Today's reading from Amos (1:1-5, 1:13-2:8--also attached at the end of this post) is a great story of the beginning of Amos's prophesy to Israel. Amos is a master communicator...he whips the crowd into a frenzy as he speaks a word from the Lord against Israel's enemies...and by extension, God's enemies.
Thus says the Lord: For three transgressions of Damascus and for four, I will not revoke the punishment:Whoop! God's going to get them. Clearly that's the right thing. Anyone who would act like that deserves God's punishment and we trust that God will "take care" of them.
And then God goes after the Ammonites, outlining their horrible behavior and detailing their punishment. Another whoop. God is mighty indeed. Moab is next, then Judah. Judah is closer to home, but really, they were just as sinful, just as cavalier about ignoring the commands of God.
The people could see, through Amos, the hand of God at work bringing righteousness into the world. Their trust was validated. This was a God who loved them!
Then....
The punishment is turned on Israel. Selling the poor and the righteous for profit, trampling over the poor to get what they want, misusing the temple gifts, sleeping with the cultic prostitutes. The tables are turned, the judgment voiced, and the people are, suddenly, not at all sure Amos, in fact, speaks the word of the Lord.
Do we trust God when we are being corrected? Do we see God at work when justice is being required of us?
It hits all of us...humans are just bad at accepting correction. We have the hardest time listening to criticism of ourselves. We cheer when the "other side" gets it. But we are masters at self-justification. We are expert at dismissing the complaints others have against us.
The rather ugly question is do we trust the voice of God when God calls us on bad behavior? Or do we only trust God when God is after "others."
Perhaps the challenge of learning to trust during Advent is learning that God is working on us as well as others...God is at work to bring to light our sin as well as the sin of our "enemies." Looking for the coming of God, the in-breaking of God's kingdom in the world means us as well as them. Perhaps it means us even more than them.
From Amos:
1 The words of Amos, who was among the shepherds of Tekoa, which he saw concerning Israel in the days of King Uzziah of Judah and in the days of King Jeroboam son of Joash of Israel, two years before the earthquake.
2 And he said:
The Lord roars from Zion,
and utters his voice from Jerusalem;
the pastures of the shepherds wither,
and the top of Carmel dries up.
3 Thus says the Lord:
For three transgressions of Damascus,
and for four, I will not revoke the punishment;
because they have threshed Gilead
with threshing sledges of iron.
4 So I will send a fire on the house of Hazael,
and it shall devour the strongholds of Ben-hadad.
5 I will break the gate bars of Damascus,
and cut off the inhabitants from the Valley of Aven,
and the one who holds the scepter from Beth-eden;
and the people of Aram shall go into exile to Kir,
says the Lord.
13Thus says the Lord:
For three transgressions of the Ammonites,
and for four, I will not revoke the punishment;
because they have ripped open pregnant women in Gilead
in order to enlarge their territory.
14 So I will kindle a fire against the wall of Rabbah,
fire that shall devour its strongholds,
with shouting on the day of battle,
with a storm on the day of the whirlwind;
15 then their king shall go into exile,
he and his officials together,
says the Lord.
2 Thus says the Lord:
For three transgressions of Moab,
and for four, I will not revoke the punishment;
because he burned to lime
the bones of the king of Edom.
2 So I will send a fire on Moab,
and it shall devour the strongholds of Kerioth,
and Moab shall die amid uproar,
amid shouting and the sound of the trumpet;
3 I will cut off the ruler from its midst,
and will kill all its officials with him,
says the Lord.
4 Thus says the Lord:
For three transgressions of Judah,
and for four, I will not revoke the punishment;
because they have rejected the law of the Lord,
and have not kept his statutes,
but they have been led astray by the same lies
after which their ancestors walked.
5 So I will send a fire on Judah,
and it shall devour the strongholds of Jerusalem.
Judgment on Israel
6 Thus says the Lord:
For three transgressions of Israel,
and for four, I will not revoke the punishment;
because they sell the righteous for silver,
and the needy for a pair of sandals—
7 they who trample the head of the poor into the dust of the earth,
and push the afflicted out of the way;
father and son go in to the same girl,
so that my holy name is profaned;
8 they lay themselves down beside every altar
on garments taken in pledge;
and in the house of their God they drink
wine bought with fines they imposed.
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