St. Andrews Episcopal Church

RECENT SERMONS

SERMON PREACHED ON PENTECOST VI, JULY 16, 2006
[Amos 7:7-15 + Mark 6:14-29]

(The gospel is the story of Herod having John the Baptist beheaded.) That’s quite a gospel to start your day! It depicts an interesting story concerning the negative/positive relationship between the Tetrarch Herod with John the Baptist, including that weird statement: “When (Herod) heard (John the Baptist), he was greatly perplexed, and yet he liked to listen to him.” But search and struggle as I could, I couldn’t find “the Good News” imbedded anywhere in that gospel reading. Listening to CNN news Saturday morning focused my mind on the other relevant scripture we must face today: Amos. I’ll never forget our first day outside Jerusalem in 1988. We were standing outside a cave in Tekoa, the suburbs of the city of Bethlehem visible in the distance. The dean, John Peterson, had asked me to prepare a brief introduction. As 7 year-old shepherds and goat-herders surrounded us with their very fragrant flocks, smiling, asking for candy, I spoke quietly to our group: “I just want to read you one sentence: ‘These are the words of the prophet Amos, one of the shepherds of Tekoa.’” Chills ran down my back, as they do right now, just hearing those words.

In the words of that ancient prophet the Word of the Lord for this moment rang out:This is what the Lord showed me a man standing by a wall, plumb line in hand.
“What do you see, Amos?” “A plumb line,” I said. Then the Lord said to me, “Look I am going to measure my people Israel by plumb line; no longer will I overlook their offenses. The high places are going to be ruined, the sanctuaries of Israel destroyed, and, sword in hand, I will attack the House of Jeroboam.”

Remember, prophets could not “foresee” the future. They saw for God, speaking from the perspective of the Ten Commandments. The “third vision” of this ancient story is chilling, as I quote from INTERPRETER’S ONE-VOLUME COMMENTARY (page 474), because I don’t want you to assume these words are mine: “Amos’ eye is not on God but on the plumb line he holds. Seen against this cord with its weight at the end, Israel, God’s wall, is obviously so out of perpendicular that it must fall. God’s patience is now at an end. There is no chance that he will again pass by in forgiveness. Doom will fall on the high places, hilltop shrines. . . The proud nation will die with the death of the royal dynasty.” Plumb lines are crucial to good construction, as I’ve seen multiple times here in our own building project, though they use electronic ones now-a-days. Without being “plumb” a small degree enlarges as the building goes up, creating an unstable structure. Israel, Hamas and Hezbollah, Taliban of Afghanistan, North Korea, the war lords of Samalia, the government of Sudan, Iraqi insurgents, dictators around the world - all have blood on their hands. So do we. Regardless of how you view the situation over there – and there are probably as many opinions as there are people here, we are reminded by the experience of the prophet Amos that a plumb line of morality exists - not moralism, which we what we usually hear, but morality judging all that we do as a people and nation, judging the value of human life: one Israeli life does not equal many Arab lives – and on down the litany of human pain. In the eyes of God every life on every side is precious, child or teen, woman or man. Each nation will be judged for its actions by that plumb line, as to whether its actions are just or unjust, defensive or offensive. We are accountable. As citizens of this nation we bear responsibility for the actions of our government, as the people in the Middle East and around the world bear for theirs. God will judge. There is a plumb line, and it is the plumb line of justice, and it works as sure and true as gravity. It hangs true, and justice will happen. So many parallels to our situation: quoting again from INTERPRETER’S ONE-VOLUME COMMENTARY:

“Amos shocking prediction of Israel’s imminent doom at once raises inevitable questions in the face of the country’s unprecedented prosperity under Jeroboam II. Contrary to the prophet’s dour pessimism, are not God’s people reaping the material rewards of their favored position as his chosen ones? In a series of testimonies spoken in the name of Yahweh (God) Amos deals with the meaning of Israel’s unique relationship to God and the reasons for discerning the signs of disaster.” (page 469)

It is unnerving the way these ancient scriptures ring true – and they apply to all of us, not just to the modern state of Israel. Amos offers an antidote to that which is swirling around them:

“Seek good and not evil so that you may live, that the Lord, God of Sabaoth, may really be with you as you
claim he is.

Hate evil, love good, maintain justice at the city gate,
and it may be that God will take pity on the remnant of Joseph.” (5:14-15)

Very reminiscent of that immortal passage from the prophet Micah:

“With what gift shall I come into God’s presence and bow down before God on high?

Shall I come with burnt offerings, with calves one year old?

Will the Lord be pleased with rams by the thousand,
with libations of oil in torrents?

Must I give my first-born for what I have done wrong,
the fruit of my body for my own sin?”

--What is good has been explained to you people,
this is what the Lord asks of you:

Only this, to act justly, to love tenderly, and to walk humbly with your God. (6:6-8)

Nothing else matters: not religious labels, not nationality, not gender, not sexuality, not age, just this: to act justly, to love tenderly, and to walk humbly with your God. That’s what Jesus tried to do. And it got him killed. Justice cannot be separated from politics. People prefer to wallow in their self-righteousness and beliefs, their fears and prejudices, their angers for past deeds, their control. Where is the hope in this, the “good news,” the gospel? It is this, I firmly believe: the way of life is the way of integrity – usually translated “righteousness.” If we live by that, life will be good and full of meaning, no matter what happens to us or when.

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