week 20

Psalm: Psalm 90:12-17
Old Testament : Amos 5:6-7, 10-15
Gospel : Mark 10:17-31
Epistle : Hebrews 4:12-16

Let us begin this week with a look at Amos. I wanted to do a word study of justice, but I don’t own the right book.  So, we’ll just keep it simple for now.  What Amos is describing in chapter 5 is the day of the Lord.  This was supposed to be the day when the Lord’s justice would reign and everything would be made right.  It was this hope that many before Jesus were waiting for.  Certainly, there have been many times in the Jews’ history when they needed an intervention from the Lord and “A day of the Lord.”  For example, the Babylonian exile which Amos was prophesying about, the Roman occupation during the New Testament, their treatment at times in Medieval Europe, and again, in the Holocaust. 

But, let’s get back to Amos.  Amos doesn’t seem to think that the Lord’s justice is something we should look forward to.  Amos asks, “Why do you long for that day?”  Those who think they are safe because they make sacrifices and follow all the religious festivals will still be carried off to exile.  In order to understand what Amos is saying, we have to compare verse 7 with 24.

Verse 7 There are those who turn justice into bitterness
    and cast righteousness to the ground.

Verse 24 But let justice roll down like a river,
    righteousness like a never-failing stream!

Amos is truly concerned with one thing: justice.  The people and leaders of Israel were being unjust to the poor.  By charging unfair taxes and fees and not giving the poor the same fair legal justice.  The question we must ask ourselves is to what extent this is true of us.  I think we fight for more fair and equitable treatment for the poor as a society, but this is really an individual and perhaps, a Church thing for us today.  A path that we still don’t quite understand.

In fact, this morning in our church service on 2 Chronicles 7:14 which says, ^“If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land,” justice was advocated through a turning of America’s ways.  How many of us have heard this preached in the context of America?  It is as if America is the New Israel and we can either be blessed or cursed based on what its people are doing.  Well, I’m here to say that America is not the new Israel.  We are not the “my people” talked about anywhere in the Old Testament.  It is dangerous to equate the two as we read Scripture.  I want to make it clear that America’s well-being is not directly connected to whether it follows the Law of God. 

However, what can we learn from passages like this and Amos?  Like I said, this mandate from Amos is an individual mandate to care for the poor.  It is also a challenge to the Church, who is now God’s people, to care for the poor and ensure their just treatment.  On one hand, we can fight for the country to make just and equitable treatment for all its citizens, but on the other, we cannot make that our only, or even first, priority.  To reiterate, America is not Israel and thus not held to the same standard as God’s people.  The Church, however, has been grafted into the people of God through Christ and is thus held to that standard and can be “carried off to exile” for not truly seeking justice on an individual and Church Catholic level.

I’m pretty sure that is already enough to say this week because it is already a difficult concept to discuss in so brief a blog, but I wanted to mention Hebrews briefly.  I think I said last week I really like Hebrews so I am going to make sure I throw it in.  Plus, this week includes those well-known words, “For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword…”  I decided to look up which Greek word is used for “word.”  The Greek here is Logos and I think this is significant.  For many, this is used solely to mean Scripture.  Scripture is active and piercing and becomes a living being.  Yet, when we continue to the next verse, it begins to talk about God like God was the subject of verse 12 also.  So, perhaps Logos here can also mean Jesus, or the Word of God, similar to its use in John 1:1.  In Hebrews, the word Logos is used one other time-- in 5:12.  It might also be appropriate to consider this “word” has a double meaning in Greek.  In the other occurrences of “word” in Hebrews, use the Greek word “rhema” which does in fact mean something more like our basic word or statement. 

This verse in Hebrews is also related to 2 Timothy 3:16: “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness.”  In this case, the word used is actually “writings,” and means Scripture. (Actually, the writer was referring to the Old Testament.)  So, the author of Hebrews had other choices if he truly wanted to mean Scripture or word, but he choose to use Logos.  The wonderful and scary thing about the Bible is that we don’t always have answers to our questions.  I think I’ve said this many times on this blog, but the Bible is complicated.  Don’t be lulled into easy answers because you’ve heard them in Church your whole life.

Well, I hope no one’s world view was shattered by the two points I suggested.  Remember, these are suggestions and there is room to disagree (although I’m pretty set on the first).  This was a bit longer than normal and felt more like an essay than a sermon, so sorry about that.  Hope you made it to the end.

Grace and Peace.