Sermon: Priorities
So. We see here that Amos, like all the other ancient prophets, wasn’t concerned so much with what happens in private, as with what happens in public.
All the ancient prophets believed that the worst sins were not the sins of the bedroom, as some Christians today would have you believe.
The prophets believed that God was far more concerned with the sins of society, and especially, the sins of the marketplace.
And for prophets like Amos, it is clear that, when it comes to the policies that govern and regulate the marketplace, the rulers have their priorities all wrong.
That’s really what this is all about: priorities.
And I wonder: How do we set our priorities? What determines our priorities, as a community? As a church?
I know that, for us in the church, and for many organizations and businesses, priorities are determined by a mission statement. Or, at least, they’re supposed to be.
Anytime we are faced with a difficult decision, we look to the mission statement, to remind ourselves of what’s most important; to remind ourselves of our priorities and our calling. Remembering our mission statement leads us to make decisions in line with our priorities.
Amos was upset, because the rulers of Israel did not have their priorities right. Their economic policies, in particular, weren’t just. They weren’t fair. They favored those who were already rich, so that they became even richer, and they placed heavier burdens on the poor, so that the poor became even poorer and destitute.
And this was not in line with the priorities that were established when Moses set forth the guidelines that the nation of Israel was to follow.
This is, in fact, the number one complaint of ALL the Hebrew prophets. They were all proponents of social justice— “social” meaning related to society and “justice” meaning what is right. Social justice, in other words, simply means “what is right for the community” or “what is right for society.”
The prophets were passionately concerned about what is right for society, for the community, for the nation. They were especially concerned about the fair distribution of wealth to the people of the nation. They were especially concerned about economic justice.
That was their number one priority: economic justice. And their number one complaint was economic injustice.
If this is new to you, consider the following:
The prophets of the Hebrew Bible did their work in several distinct periods. Amos, along with Isaiah, Hosea, Jonah, and Micah, did their prophesying from 786 to 701 BC.
After that, there was a period of about 60 years when there were no prophets.
Then, from 640 to 560, we have Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Obadiah, Nahum, Habakkuk, and Zephaniah.
After that, there was a period of about 40 years with no prophets.
Then, from 520 to 450 BC, we have Haggai, Zechariah, Joel, and Malachi.
So. Why were the prophets speaking out in certain times, and why were there no prophets in other times? Why did God call prophets only during certain periods of history, and why did God not call any prophets to speak out in other periods of history?
Well, it turns out that in all the times when the prophets were active, the economic policies of the nation were such that there was a huge income gap between those who were wealthy, and those who were poor. When the rich were obscenely rich, and the poor, destitute, God took note of the injustice, and God called prophets to speak a word of truth to kings and rulers, demanding justice for the poor.
But when the income gap wasn’t so great; when the poor weren’t too poor, and the rich weren’t too rich…God decided that prophets weren’t needed, because there was justice in the land. There were still rich people and poor people, but the gap between them wasn’t so great—and wasn’t exacerbated by economic policies—that all were able to share in the prosperity of the nation.
Here’s a little more detail about the injustice Amos saw, and how he called out the leaders of his time to get their priorities straight…
According to Amos, the king and those aligned with him were “delivering up entire communities, denying compassion, and rejecting the Lord’s teachings.”
In Amos, chapter three, we read that they “sold the innocent for silver, and those in need for a pair of sandals. They crush the heads of the poor into the dust of the earth and push the afflicted out of the way.”
In chapter four, we read that the king and those aligned with him cheat the weak and crush the needy.
In chapter five, we read that they turn justice into poison, and throw righteousness to the ground… and they reject the one who comes speaking the truth...
And Amos proclaims to them this word of condemnation: “You crush the weak! You tax their grain!... You afflict the righteous; you take money on the side; and you turn away the poor who seek help!”
That’s Amos’ complaint.
Also in chapter five, Amos proclaims this word of the Lord. The Lord says: "I hate, I reject your festivals. I don't enjoy your joyous assemblies. If you bring me your offerings and your gifts, they won’t make me happy… Take away the noise of your songs. I won't listen to the melody of your harps.”
All because there was no justice in the
land; all because the wealth of the nation was being concentrated among the few, while the rest of the people suffered.
Worship is offensive to God if those who gather for worship spend the rest of the week oppressing the poor. When that’s what’s happening in society, God says, “Don’t come to me in worship; instead, let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever flowing stream!" That’s what God demands.
In chapter six, Amos proclaims: “Doom to those who … lie on beds of ivory, stretch out on their couches, eat lambs from the flock, and bull calves from the stall; who drink bowls of wine, put the best of oils on themselves,...
“...but who aren’t grieved over the ruin of Joseph!”
In chapter eight, Amos says “Hear this, you who trample on the needy and destroy the poor of the land, who cheat the poor with false scales, in order to buy the needy for silver and the helpless for sandals, and sell garbage as grain… The Lord has sworn by the pride of Jacob: Surely I will never forget what [you] have done.”
In the midst of all this… the Lord presents Amos the vision of a plumb line.
