Setting the Standard
a sermon based on Amos 7:1-17
by Rev. Randy Quinn
Today's
lesson includes three visions and a story. Earlier in the book of
Amos, there is an interesting phrase that says Amos "heard a vision"
(Amos 1:1).
This suggests that perhaps we ought to listen with our eyes and see
and with our ears to understand what these visions and stories are
about.
To help us do
that, I'd like to read and comment on each separately before making
some concluding remarks. With that in mind, let's read the first
vision first:
read Amos
7:1-3
Did you notice
what happened here? Amos saw a vision. He saw locusts eating all the
grass in the land. As a shepherd, Amos knew that this means nothing
for the sheep to eat which means the sheep will die which leads to the
collapse of the entire agrarian civilization.
This is a scene
that would bring fear into his heart. It would be like us witnessing
the destruction of Hiroshima in our backyard.
And without a
word from God, Amos knows its meaning. He knows that this is the hand
of God bringing destruction to the land and the people of Israel.
But did you
notice how Amos responds? He doesn't give up. he doesn't prepare for
the coming destruction. He doesn't tell people run to a far away
city, no does he plead with the people to change their ways to appease
God. Neither does he shrug his shoulders and accept the destruction
as a matter of fate.
No. Amos stands
in the way of the locusts and pleads with God to change. He cries out
for mercy on behalf of the people who live in Israel
And he
succeeds. God relents and promises to not send the locusts.
Amos shows us in
his response the power of prayer to change God. For those who would
like to see God as eternally the same, this vision reveals a God who
is affected by what we do, what we say, and how we pray.
Yet we are often
more comfortable denying God the possibility to change. We -- and I
include myself here -- are more likely to pray for the strength to
endure a crisis than we are to pray for the crisis to be resolved or
removed.
The second
vision has a familiar ring to it:
read Amos
7:4-6
This time Amos
sees fire devouring the land and again Amos intercedes and again God
relents, or as some translations say it, God repents of the action.
Anyone who has
seen the powerful force of a fire knows that the adrenaline must have
been coursing through Amos' body when he saw this vision.
On the day
Melissa was born, I was fighting fires in the wheat fields west of
Saint John. It's known as the "Firestorm" in that area because of the
severe winds that accompanied the fire. Thousands of acres were
consumed by fire that day. The dust and the smoke were so dark we
couldn't see the fire. I was often spraying water towards the heat
that I could feel rather than the flames that I could see.
A fire like that
terrifies people today -- imagine what it would do in a time when it
was much more difficult to fight it?
Amos knew that
if God brought fire there would be no hope, there would be no future.
And so he pleads for mercy.
I don't know
what Amos did with these visions. I don't know if he told his
neighbors. I don't know if he started shouting in the streets. I
don't know if he was outside the temple warning people about what God
was intending to do. I don't know if he went to the King and
explained how he had personally changed the course of history by
praying. I don't know if he tried to warn anyone or if he tried to
become a recognized hero.
I don't know what he
did, but I can't imagine him going back to the sheep after seeing the vision.
This was too powerful of an image. He had to tell it to someone somewhere.
When we listen with our
eyes and see with our ears, I think we begin to understand the importance of
these visions. We begin to see how God can be changed if we will become more
active in our prayer life and we begin to hear how we need to change so that
God will find pleasure in us.
The third vision is
different. Amos doesn't know what it means until God explains it, and then
Amos is silent:
Read Amos 7:7-9
I can't honestly say
that I've ever used a plumb line. I have, however, used a level. (Show the
level to people.) And when I use it, I am almost always confused about which
way needs to go up and which way needs to go down unless I move the level.
But I do know by looking at the bubble when things aren't right.
Amos sees God standing
next to a wall with a level. We don't know if the wall is straight or if it
leans or if it has a bulge in it. All we know is that God has a plumb line
and warns Amos that the plumb line will go throughout Israel to see how the
people measure up.
And Amos is silent.
Is he silent because he
knows God is right? Is he silent because he remembers a story -- perhaps the
story that follows this vision in his book? Is he silent because he is
willing to stand the test and is confident that Israel will pass it as well?
One day, during my first
year here, I spent at least four hours in the sanctuary. I carefully laid a
piece of masking tape in the center of the room. I measured from each wall
and made the line straight. Then I measured away from the center line to make
sure that all of the pews were equal distance from that line and from each
other. I made sure they were all at the same angle.
It took a long time, but
I wanted it to be neat and orderly, so I did it. Then last summer I moved
them into a circle and last fall several people helped me move them back. We
carefully measured them so they were all in the right place.
But if you measured them
today, you'd find that within a year they have moved. They are no longer
centered, they are no longer the same distance from each other, and they are
no longer at the same angle.
Maybe Amos knew that we
were all created in the image of God. We were all made straight and would
measure up to the plumb line, but with time we have all begun to sag and bend
and lean. We are no longer what we were created to be and we all need to
change. We are all in the need of God's grace, the grace that caused God to
repent before.
I think the story that
follows these three visions helps explain their impact for us:
Read Amos 7:10-17
Amos looks at the
priest, in theory the best of all there is in Israel, and he begins to see
just how out of plumb things are. The priest is more concerned about proper
clothing and ceremony than he is about the truth. The priest is more
concerned about impressing the King than he is with pleasing God. The priest
doesn't want to hear what God has to say, he is only concerned about
maintaining the comfortable setting he enjoys.
And Amos is convinced
that the locusts and the fire are an appropriate response on the part of God.
Amos no longer pleads with God for mercy but insists on God's vengeance.
I wasn't here during the
floods of 1990, but I've heard about them. I've listened to the stories with
my eyes and seen the floods with my ears. I know that the water showed where
the high ground is. It was a revelation of truth that could not be refuted.
When God comes into our
midst, God brings a plumb line or a level that just as vividly reveals who we
are. It shows where we have fallen short.
In the first two
visions, God repents. Now it's our turn to repent.
You see, God desires to
be in relationship with us. And like any relationship, this requires that
both parties give and take. God is affected by us, and we are affected by
God. What we do brings pleasure to God or causes God to become sad, or angry,
or dismayed.
Today we have a baptism to
celebrate. It's a time to affirm God's relationship with each of us and with
all of us. It's a time to celebrate God's love for us, a love that is given to
us in anticipation of an ongoing relationship between us and God.
That relationship requires
us to pray, to be in communication with God. And that relationship necessitates
change on our part and on the part of God as we are affected by each other.
Seeing the plumb line (or
in this case a level) makes us aware of our need to change, our need to repent.
But it also reminds me of God's grace which forgives and accepts us, even when
we don't deserve it.
Thanks be to God.
Amen.
Literally, "The words . . . which he saw"
