July 12, 2009

Amos 7:7-15; Psalm 85:8-13; Ephesians 1:3-14; Mark 6:14-29

Whenever we come to this set of readings, or ones like it, I always go straight to the reading by the prophet Amos. I cannot resist Amos. To my mind, the Old Testament lesson for today has always looked like one of the great showdowns of the Bible.

On the one side, there is Amos. He is a fiery prophet who does not even want to be called a prophet. He is a shepherd; and it is as a shepherd that is his identity rather than that of a prophet. Amos is standing with his intense and relentless condemnation of Israel. The people and king have strayed from the faith and commandments of God, and he is telling them that is the case.

On the other side is the king of Israel. He is a wealthy, powerful, corrupt, person who acknowledges the faith more in form than in conviction. He is furious with Amos who has come to condemn him and the nation. After all, times are good. Israel is wealthy. The economy is solid. So what if the king immorally violates the commandments of God. So what if the people only marginally follow the faith? Let us be honest, following the faith is boring. It is restrictive. Yes, we honor God and so forth, but we do not want to be Bible thumpers. We do not want Amos and his type here. Such is the attitude of the King and people of Israel towards Amos.

Israel sees itself as sophisticated and wise to the world. Consequently, the king tells Amos to go away. After all, Amos and those like him are somewhat strange. They are somewhat naive. “Go away Amos and tend to your flocks.”

What the King and the Israelites do not see is that they are about to lose all they have because they do not listen to Amos. I have said it many times, “Human nature does not change.” We think we evolve. We think we grow wiser over the centuries, and the lessons of history make us smarter and sophisticated. However, they do not. Materially we progress. However, humans are much the same as they were in the days of Amos.

Today, we read about both Amos and John the Baptist. They both spoke the truth and were outsiders because of it. Both Amos and John the Baptist faithfully spoke the word of the Lord in spite of the danger to them from powerful rulers.

Herod in this story is an interesting figure. He is someone who is morally corrupted and as a leader. He easily falls prey to his passions. Although he actually seemed to admire John the Baptist, he had John executed because of weakness and his own careless promises as a king.

In today’s Gospel, we do not see something in the English. The Gospel has this line, “But when Herod heard of it, he said, ‘John, whom I beheaded, has been raised.’” In the Greek, these words reflect a sense of guilt.

People in Israel see the work of Jesus, and they begin to say that John the Baptist must somehow be alive, that perhaps he has been raised from the dead. John was a very popular person and people were hopeful that somehow he might still be alive.

Herod hears these rumors and says, "John, whom I beheaded, has been raised." The guilt is playing on Herod. He knew that God had sent John. Herod did not like what John said because John criticized him. Consequently, Herod imprisoned John. Never the less, Herod knew what John was; and he knew God sent him.

The readings for today are making a connection between Amos and John the Baptist and the kings these men confronted. What we see here is a conflict of conscience. It is a conflict between what we want and what it is that God wants. Often these two things are at odds.

I have never been a person who was much for pressing guilt on people. However, guilt does have its place.

We have the sense of pain to warn us that something is wrong. The discomfort of pain is a signal that something is out of place or broken.

Like anything uncomfortable, guilt is telling us something important. It is telling us that a relationship is somehow broken or out of place. To live a guilt free life is a recipe for a self-centered life. A self-centered life is one that inevitably hurts others and us.

The king of Israel knew that what Amos was saying was correct, and to avoid the feeling of guilt, he tells Amos to go away. Herod feels the guilt over what he did to John the Baptist and the feeling haunts him. What we see in these readings is a conflict of conscience.

For us, this conflict is actually a healthy thing. Guilt can show us our need for God. It shows us that we are incapable of correcting our lives on our own. It tells us that we cannot live our lives or cure the guilt and wrongs in them by our own strength. We need God. We need God’s forgiveness. We need God to pick us up and put us on a new and better path.

In today’s readings where there is conflict of conscious and desire, the Holy Spirit is actually at work. It is speaking through the prophets and the feelings of guilt created by the misdeeds of the people involved.

For us, the Spirit is at work as well. It is present in the written words of the prophets. However, it is also very much at work in those feelings so disparaged by our culture. The conscience we have been given is a place of the work of the Holy Spirit. It is here in the midst of the discomfort that we also are able to see our need for the Lord. Only God can save us. Only God can heal our hearts. Only God can give us restoration. Amen.