Lecanto,
Florida
“Let Justice Roll”
Amos of Tekoa
A First Person Sermon by Lloyd H. Dunham
Scripture:
Mark 10:17-31
Amos 1:1-2; 5:1-2, 6-7,10-13, 21-24
My name is Amos.
After
twenty-seven hundred years
its
amazing how many things just don’t change!
I
worked as a herdsman in Tekoa,
a
village just south of Jerusalem,
in the Southern Kingdom called
Judah.
What you
know as Israel,
was
two nations:
Israel
and Judah.
Back
there in Tekoa
some people thought I was a wealthy
herdsman.
Little did
they know.
I
was so poor.
I had to resort to eating figs
like
other poor people.
It was an insipid fruit
but
when you can’t afford
much
of anything else
it
is better than nothing.
You
could call me a tree surgeon.
I
learned early how to care for fig trees
so
they would produce well.
Some people may think that the poor
are stupid and lazy.
Let me tell you,
I knew my way around,
even
if I was poor!
Being a
herdsman I moved around a lot,
so
my flock could get good grazing.
I became familiar with the problems of
the entire region.
I believe I knew something about the
politics of our world.
I knew the religious stories and
rules.
(We didn’t have any Bible,
as
you know it.)
I
didn’t intend for my writing to be saved for you!
But
I see it became the very first completed book
of
the Hebrew Bible,
even before the Torah.[1]
I tried to learn what God wanted us to be and do.
That is why I could speak
with such
confidence
and
conviction,
even though I
was scared for my own safety when I did it.
Some people
think I was a great prophet.
Really I was not a prophet at all.[2]
I just
responded to God
when God
commanded me to go
and warn the
people about their evil ways.
I was never one of the professional prophets
employed by
the court or the Temple.
If I had been
you would have
never heard of me
because I
wouldn’t have dared say what I did.
Most prophets
were “king-pleasers”.
And why not?
They were on
the king’s payroll.
But
I was on my own,
free of those
demands.
Jeroboam, the
Second, was king in the northern kingdom, called Israel.
You know that
area as Galilee.
It
was a prosperous time.
Israel was
strong.
This was one of the few times
when Israel
was a nation with military power.
Many
thought it was the greatest time ever in Israel.
The rich were
getting richer and richer,
and claimed it was God’s doing.
Sadly,
however,
the poor were
getting poorer and poorer.
Sounds like
what is happening in your world!
It was a
corrupt time.
The rich were at best
indifferent to
the poor
and at worse
they were
oppressing the needy.
In the courts
verdicts were
purchased with bribes.
Leaders
abused their authority.
The
burdens of taxation were unjustly distributed.
Worship
in the Temple and synagogues was really something.
People
were crowding in on the Sabbath.
It was the thing to do -
like it was
for you
in the 1950’s
and ‘60s.
To
the casual observer
it appeared that Israel was healthy
and strong.
I could see
that Israel was very, very sick.
Before God
Israel
was unfaithful.
Even though worship was
popular,
even
though it was a time of prosperity,
even though it was a time of peace
and
political calm --
inspite
of all this
Israel
was a sick nation.
Wealthy
leaders were ruthlessly trampling on the poor
and
the defenseless.
Public
leaders were corrupted by bribes.
Greed
and power was the name of the game!
Does
all of this sound familiar?
The religious leaders made no protest!
They were as bad
or
worse than all the rest.
They
were cowards --
just
as your religious leaders are at times.
Isn’t God on the side of the downtrodden
and
the poor?
Any religion that doesn’t concern itself
with
the welfare of all people
doesn’t
deserve the name!
A
great national festival was just starting
when
God called me
to
speak judgment on Israel.
I
could not refuse.
I saw how
bad things really were.
I
told it as I saw it.
I
knew it would be hard to get the important people to listen -
so
I started out talking about the problems
of
some of our neighbor nations.
In my best voice
I called out,
“God
says,
‘The people of Syria and Gaza
have
sinned again and again -
and
for this I will punish them.”’
I
told how God would judge Tyre and Edom.
I
spoke of the sins of Ammon and Moab.
Then I even talked about my own Judah.
Remember I was speaking is Israel,
not
Judah!
You
should have heard them.
It was as if I were a cheerleader.
Every time I pronounced God’s judgment
on one of these other nations
they
all cheered me on.
They
loved it!
Then I turned to Israel - God’s chosen people.
“For
three transgressions of Israel, and for four,
I
will not revoke the punishment;
because
they sell the righteous for silver,
and
the needy for a pair of shoes---
they
trample the head of the poor into the dust of the earth,
and
turn aside the way of the afflicted;[3]
Suddenly
they were silent.
They
were stunned.
