Amos 5:1-17
Woe to you who turn justice to vinegar and stomp righteousness into the mud
You run roughshod over the poor and take the bread right out of their mouths
You bully right-living people
You take bribes right and left
You kick the poor when they're down
You claim God as your best friend, yet travel to Bethel and Gilgal to worship gods that don't do anything for you
This is the context in which we find the author's message to Israel.
Courts designed for justice have been turned into bribe halls. Who's being affected by all of this? The poor.
Judges and government officials are getting bribed to let oppressors off the hook, and using the bribe money to build mansions and luxurious vineyards.
The whole system is corrupt, and this is what the author opens the passage up with: Virgin Israel has fallen flat on her face. She'll never stand up again. She's been left where she's fallen. No one offers to help her up.
In other words, Israel's been raped and left for dead by its crooked leaders.
Underneath it all is this propensity to keep sacrificing to the gods, to keep going down the vicious cycle of trying to appease and ignore the guilt and go to any length to make the gods happy.
And so, what does the author give the audience as a solution? Seek God and live.
Because, there's this other God who doesn't demand more sacrifice, and more money, and more crops, and more offerings, and more altars, and more shrines.
The Israelites can't see the cycle they're in, to the point that they're like a virgin who's been raped and left for dead with no one to help her up.
Isn't this how it is when we can't focus on anything but trying to earn right standing with the gods?
The more we seek to get God to like us, the more we live for ourselves. What starts as an act of worship becomes an addiction to self. Since we're so afraid of whatever we think might happen to us because of how our lives are turning out, our goals in life become doing whatever we can to fix ourselves and to figure out how to receive the blessings we need from the gods who control the sun, the water, the harvest, the economy, the justice system, fertility, and war.
It becomes so much about us and our standing with the gods that the once-spiritual-journey turns into a competition for blessing. Our resources that one were shared with the poor are now used to appease the gods.
But, once again, the author has a message to share about a different God - one that says, "Seek me and live."
Have you ever lost your keys?
When you went looking for them, did you have your hands full or did you have to put down your cup of coffee and your bags?
It's nearly impossible to search all those nooks and crannies with hands full of stuff.
Essentially, the author is telling the audience about a God who doesn't want people to come to him with their hands full. Take a load off. I don't need your sacrifices. I don't need your stuff. I want you.
As long as God is something to be appeased, we'll always have our hands full, going to any length to make sure we have right standing. In the process, our lives become tunnel visioned and every moment of life is burdened with the question, "What do I have to do today to make God happy?"
Justice becomes injustice. Worship becomes guilt. Compassion becomes corruption, and the cycle never ends until our hands are empty and it's just us, alone, authentic, and seeking the God who wants to see us thrive in freedom, compassion, and justice.
You run roughshod over the poor and take the bread right out of their mouths
You bully right-living people
You take bribes right and left
You kick the poor when they're down
You claim God as your best friend, yet travel to Bethel and Gilgal to worship gods that don't do anything for you
This is the context in which we find the author's message to Israel.
Courts designed for justice have been turned into bribe halls. Who's being affected by all of this? The poor.
Judges and government officials are getting bribed to let oppressors off the hook, and using the bribe money to build mansions and luxurious vineyards.
The whole system is corrupt, and this is what the author opens the passage up with: Virgin Israel has fallen flat on her face. She'll never stand up again. She's been left where she's fallen. No one offers to help her up.
In other words, Israel's been raped and left for dead by its crooked leaders.
Underneath it all is this propensity to keep sacrificing to the gods, to keep going down the vicious cycle of trying to appease and ignore the guilt and go to any length to make the gods happy.
And so, what does the author give the audience as a solution? Seek God and live.
Because, there's this other God who doesn't demand more sacrifice, and more money, and more crops, and more offerings, and more altars, and more shrines.
The Israelites can't see the cycle they're in, to the point that they're like a virgin who's been raped and left for dead with no one to help her up.
Isn't this how it is when we can't focus on anything but trying to earn right standing with the gods?
The more we seek to get God to like us, the more we live for ourselves. What starts as an act of worship becomes an addiction to self. Since we're so afraid of whatever we think might happen to us because of how our lives are turning out, our goals in life become doing whatever we can to fix ourselves and to figure out how to receive the blessings we need from the gods who control the sun, the water, the harvest, the economy, the justice system, fertility, and war.
It becomes so much about us and our standing with the gods that the once-spiritual-journey turns into a competition for blessing. Our resources that one were shared with the poor are now used to appease the gods.
But, once again, the author has a message to share about a different God - one that says, "Seek me and live."
Have you ever lost your keys?
When you went looking for them, did you have your hands full or did you have to put down your cup of coffee and your bags?
It's nearly impossible to search all those nooks and crannies with hands full of stuff.
Essentially, the author is telling the audience about a God who doesn't want people to come to him with their hands full. Take a load off. I don't need your sacrifices. I don't need your stuff. I want you.
As long as God is something to be appeased, we'll always have our hands full, going to any length to make sure we have right standing. In the process, our lives become tunnel visioned and every moment of life is burdened with the question, "What do I have to do today to make God happy?"
Justice becomes injustice. Worship becomes guilt. Compassion becomes corruption, and the cycle never ends until our hands are empty and it's just us, alone, authentic, and seeking the God who wants to see us thrive in freedom, compassion, and justice.
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