What Do You See? - Amos 7:7-17 (Pentecost 5C)

 

Last week, the scripture was out of 2nd Kings, and the story about Elisha and Naaman. Naaman had been struck with leprosy and wanted to get healed. His wife’s servant knew of a man who could do just that. He had to listen to the Spirit and go into his enemy’s land to get healed. At any point, he could have refused but he also knew that his goal of healing wouldn’t happen. 

But if last week was about listening to the Spirit and follow as you’re lead, our scripture today is all about looking around and seeing who may be prophets around us. We are switching from a narrative story told more from the kings perspective to individual prophets.

Before we dive too deep in, let’s zoom out for a second. This book takes place about the same time period as the stories from last week. We are talking about 8 centuries before Christ. The Israelite nation are still split into a northern kingdom (known as Israel) and the southernmost kingdom (known as Judah). Amos was from the southern kingdom where he was a shepherd and a fig farmer. The northern kingdom was ruled by King Jeroboam, who had acquired more land and had been prosperous  but in the eyes of the prophets, he was one of the worst kings Israel has ever had. The wealth had created apathy among the people and allowed idolatry as in worshipping other gods. This resulted in great injustice and neglect of the poor. God is angry because he loves his people and don’t want to see them mistreated, oppressed or taken advantage of. It got so bad that Amos couldn’t take it anymore. He was angry because of So he felt God calling him to Bethel, one of the important cities with a large temple. Amos felt that God wanted him to remind the Israelite people of the God of their ancestors and through his sermons, poems and other writing stitched together the visions he received from God. This is amazingly even a message we need to hear today. 

Narrowing our view down to the chapter we have as our selection today, Amos is describing a series of five visions he received. The first two visions were directly before this in the text, about crops being destroyed by a plague of locusts, and another by a great fire. 

Our story today begins with the third vision of Amos: the plumb line. Amos was talking to God where God revealed that he is fed up with Israel because of their unfaithfulness.

A plumb line, for those who may not have used one, is a way to see how straight walls are. I imagine it would have been used by masons, among others. I’m sure the king and everyone else in this time of prosperity would be thrown off that God would say something like that about Israel. The people of Israel can be manipulated and deceived but God certainly can’t be. God is the one who makes the standards that we are held to. A builders’ device consisting of a string with a weight, or plummet, on one end. The weight forces the cord to hang vertically so that builders and renovators are able to check the alignment of walls they are constructing and make sure that they are perpendicular to the center of gravity of the earth. The plumb line is also used to recognize walls that are tilted and need to be torn down. Used metaphorically in the Bible, the plumb line is a tool to enable the people of Israel to delineate righteousness and truth from apostasy (Amos 7:7-9). It also occurs as a testing tool: justice is the line and righteousness the plummet that tests rebuilt Jerusalem (Isa. 28:17). The measuring line and plummet used to condemn Ahab’s Samaria also condemn Jerusalem (2 Kgs. 21:13), while chaos and confusion are brought to Edom by God’s line and plummet (Isa. 34:11). Zerubbabel’s holding a plummet in his hands at the time of the temple’s reconstruction (Zech. 4:10) may be a literal reference to its normal usage, but this passage may also be interpreted metaphorically.

There’s so much going on in our world that it’s so hard to keep track of it all. But - where do you see God working in your corners of the world? I hope you think about that this week because you can’t find what you’re not looking for. This past week, I found God in our community as we gathered for the festival just over 24 hours ago. I found God in sharing space with some of our home bound members, sharing space with their struggles and joys among the bread and the juice of communion. 

Often, when things are going well, we tend to assume we are doing something right. Because blessings come to those who prosper, right? At least in our wider culture that seems to be how it’s viewed. Sometimes it’s because the opposite is true.  Let me explain. When we get off course and lose sight of God, we can lose sight of the importance of following. When we are not looking for God, we can get caught up in looking for that need in other, probably more destructive, ways. It doesn’t need to be as bleak as drugs, gambling or other vices. It could just be simple in ignoring what you need to do that leads you closer to God. That small voice may be subtle, and so it can be easy to dismiss. But are there things that keep coming back around, like lessons you don’t seem to learn? How can we discern when these nudges and leanings are from the Holy Spirit, or from somewhere else? Well - we need to make sure we are reading scripture to see if it’s in line with what God wants. Or we can use our Methodist tradition to see if it’s in line. John Wesley taught that there are different ways that we can use to discern this. If you’re wrestling with something that you can’t seem to shake, let’s talk about it and maybe we can come up with a solution together. 

What does it mean to speak truth to power? Amos must have been scared on some level, knowing that he would be speaking against the king, saying that he was corrupt and leading the nation to destruction.  But he also knows that he was lead there by God. So his faith being so strong trumped over his fear. It’s interesting to see Amaziah’s reaction to Amos. Of course he’s going to throw everything at him to discredit and telling him to go back where he comes from. Amaziah has everything to lose to this guy coming out of nowhere. His career is based on his faithfulness to the king. What’s going to happen if this scrappy backwaters guy is right? But here’s the thing - the king is acting without impunity. He feels as though he is the divine one. He doesn’t realize that his authority is subject to God’s power, or if he does, he doesn’t care. I’m not sure which one is worse. 

The latter may actually be true because the King and the Priest don’t really understand that what they’re fighting about isn’t about the King vs the Prophet. It’s more of the Kings injustice up against God’s justice. But the priest just dismisses Amos and wants to send him back to him back to Judah. Now, Amaziah, angered by Amos’s message, sent word to the king that a troublemaker is conspiring against him. Conspiring and prophesying may feel like the same thing to the recipient of such a message, but they are entirely different. 

But our hero Amos not only has the strength of faith, but he has the background to back it up. He may not have been a prophet in Judah but as a fig tree farmer, he would have been familiar with which trees made good fruit and which ones did not. I think Amaziah was really just checking Amos' credentials, making sure he's worthy to speak on God's behalf. We like our leaders to have a proper background for their responsibilities. Lawyers have master's degrees and licensing to complete, doctors have years of training beyond what is customary so they can be experts in their fields. We also like to know that the pilots flying our planes have taken more than a couple of weekends before getting into the cockpit. But when it comes to matters of faith, because there is a whole spectrum of belief, we like to make sure our faith leaders are well-equipped for the journey. A year ago, I'm sure I actually said it, that I am not, but I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that God is taking every part of me and using it for his glory. Where we went to school, where we were raised, who our parents are don't tell the whole story about us. What does matter is that we are faithful and living into the life that God has created for us. A prophet's credibility is confirmed when whatever truth has been spoken comes true, and that the people are moved to faith.

This passage reminds me of Dr. King's Letter from Birmingham Jail that he wrote in 1963. King wrote, "I am in Birmingham because injustice is here. Just as the eighth-century prophets left their little villages and carried their 'thus saith the Lord' far beyond the boundaries of their hometowns... I too am compelled to carry the Gospel of freedom beyond my particular hometown." Much like the citizens of Israel, we can be seduced by the status quo, that because we are doing well, it doesn't seem that things are that bad. Generations before, they were scared when they left Egypt with Moses, wanting to escape that land of captivity, and then found they also know it's hard to go off by themselves and create something from scratch. Living faithfully, though, is what God desires for all of us, even when it's difficult to live into an unknown future. May we fill that void with faith rather than fear. I suppose it comes down to what you see. 

Amen