Let Justice Roll

I am no prophet nor a prophet’s son, but I am a herdsman and a dresser of sycamore trees, and the LORD took me from following the flock, and the LORD said to me, ‘Go, prophesy to my people Israel.” (Amos 7:14-15)

These are the words of my favourite prophet in the Hebrew Bible – Amos.

I’ve heard scholars say that if you love Amos, you obviously haven’t read his book properly as Amos was a crotchety old prophet who didn’t have a good word to say about anybody. I’ve read Amos so many times that I know a lot of it off by heart, and it’s true that Amos is angry most of the time, but Amos gets angry at the same things that make me angry. He gets angry about poverty and injustice and, most of all, about hypocrisy in high places.

Amos is only nine chapters long which means you can easily read it in one sitting. It’s worth doing. The man you meet there is a true prophet. He saw through the opulence and power that Israel was enjoying at the time and saw a system built on corruption and the oppression of the poor.

“They trample the heads of the destitute
into the dust of the earth,
and force the lowly out of the way.” (Amos 2:7)

Amos wasn’t fooled by smug religiosity either. He saw people who couldn’t wait for their worship services to be over so that they could get back to business.

Saying, “When will the new moon be over, that we may sell grain? And the Sabbath, that we may offer wheat for sale, that we may make the ephah small and the shekel great and deal deceitfully with false balances?” (Amos 8:5)

The verses assigned today are part of Amos’ confrontation with the high priest of Bethel, Amaziah – the most powerful religious figure in the land. Amaziah seems to be entirely compromised. He’s reported Amos to the king on charges of treason and has told Amos to get back home to the land of Judah while he still can.

“Earn your bread there”, he says (Amos 7:12), suggesting that Amos is somehow in it for the money. Amos lets him know that he doesn’t get paid for his work because he’s not officially a part of the system. He’s a farmer, and he’s only in Israel because God sent him there. Amos then tells the High Priest what’s going to happen to him and to his wife and to his children on account of his corruption, but I’ll let you read that for yourself.

I was introduced to the book of Amos by the late, great Evangelical American scholar, Ron Sider – best known for his book, “Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger”. It was Ron who, back in the early 1980’s, gave me a new appreciation of the Bible.

When I first met Ron, I was having a crisis of faith. As someone young in the faith, I was trying to read my Bible faithfully. At the same time though, I felt convicted that, as a Christian, I was supposed to be helping people less fortunate than myself and should be actively involved in trying to end poverty and global violence. My problem was that most of my Bible-believing peers weren’t remotely interested in helping the poor or in ending wars unless it was somehow related to recruiting more people into the Christian fold. I had been feeling that I had to make a choice between being either a Biblical Christian or a compassionate Christian. Ron showed me that you could be both. Indeed, he showed me that being true to the Hebrew and Christian Scriptures necessitates become a troublemaker.

As I look at the Evangelical Christian world today, not a lot has changed. Yes, there are wonderful Evangelical Christian ministries that serve the poor and preach peace, but there are also the Christian Zionists, who claim to be Bible-believing Christians, and it’s the Evangelical Christian lobby in the US that is currently pushing President Trump to finish the job in warring against the Muslim world so as to accelerate the return of Christ to earth! I think Ron Sider would say that those people need to spend less time reading the obscure prophesies of Revelation and more time on the crystal-clear words of the prophet Amos.

Woe to you who long
for the day of the Lord!
Why do you long for the day of the Lord?
That day will be darkness, not light. (Amos 4:18)

Thank you, brother Ron, for showing me that there is more in the New Testament about helping the poor than there is about the resurrection, and thank you for introducing me to the Book of Amos. The prophet’s anger against corrupt and complicit religiosity continues to fuel me:

“I hate, I despise your religious festivals;
your assemblies are a stench to me…
Away with the noise of your songs!
I will not listen to the music of your harps.
But let justice roll on like a river,
righteousness like a never-failing stream! (Amos 5:21,23-24)

Our Sunday Eucharist

It was great to have our brothers, David Baldwin and Tom Toby, teamed up together last Sunday on our Sunday Eucharist panel. Thank you, lads, and thank you to everyone who joined in the discussion.

Tom and I had been at a meeting of the Australian-Iranian Friendship Association the night before, and I’m afraid we dominated much of the conversation with reflections on that meeting. Even so, it was a great time of worship and learning, and I commend the shorts I’ve pasted below to you, Find more on the Sunday Eucharist Instagram page, or watch the entire broadcast on our YouTube channel.

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What’s On?

Sunday, July 13th – Our Eucharist from noon @thesundayeucharist.com, Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, Faithia or Streamyard)
Tuesday, July 15th – Boxing at the Mundine Gym in Redfern from 7 pm
Wednesday, July 16th – Mid-week Bible study @Faithia from noon
Thursday, July 17th – Boxing at the Mundine Gym in Redfern from 7 pm
Saturday, July 19th – Boxing at Legends Gym in Kensington from 3 pm

I’m going to wind up quickly today as I’m deep in the bush @Binacrombi and it’s gone 2 am. It’s been a busy week, and has included meetings with both my Iranian friends and with the Syrian community in Sydney.

The first of those meetings generated a group of us who are now planning a boxing fundraiser. Our idea is to pit the old Christian priest against a high-profile Muslim brother and to conclude with a joint appeal for Gaza. I pray we can make it work. 🙏

Keep praying for me as I do for you ❤️

Your brother in the Good Fight,