Reading for Proper 10B
Amos 7:7-15
July 13, 2003
The Rev. Karen Siegfriedt
St. Jude the Apostle Episcopal Church, Cupertino,
CA
And the Lord said to Amos: "What do you see?" And Amos said: "A plumb line." Then the Lord said: "See, I am setting a plumb line in the midst of my people Israel; I will never again pass them by." [Amos 7]
Speaking the truth does not guarantee that it will be accepted. This is because the truth will always be offensive to someone. If the truth disturbs the comfort of those in power, it will produce serious opposition which may include rejection, ridicule, and persecution. Rejection is the theme of today's readings from Holy Scripture. Jesus warns his disciples to expect rejection when preaching the gospel. Amos is rejected by the establishment. He is driven out of town and told never to come back.
Prophets are people who are highly sensitive to the guidance of God. While some prophets have additional paranormal gifts of predicting the future, prophecy is simply proclaiming God's truth about how human beings should walk in the world and what the consequences can be if this truth is rejected.
But opposition alone, is not proof that one has spoken the truth and this needs to be re-emphasized when one thinks about who is a true prophet. We need to pray for the grace to know whether someone is proclaiming the truth or just being difficult. This is why it is necessary to have a plumb line against which we discern the truth. If you have ever seen a wall being built, you would have noticed that the carpenters used a plumb line to ensure that the walls are set straight. In the "olden days" a plumb line was a heavy piece of lead suspended on a string, that would hang straight down by the force of gravity. Today, we now have electronic levels to ensure that the building, the beams, and the walls are straight. If God is our builder, and our lives are in the process of becoming God's temple, then we need to make sure that we use a plumb line against which we can measure the faithfulness of our decisions and conduct. How straight and true is your path and what do you use as a guide? What are Christians expected to use as their plumb line? This is the subject of today's sermon. I will use the reading from the Book of Amos as my text.
Amos was born about 800 years before the birth of Jesus. He lived in the Southern Kingdom of Israel and was a herdsman and an arborist. In other words, he was an uneducated man, outside the power structure, and not your typical prophet. However, Amos was able to see things that other people could not. He had the gift of prophecy. He traveled to the Northern Kingdom of Israel to proclaim what the Lord had shown him. In very vivid language, Amos spoke about these visions which made those in power very uncomfortable. Amos basically said this: 'You have not been faithful in your covenant with God. You have oppressed the poor, broken the commandments, engaged in self-indulgent behavior, and have placed your faith in military power and money rather than in God. Because you have broken the covenant with God, the power of God on which you depend is no longer viable. This ultimately will result in the death of your King and the downfall of the Israeli civilization.'
Difficult words! Amos is pretty hard to take. He is relentless in his criticism of Israel and lays out for the people of this country, the consequences of their actions. It would be a lot easier to ignore him, to put one's head in the sand, and to go about life as usual. But then there is that small still voice within, making people a little uncomfortable and wondering just how much is true.
What is the plumb line against which we can measure the truth of a prophet's statements? For the Jew, the plumb line is the 10 commandments. For the Buddhist, it is the four noble truths. For the Islamic, it is the five pillars of faith. For the Christian, it is the baptismal covenant. Our baptismal covenant is the plumb line which guides our decision making and conduct. If you want to discern the truth, if you want to know how faithful you are being, then take a good look at your baptismal promises. Are you intimately familiar with them? This is why it is important for all of us to renew our baptismal covenant from time to time and to inwardly digest the promises we have made.
We have made a commitment to follow Jesus as our Lord and savior, to persevere in resisting evil, and whenever we fall into sin, to repent and return to the Lord. This is not just theological jargon to be taken lightly on a Sunday morning. This is a commitment that forms the core of our identity as Christians. This means that instead of just doing what everyone else is doing, we rise above it all, and take the higher ground. This means that we choose to do what has integrity and will result in the healing of this world. This means that we honestly ask ourselves: What would Jesus do in this situation? How can I be an agent for transformation? How can I pick myself up, turn around, and do the right thing? How can I move from being a self-indulgent individual to a person who really cares about the greater community? How can I be a light in the darkness?
As a whole, the culture we are living in, rejects the truths imbedded in our baptismal covenant- not too different from the culture in which Amos prophesied. And like the voice of Amos, the voice of Christ is being rejected. Our civilization is worse off because of this. In 722 BCE, years after Amos had proclaimed the word of the Lord, Samaria, the capital city of the Northern Kingdom of Israel, fell to the Assyrians. The atrocities were many and Israel has never been the same.
If God is our builder, and our lives are in the process of becoming God's temple, then we need to make sure that we use a plumb line against which we can measure the faithfulness of our decisions and conduct. O Lord, mercifully receive the prayers of your people who call upon you, and grant that they may know and understand what things they ought to do, and also may have grace and power faithfully to accomplish them. [Collect of the day, BCP 231]
| Updated 7/15/03 |
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