They
couldn’t believe
that
anyone could question their ways
at
such a great and wonderful time in history!
You
might guess that I made some people angry,
especially
among the religious professionals.
You
would call them ministers
or
priests.
One
of the leading priests,
a
man named Amaziah,
accused me of treason
because
I predicted the fall of King Jeroboam.
Oh, how
they needed to hear a strong word of divine judgment!
They needed a word
that would shatter their complacency
and their false security.
But
they misunderstood.
They
thought I was trying to destroy Israel.
What
I really wanted to do
was
to warn the people
while
they could do something
to
change the situation,
while
they could make a difference.
But
they wouldn’t listen.
I suppose you wonder what all this has
to do with you.
What kind of judgment from God
am
I about to heap on all of you,
and
on your great nation?
I
notice that you fall prey to many of the same things
as
ancient Israel.
Look at your massive prison
population,
the obstacles to
justice in your courts,
the worsening
poverty among your people,
your national
priorities.
You
are more willing to buy political favors
than
to relieve human anguish
and
educate your young!
You
produce a great abundance of food,
yet
pay farmers not to produce
while millions even in your own land
go hungry!
Soon some
of you will celebrate the birth of Jesus!
Unlike ancient Israel,
you
have his powerful example
and
the example of other great spiritual leaders
to show you the way.
All
we had was an oral tradition.
You
have not only the Torah
but
many other wise and fine writings.
I declared the judgement of God
And the impending Divine punishment.
I
was no Universalist,
like
many of you!
When you say that there are natural
consequences to bad choices
I have to agree it sounds better than Divine punishment.
I’m not yet ready to shout in anger at
you
even
though I see plenty of reason for it.
I don’t
want to meddle in your politics
but
I do want to raise some questions for you.
I
hope they are questions
that
will help you be more faithful
to God’s purposes. —
Are you serious about social justice?
You talk a lot about it.
Why is there more and more economic
injustice among you?
Why are so many people going hungry
when
you know how to produce so much?
I
thought Martin Luther King
Mahatma
Gandhi
and
Jesus
taught that nothing is more powerful than
love.
Yet you invest so much in weapons
and
so little in justice
and
compassion.
How can you find it so easy
to find money to work miracles
like
conquering exotic diseases,
like putting men and
women in space,
like transmitting sound
and pictures around the globe
in
an instant --
yet you can not find it in your
resources
to
remove the blight in your own cities and towns?
You can not find a way
to
feed and shelter the homeless of the world.
How
can you allow a society
where one person is paid $25,000,000
for a year’s work
in management,
in
entertainment,
or in sports,
while another person
working long hours
to
keep your world clean
is
rewarded with barely enough
to
provide a shack and a little food?
What’s
wrong?
You
can do all sorts of other marvelous things.
How can God listen to your worship and
your prayers
as
long as you allow such things to go on?
Please
don’t get complacent
and
self-righteous,
like
your ancestors in Israel.
So much needs to be done.
And there may be so little time to
do it.
You are still a lot like Israel was in
my time.
Yet you know what the Spirit needs from you
to
make this a safe and happy world.
You know what many good people have said
that we should be doing for each other.
You
have a solid basis in your beliefs
to
stand up and make a difference in the world.
I expect that you get scared from time
to time.
I
understand that.
They
wanted to kill me when I spoke hard words.
But
you don’t face that kind of danger.
Remember
what you do when you come here to
worship each Sunday
will mean a lot more
if
you are also working for justice
and
peace in the world.
were
using your great power and wisdom and resources fully
there would be no followers for
terrorists
like
your nation is fighting today.
Do all you can
to
“let justice roll down like waters,
and
righteousness like an ever flowing stream.”[4]
I know the problems of the world look
impossible.
But if every follower of Jesus
every follower of Mohammed,
every follower of Guatama Buddha
lived as they lived
God
could work a miracle!
You wouldn’t believe what a difference you could make.
The hungry could be fed.
The homeless could have shelter.
The poor could find justice in the
courts
and in the marketplace.
People would quit exploiting other
people
for their own pleasure and gain.
Go to it,
good people!
You
can be the hands and voices of hope
at work in
your world --
just
as I tried to be in mine.
Trust
God to take your small effort
and
turn it into a miracle --
and
it will happen!
“Let
justice roll down like waters!”
*****
References:
Anderson,
Bernhard W.; Understanding the Old Testament
Bailey, Albert
E. & Kent, Charles F.; History of the Hebrew Commonwealth
Blair, Edward
P.; Abingdon
Bible Handbook
Fosbroke,
Hughell E. W.; lnterpreter’s Bible, Vol.
6, pp.763ff
Robinson, H.
Wheeler; The History of Israel
Rowley, H. H.;
The
Growth of the Old Testament
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