(thoughts from the
Daily Office 12/2/15: Amos 3:12-4:5 and Matthew 21:23-32)
Advent brings with it plenty of reasons to avoid Scripture
in the Daily Office. It is the season of
the prophets, and though as religious and spiritual people we love the idea of
prophets, to read them makes us quite uncomfortable. I am not quite sure how the prophets of the
Hebrew Scriptures are depicted in most Churches, but I have the impression that most gloss
over the message; or on the other end, use it to inspire guilt and fear as they
talk of the wrath of God. And when we
hear “the wrath of God” I think many either scoff at the idea, or like to think
that God isn’t like that anymore; I would think that those thoughts are a tragic loss of wisdom
and rich revelation of God.
We read in the first reading the prophet Amos lambasting the
people of the Northern Kingdom of Israel before the exile. He was a farmer, and not a part of the
establishment, and I think this gave him fresh eyes to the corruption and
social injustice that was in the Northern Kingdom. In this passage we read Amos reeling against
the women of the aristocracy:
“Hear this word, you
cows of Bashan who are on Mount Samaria, who oppress the poor, who crush the
needy, who say to their husbands, “Bring something to drink!” The time is
surely coming upon you, when they shall take you away with hooks.”
Amos is not just going after women, in his revelation he is
casting judgement on a culture that systematically oppresses the poor and
needy. The least among them is oppressed and they drink wine and care nothing
for their plight. This is all done while
continuing to practice their religious festivals:
“[Come] bring your
sacrifices every morning, your tithes every three years; bring a thank-offering
of leavened bread, and proclaim freewill offerings, publish them; for so you
love to do, O people of Israel!”
These are people who are faithful to a religion, yet have no
concern or care for the God behind the ritual.
To this religious culture without any social justice God promises, “I will tear down the winter house as well as
the summer house; and the houses of ivory shall perish, and the mansions shall
come to an end.” The wealth and riches of the oppressors, and the privileged who were silent, will
be smashed…no wonder this is glossed over in many American Churches.
This condemnation of false piety is echoed in the Gospel for
today. In the Gospel Jesus, in response
to a row with the priests over John the Baptist, tells a parable of two
sons. A father asks the first son to
work a field, the first son says “no,” but then works the field. The father asks the second son to work the
field, the second son says “of course!” but does not work the field. Who did the Father’s will? Of course we know it is the first son, just
as the priests did. Jesus goes on to say
the tax collectors and prostitutes will enter the Kingdom of God before you
(the priests), because they responded to righteousness, while you (the priests)
did nothing. Once again Jesus is turning
the established order upside down; one’s response to righteousness trumps adherence to ritual or
status. Everything these priests have
worked for and valued, Jesus is turning to dust. What in our culture would Jesus turn to dust? What in our churches would Jesus turn to dust?
What is being taught in today’s lesson is that faithfulness
to God is in our response to righteousness, not in our piety. To be faithful to God we must “do”
righteousness, and this righteousness is expressed most acutely in our efforts
to promote justice and dignity for others. Piety can have its place, but the primary act
of faithfulness to God is being righteous.
God’s wrath, therefore, is the wrath we would expect from a father,
brother, husband, mother seeing their beloved mistreated, abused, sold and used
for profit. God’s wrath is a result of
God’s fervent love for humanity. God’s
wrath is justified when we do not do justice; when we crush other humans for our gain.
In Christianity, I think since we care so much about giving hope in the
world (and that is needed!) and being attractive to newcomers (potential donors) we sometimes
neglect this very important part of our tradition. God hates oppression! God hates injustice! God hates these things because God loves us
all. God cares more for humans to be
treated with dignity than an ivory house or hedge funds (or candles or praise songs). And if we value nice houses, profits,
fame or entertainment at the expense of another human’s dignity we are acting against
the vision of God.
The call of the prophets Amos and Jesus need to be heard and
echoed today in our places of worship. We are all being called to
“Repent!” to change our habits and attitudes towards doing justice for all
people. This is faithfulness to the
Divine; this is to come before any spiritual or religious ritual. This is the call of a very Loving and
Passionate God to all people.
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