In today’s reading God is again imploring Israel to repent and seek life in Him rather than continue down the path that leads to judgement. But now the themes of injustice, corruption and exploitation of the poor become more pronounced in God’s condemnation. Sometimes the message of the prophets as they are confronting Israel or Judah for their sin focuses on idolatry - that explicit unfaithfulness to God expressed in overt worship of other gods as the source of security and life. But just as often their sin is described in terms of what has gone wrong socially, economically and politically. “You levy a straw tax on the poor” (Amos 5:11) and “deprive the poor of justice in the courts” (v12). In verse 15, the simple and stark call to “Hate evil, love good”, which is as clear a description of repentance as any!, is paralleled with “maintain justice in the courts.” Then “perhaps the LORD God Almighty will have mercy on the remnant of Joseph.” The simple and plain truth is that God cares about how we treat the vulnerable. God is enraged by the wealthy using their wealth to buy security at the expense of justice. He hates seeing people in power tread on the poor and vulnerable, or even just treat them with apathy, as they continue their own agenda. 

I think these words are very relevant to us in this time of upheaval. As I watched on the news the massive lines of people queueing up at Centrelink because they had just lost their jobs or their business is all but ruined, I was struck by just how much money is going to be a big issue for all of us. Some of us won’t feel it straight away, but we will all be affected. And I think Amos 5 teaches us that at very least, those of us who belong to God’s church will be affected because there will be people all around us who are suddenly struggling and vulnerable financially. And God cares how we think about the vulnerable, how we act towards them. We certainly don’t want to close our eyes or our minds to the fact that some will be in desperate need. And we certainly don’t want to exploit people in their vulnerability for our own gain. That would not go down well at all with God. 

God’s criticism of the morality and spirituality of Israel in Amos 4:1-5 is very relevant to modern Australia. Many of us live according to our own standards, where the overriding concern is to accumulate wealth, possessions and experiences for ourselves, with very little regard for how it impacts others. On top of this general approach to life and morality, we think we’re doing well spiritually if we do anything that seems to acknowledge God or a ‘bigger’ spiritual reality. If you do some spiritual practice that helps you ‘be mindful’, or you give to a charity or help with a local community program - good for you! Whether you worship Jesus is not the important thing, but whether you keep certain key social rules. But as the explore reading guide for today points out, ‘the people of Israel are giving themselves a pat on the back for religious activity which is itself breaking God’s law… they have decided for themselves how to worship God in his land…’. So many of our friends and family have decided for themselves, not only how they will live, but how they will worship God. And God is not impressed by this. We don’t want to fall into the same thinking, and we need to recognise it if we have.

 

In verses 6-11 God describes how he has sent various difficulties over and over again upon the people of Israel to grab their attention and to call them to repentance. They should have recognised the various forms of disaster and trouble as punishments and warnings for unfaithfulness to the covenant (Deut. 28:22). And yet they did not return to the Lord. And so now, God warns: "prepare to meet your God!” The LORD God is their Creator and Sovereign Lord. They have trivialised him (sound familiar?), and one day soon they will realise that was a big mistake. The beauty for us is that when God did finally turn up - really turn up, in the flesh and all - he came to offer mercy and yet another chance to ‘return to him’. As we’ve seen in Mark’s gospel on Sundays over the past month or so, Jesus’ comes first and foremost to prepare us for God’s kingdom so that we might repent - we might turn back to God - and belong to it and enjoy it rather than suffer the judgement of the King. But Jesus will return. Just as he came to help us return to God he will come to bring salvation to those who have, and judgement to those who haven’t. Now is the time to listen and respond. And now is the time to help people prepare to meet their God.

 

Anyone else read Amos 4 this morning? What stood out to you?

Getting through the morning routine for another day - cajoling the kids through their list of ‘getting ready for school’, placating a cranky toddler, trying to organise ourselves – the thought pops into my mind, “It is so easy to get caught up in the everyday ‘stuff’ of living that we forget there is a bigger reality - Jesus is coming back.” Luke 17:20-37 doesn’t hold back. It’s like Jesus is grabbing us by the shoulders and giving us a little shake before looking us in the eyes and asking… ‘Are you ready? Or are you wandering down the path of distraction?’ And having pondered this passage at length last week, written on it, then preached about these urgent realities… it’s still easy to move on and simply ‘get on with life’.

