and reflected on today, God through his law, his prophets and through Jesus has a lot to say about that. Amos again,
Therefore, because you trample on the poor and take from them levies of grain, you have built houses of stone, but you shall not live in them; you have planted pleasant vineyards, but you shall not drink their wine.
For I know how many are your transgressions – you who afflict the righteous, who take a bribe, and push aside the needy in the gate.
Seek good and not evil, and establish justice in the gate, that you may live; and that the Lord, the God of hosts, will be with you.
Now I (and Amos) are probably mostly preaching to the converted here. Many of you here in your work, in the community and through the small things this church is doing too are working really hard to address the inequalities experienced by many people in our town. Financial but also in education, health, the justice system and access to services.
And it can at times feel like it is all in vain. That things are not getting better. But friends, do not give up. Whether we are at a time in history when things are getting better or worse (and both these times have come and will come again) we are called to be faithful. Faithful to God and God’s law and the mission of Amos and the prophets and of Jesus.
And do not give up hope. Your labour is not in vain. God is with you. Your work is seen and known and it is part of the work of God and of God’s people throughout history. And it will find its place in the new heavens and the new earth, that time when death, mourning and pain will be no more and all things will indeed be made new.
