Proper 11 / Ordinary Time 16
Devotional
Water From the Rock
Lectionary Devotional for Cycle C
The time is surely coming, says the Lord God, when I will send a famine on the land; not a famine of bread, or a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord.
-- Amos 8:11
For anyone who wants to know whether the church should be involved with the issues of economic justice, they need only to read Amos. Amos spoke to Israel at a time when the nation was economically prosperous. By every indication, it was also a time in which people were active in the practice of their religion. In the midst of this prosperity, Amos recognized a widening gap between the faith that was proclaimed and the economic realities of the society. People had become increasingly obsessed with gathering wealth and increasingly unconcerned with the plight of the poor. In Amos' words, "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?' "
The difference between this description and how it might be described today is that we no longer feel the constraint of religious days on our economic activities. The mantra of our time is expressed in the advertisements that suggest that people will be available 24/7. In Amos' time, the people still observed the rituals of religious obedience, but their spirit was focused on the gathering of wealth. The economic obsession had the result of turning people into objects rather than humans. "We will make the ephah small and the shekel great, and practice 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 sweepings of the wheat was an urban form of leaving the edges of the field available for the poor to glean. Amos was doing more than to warn the society of their insensitivities. He was declaring that God had grown weary of waiting for them to change and would bring a harsh judgment upon them. He would send a famine, but it would not be a famine of food or drink but a famine of hearing the words of the Lord. God, who had chosen to be present to this people through their entire journey, was choosing to withdraw from their presence.
Up until this time, their faith attested to the belief that it was God who sustained them and nurtured them even when they ignored God. Now Amos was suggesting that God would ignore them. As will be later pictured in Matthew 25:31-46, the nations were judged by how they responded to the needy among them, and Samaria was found wanting. How would God judge our nation today?
-- Amos 8:11
For anyone who wants to know whether the church should be involved with the issues of economic justice, they need only to read Amos. Amos spoke to Israel at a time when the nation was economically prosperous. By every indication, it was also a time in which people were active in the practice of their religion. In the midst of this prosperity, Amos recognized a widening gap between the faith that was proclaimed and the economic realities of the society. People had become increasingly obsessed with gathering wealth and increasingly unconcerned with the plight of the poor. In Amos' words, "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?' "
The difference between this description and how it might be described today is that we no longer feel the constraint of religious days on our economic activities. The mantra of our time is expressed in the advertisements that suggest that people will be available 24/7. In Amos' time, the people still observed the rituals of religious obedience, but their spirit was focused on the gathering of wealth. The economic obsession had the result of turning people into objects rather than humans. "We will make the ephah small and the shekel great, and practice 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 sweepings of the wheat was an urban form of leaving the edges of the field available for the poor to glean. Amos was doing more than to warn the society of their insensitivities. He was declaring that God had grown weary of waiting for them to change and would bring a harsh judgment upon them. He would send a famine, but it would not be a famine of food or drink but a famine of hearing the words of the Lord. God, who had chosen to be present to this people through their entire journey, was choosing to withdraw from their presence.
Up until this time, their faith attested to the belief that it was God who sustained them and nurtured them even when they ignored God. Now Amos was suggesting that God would ignore them. As will be later pictured in Matthew 25:31-46, the nations were judged by how they responded to the needy among them, and Samaria was found wanting. How would God judge our nation today?