 

I know that being ready and waiting for Jesus to return and usher in God’s Kingdom doesn’t mean NOT getting the kids ready for preschool. It doesn’t mean not engaging my heart and mind in work, family, home and social activities. This is the life that God has created us for. But of course, he’s created us to engage in it conscious of him - his authority, his wisdom, his grace. And as Jesus labours in this passage, conscious that this form of life - this world - is transitory and fading before a coming eternity. And that’s really the challenge isn’t it - not to withdraw, which is the mistake of the ascetics and monks, but neither to live as if this is all there is. 

 

I personally find it hard to tread the middle road faithfully. Enjoying this world and this life as the good world God has made and given to us, and yet recognising that it is under judgment - judgement that could come at any moment. I guess the key is that next passage, the parable of the persistent widow. We tread this faithful middle path by lifting our eyes and hearts to God day after day, in the midst of all the striving, the pain, the pleasures and joys of this life, and praying, “Come Lord Jesus, and bring your Kingdom.” I know I could be praying this much more than I currently am, and I’m guessing you could too...

 

My intentions came unstuck in week 4. No reflection on the sermon last week. I blame having to oversee the air-conditioning installation… and myself. However, I think I will reflect on both the last two Sunday’s passages today, because I don’t want to overlook ‘Lazarus the poor man’.

 

Whilst I didn’t get around to writing anything last week, I did reflect. And I couldn’t help but be struck by the fact that Jesus just keeps talking about wealth! You can’t read through the travel narrative of Luke’s gospel (Chapters 9-19) and not be challenged about your attitudes and practices regarding money. Nothing is said in the parable of the rich man and Lazarus about the faith or godliness of either man, except for one thing - the rich man lived in luxury every day. This was his crime, and for it he is spending eternity in agony, cut off from God’s blessing. Jesus seems almost to be saying, “If you’re rich in this life, you’ll suffering in the next; and if you’re poor in this life, you’ll be blessed in the next.”

Now of course, there’s more to it than that. The rich man and his brothers are finally presented as having ignored the word of God through Moses and the Prophets. Their life of luxury is not incidental to their morality - it is an outworking of disbelief in God’s word and proud exaltation of themselves. In the context of Luke’s gospel, the rich man is presented as one of those out of step with the values of God’s kingdom. He has clearly been ignoring the plight of poor Lazarus, begging at his gate.

But although the core issues are pride, lack of faith in God’s word and lack of love, the expression of sin - the sin that sees him condemned to ‘Hades’ – is living in luxury every day whilst others around him go hungry. This should make every one of us sit up and pay attention! The rich man is me! Surely at least to some extent. Or perhaps it’s more accurate to say I am, and you are, one of the five brothers. Those still alive, in danger of living in luxury while we cut our hearts off from the plight of others around us. Those in danger of failing to heed the word of God, and live by faith in his coming kingdom. Those in danger of investing in and exploiting this life as if it was all there is.

 

This is not ‘justification by works’, as if giving to the poor is a righteous act that can earn our place in heaven. It’s about faith in God’s word. Jesus himself makes that very clear - the rich man and the brothers have failed to listen to Moses and the prophets. Again and again, Jesus makes it clear that genuine faith in him - genuine discipleship of him - will involve a different set of attitudes and practices regarding wealth than the ‘normal’ attitude of those around us. Turning away from ‘living in luxury every day’ is part of biblical repentance. Turning our eyes and hearts towards those in need is part of biblical faith. It’s a life of repentance and faith that we are seeking to spur each other on in, not necessarily something we are all living out perfectly. But it’s a calling we must surely take seriously.

 

And equally serious is the call to forgiveness. Just as genuine repentance and faith directly affects our wallet (or purse!), so it affects our relationships. There’s no room in faithful discipleship of Jesus for holding grudges - for withholding forgiveness - when those who have wronged us come in repentance, seeking our forgiveness. As Philip pointed out on Sunday, to deny someone our forgiveness is to imply that they are not worthy of God’s forgiveness. Of course, it doesn’t mean pretending there is no offense, or even that the relationship can return to ‘the way things were’. It means simply what Jesus says: ‘if they repent, forgive them.’ 

 

And if proactively stepping out of our cultures attitudes towards luxury or forgiving a brother or sister for the 77th time seems too difficult, it is good to know that God is ready and waiting to act according to his purposes with even a tiny seed of faith. As Philip explained, the promise of Luke 17:6 is not so much about flying mulberry trees as it is about an encouragement to embrace Jesus’ challenging teaching with the tiny seed of faith we have, rather than sigh in despair at our inability to change. I’ll pray for myself and for anyone who might read this that rather than letting Jesus' words bounce off us, we can listen carefully to the challenging teaching of Jesus, and respond in faith - that is, in faithful, grateful service in his strength.