A plumb line is basically a weight at the end of a string. The weight is usually made out of metal, with a point at the bottom, for precision.
The line would be held up, and once the weight stopped swinging, it could be used to measure if a wall was perfectly vertical (or, “plumb”).
I suppose if one didn’t have a specially designed weight, one could use anything: a rock, for example. Tie your string to that, and you’d still have a perfectly vertical line that you could then use to make sure the wall you’re building is plumb—perfectly vertical.
Israel’s economic policies were so unfair, they were making the nation lean. The very foundation was off, and the entire nation was tilting, like the Leaning Tower of Pisa. It wasn’t level, and if things weren’t corrected soon, the whole nation would come tumbling down.
The plumb line that Amos holds up is God’s truth. It is God’s judgment. It is a plumb line that measures what is right and just. But because of all the injustice in Israel, that plumb line becomes a judgment and an indictment against the nation.
For years now, Disciples pastor William Barber and the Poor People’s Campaign have been holding up a plumb line to the American economy. And the American economy, it is clear, is not measuring up.
140 million people in the United States are poor or low-income. So many are just one medical bill away from bankruptcy or homelessness. People have died because they could not afford the care they need… and as the Poor People’s Campaign reminds us: everybody’s got a right to live.
Meanwhile, we have billionaires going into space; billionaires whose wealth has multiplied—doubled and tripled and quadrupled—in recent years, even while most Americans have seen their own wealth stall or decline. This is a direct result of the economic policies in this country, which, among other things, has lowered taxes on the wealthiest Americans, and raised taxes on everyone else.
This is something that has occurred gradually, over my entire lifetime. It has been implemented by both Democrats and Republicans, so please don’t accuse me of being partisan. As William Barber says: this isn’t about left vs. right; it’s about right vs. wrong.
And if our politicians who claim to follow Jesus really did follow Jesus, they would come together from both sides of the aisle and unite in enacting policies of justice, policies that provide relief and help to the poor and especially to those who live in poverty.
Do you ever wonder why it seems like we keep paying more in taxes, yet our federal and state governments seem to have less money for things like road maintenance and social services and education? One reason for this is that we aren’t all paying more in taxes. The wealthiest among us, those who could most afford to pay more—individuals and
corporations—are paying less. Much less.
That is exactly the sort of thing that got Amos and all the other Old Testament prophets all worked up. That is exactly what led them to proclaim God’s judgment and doom on the nations.
But what does the New Testament say about any of this, you may be wondering?
Upon receiving the news that she was pregnant with the Son of God, Mary sang her song of praise, the Magnificat. In it, she sings of the rich becoming poor, and the poor becoming rich—basically, an undoing of what was the current unjust economic system.
And then Jesus, in his first public act, declared that God had anointed him to bring good news to the poor.
Later, Jesus went into the temple and overturned the tables, and I still remember my Dad telling me as he read that Bible story to me that that was the only time Jesus ever lost his temper. And over what? Over the economic injustice that was taking place there, where the poor were being cheated and swindled by the moneychangers and the sellers who were all a part of a corrupt temple economic complex.
Meanwhile, for the apostle Paul: one of the things he was most offended by was unequal treatment at the Lord’s Table. For the early Christians, the Lord’s Table was a full meal, and sometimes, those who were wealthy would bring and eat rich, sumptuous food, while those who were poor would bring meager crumbs; and the rich would eat their food without sharing; and according to Paul, this was a great offense to God.
To the Corinthians, Paul wrote that, when they gather, one person goes hungry while another is drunk on wine, and everyone has their own private little meal. And Paul says to them, “You may call that the Lord’s Supper, but it’s not really the Lord’s Supper, because the Lord’s Supper is the meal of God’s kingdom, and in God’s kingdom, we are one body centered on Christ, and all should be able to share in the blessings of that kingdom.”
If you show partiality, if you tolerate such
inequality among you, then you are still a long way from the kingdom of God.
This theme of economic injustice is so very challenging and difficult for us. I know that. Many of us—myself included—grew up in churches that ignored or downplayed these ideas. Swept them under the rug. Or reinterpreted them so that they appeared to mean something other than what was actually being said. Many of us grew up in churches that said faith was more personal than social.
But that’s not what I see when I read the Bible, and I cannot ignore what is such a prominent theme in scripture.
The gospel compels us to get our priorities right, and to carry on the work of Jesus, proclaiming good news to the poor, and proclaiming the day of the Lord’s favor, the day when ALL of God’s children are able to enjoy, freely, the blessings God bestows.
God calls us to live in a new world, a new kingdom, one that is marked by radical love that is unlike anything this world has ever seen. And love like that is a love that demands justice for all. It is a love that will not rest; not until every child of God has what they need to thrive, to live a life of wholeness and shalom.
Because that’s who God is. God is the one who loves all God’s children; and God hears the cries of those who suffer—especially those who suffer from injustice. God’s desire is that all God’s children get to live in peace, which means that all God’s children get to share in the prosperity of the nation, that all God’s children get the care and services they need, that all God’s children experience healing and wholeness.
