Optional Memorial of Saint Cyril of Alexandria, bishop and doctor of the Church

 

Lectionary: 377

Beware, I will crush you into the ground as a wagon crushes when laden with sheaves.
Flight shall perish from the swift,
and the strong man shall not retain his strength;
The warrior shall not save his life,
nor the bowman stand his ground;
The swift of foot shall not escape,
nor the horseman save his life.
And the most stouthearted of warriors shall flee naked on that day, says the LORD.

The Word of God, which Christians believe is true, must always afflict the comfortable and comfort the afflicted. Saint John Henry Newman warned the Church, when you pick and choose the truths you want to hear, you're not listening to God. There is no reason the truth should conform to anyone's expectation or desire.  It opposes easy preferences, selective hearing, and undisciplined thinking. It will always stand apart from us, inviting and challenging.  

Occasionally, as I drove the rural roads of Louisiana, I saw trucks laden with sugar cane. The sheaves often fell on the road. Though valuable in bulk, no single stalk was worth the bother of stopping to collect it. They didn't even secure the pile before shipping it. The abandoned cane was crushed on the road; and the sugar returned to the soil. The prophet Amos used that metaphor to describe the indiscriminate killing of war. 

Or perhaps the slaughter of children in America. A swift and strong nation cannot defend its young against its own impulses. Many blame God for his failure to create a just world where children are safe and old people live out their years in security. But they do not repent. In my experience as a VA chaplain, the more they indulge in reckless consumption of alcohol, drugs, tobacco, sex, and violence the more they hypocritically complain against God's justice. They argue with Father Abraham that God's ways are not fair. 

Today we take up readings from Amos, the bleakest of Hebrew prophets. He was a farmer from Judah sent to the northern kingdom of Israel to warn them of their sins. Following Jeroboam, their self-appointed king, the nation had separated from Jerusalem, the Temple, and its Davidic king to follow its own version of God. The king had erected golden calves in his own shrines and these were supposed to represent the God who had delivered them from Egypt. Like millions of Americans, they had forgotten the story of Moses' destruction of the idols as he descended Mount Sinai. 

In Amos's day, people liked religion. They often regarded the prophets as talented entertainers and they loved nothing more than hearing them predict the destruction of their enemies. Amos catered to that predilection in his "Oracle against the Nations" as he named all the enemies of Israel: Elam, Philistia, Tyre, and so forth. But they didn't expect his last and fiercest harangue against themselves. 

In our time, many people prefer not to read the Hebrew Prophets. They say the "Old Testament God" is arbitrary, demanding, and cruel; they prefer their "New Testament Jesus" who only says nice things. Obviously they have heard neither testament, and completely ignored Jesus the Prophet. They do not heed Moses' plea to "choose life;" they know nothing of his warnings in the Book of Deuteronomy. 

We can only hope and pray that the truth owns and governs us; and that we stand ready to hear, be challenged, and made uncomfortable by the truth. We should expect our gorge to rise when we're forced to swallow the truth. Denial ain't just a river in Egypt! It is a daily fact of life until we beg God to speak to us.