Sermon - Pentecost 19

October 11, 2009

When I think of the prophet Amos, I picture in my mind a scrappy, unkempt, and fiery man with an angry demeanor. He comes into the presence of these sophisticated and well-kept officers of the king and his court along with the king’s prophets and priests. Then, he begins to hit them with one warning after another as he tells them about how they are weakening themselves and nation by ignoring the commandments of the Lord. And they are ignoring the commandments of the Lord in the most dangerous way. They follow the commandments in form but not in spirit.

Only Amos could do what he did before the king and officials in Israel. Anyone else would have been dismissed as a crackpot or fanatic. However, even with the authority and presence that Amos clearly had, the king, priests, court, and people do not want to hear what he has to say. They tell him to go away. They say he should go down to Jerusalem and give prophecy there.

Amos is annoying. He tells them what they do not want to hear. He brings them news that interrupts how they want to live. All of this talk about justice and living a life that is pleasing to God the people find burdensome.

After all, the people of Israel see themselves as doing what God requires. They observe all the religious holidays and rituals. They follow all the expected religious codes. Consequently, the people ask, “Why is Amos so angry with us? Go and complain about all those other nations and people who are not following the ways of God. We at least offer the Lord our worship.”

The nation of Israel sees itself as deserving of God. In fact, God should be pleased with them. God should be congratulating the nation of Israel rather than complaining. In a real sense, deep down, Israel sees God as owing them gratitude. Therefore, this complaint from this angry shepherd who is now a prophet they find insulting as much as they see it as annoying.

What we are seeing in the Book of Amos is a case where the nation has fallen into complacency. There is no urgent need to follow the faith in heart, mind, and spirit. Following the faith in form is seen as being good enough.

The result is that Amos sees a nation that goes to worship, however, has no sense as to what the God is that they are worshiping. Upon leaving worship they go right into plotting how they might cheat this person or trick this other out of land, livestock, or gold. It is a nation that has lost its conscience as well as its love of God.

If God is only a God of form or custom or habit, then we are holding our God at a distance. We are not living with this God touching the way we live.

What our readings are speaking about today is what the Bible often calls hardness of heart. The hardness of heart means that we are allowing other things to occupy a more important place in our lives than God. The consequence is that we make God a custom, habit, or a thing that we respect but hold outside of our hearts and daily lives.

Our God is a thing of beauty. However, one of the things that the Bible shows us time and again is that all humans have difficulty in holding God up as of first importance in our lives.

Today’s lessons talk about how easy it is to hold up wealth over the importance of worshiping God. However, there are so many other things that can occupy our hearts and minds over God.

We owe our lives, hearts, happiness, and future to our God. St. Paul gave thanks even in the midst of persecution. Even in horrendous hardship Paul not only gave thanks, but he also encouraged others to give thanks.

What we see in St. Paul is a heart that makes decisions based on faith. Paul was able to give thanks in the midst of persecution because he knew that this life is temporary. Beyond us is something fuller and filled with comfort beyond what we can imagine.

Paul knew that this life, for all that it holds, and for all the good things that it has, it is a world that can deceive us. Just as things can be good and wonderful, they can suddenly turn into pain. That is why we cannot allow this world to overshadow our commitment to God.

What we have in this life comes as a gift from God. In following this Lord, we place ourselves on a path that brings a commitment of the heart. And that commitment extends to thanks for our lives, and heavenly hope offered to us by a good and gracious God. Amen.