Reflection for 11 July 2010

Year C Proper 10 11 July 2010
Amos 7: 7-17 Psalm 82 Colossians 1: 1-14 Luke 10: 25-37
In an ancient time God spoke through His prophet, Amos, and told him that He would no longer spare the Israelites. God was setting a plumbline among them – the implication was that the nation was to be measured and understood that it would be found to be impure. I wonder how it would be if God was to speak today and set a plumbline in our nation.

The Israelite King was not happy about Amos’ message and told him to go back to the land of Judah. This occurred in a time when the nation of God’s people was in two parts; the Israelites, whose capital was Samaria and the land of Judah whose capital was Jerusalem. We are told the message of Amos to the people of Israel in Amos 7:11 “For this is what Amos is saying: “‘Jeroboam will die by the sword, and Israel will surely go into exile, away from their native land.' " This did take place and the land was resettled by people who were of both Israelite and other pagan ancestry. These people were plagued by wild beasts and they took it as a sign that they needed to learn about the God of that land. And so it followed that the Samaritans were a people who had the law of God and followed it, yet also followed their pagan gods.

In the time of Amos there were other prophets and lots of them false. Why would anyone be a false prophet? It could be quite lucrative and easy bread to earn – providing of course that you tell the people what they want to hear. We still have these people today, they are the psychics and clairvoyants, and they still get paid for the stories they weave. Among them also may be a few claiming to be Christian ministers.... They say what the people want to hear and are rewarded!

Knowing this kind of “professional” prophet, the annoyed king speaks to Amos in Amos 7: 12 “Then Amaziah said to Amos, "Get out, you seer! Go back to the land of Judah. Earn your bread there and do your prophesying there. 13 Don't prophesy anymore at Bethel, because this is the king's sanctuary and the temple of the kingdom."

Amos makes it clear that he is different from the “professional” prophets and describes his profession as a shepherd and the tender of sycamore-fig trees. The prophet is a prophet due to the call of God. Amos is not joining the “clergy” as a rational choice or because it is part of the “family business”, but simply because God called him.

Like Amos, the Church in this nation may sometimes need to speak out and say things that will not be popular. The Church is the plumbline in this nation – or at least one of the jobs of the Church is to explain that plumbline to the nation. According to this plumbline we don’t kill unborn babies and we don’t euthanize the weak. We find some explanations of this plumbline in the other readings for this week. From the Psalm we discover; Psalm 82:3 “Defend the cause of the weak and fatherless; maintain the rights of the poor and oppressed. 4 Rescue the weak and needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked.”

Just in case that wasn’t clear, we find someone asking Jesus to really spell it out for them in our Gospel reading. An expert in the Law asks Jesus what he must to do inherit eternal life. What would you say if someone asked you this question? Usually the people who ask these kinds of questions already have their own idea about how to inherit eternal life and are only asking so that they can state their own view, so it is interesting to note how Jesus answers the man. Rather than give a straight answer Jesus answers with a question back to the man, Luke 10: 26 "What is written in the Law?" he replied. "How do you read it?"
27He answered: " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind'; and, 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' "

It is a great answer and Jesus acknowledges it. It is the correct answer according to the law. But now I wonder whether this is the answer we would have given. I probably would have said “believe in Jesus Christ and accept him as Lord and Saviour”. It is another correct answer, but I don’t think it is going to be effective in our modern world where most don’t see any need for a saviour. To answer with the Law of God, as this man did is probably where we need to be starting in bringing people to Christ – unless people understand what the Law is and how they have broken it they can never see any need for a saviour.

If you were to ask non church going/ fence sitting people randomly whether they thought they were going to heaven, most would answer “probably”, and their reason would be that they are a good person. They usually don’t believe that they have broken any of God’s commandments, yet when you ask them, “what is the first and greatest commandment?”, they have no idea.

Our expert in the Law communicating with Jesus is different from our modern day nominal Christian. This is a person who strives to keep all the commandments and knows them well.... so much so that he can summarise the law into those two. But as I’ve pointed out in other reflections, to know the letter of the law is often a long way from understanding the heart of the law, and our law expert was about to show his ignorance by his next question: “Who is my neighbour?”

Jesus goes on to tell that famous parable of the Good Samaritan. At a first hearing of the story we may think that Jesus is showing the priest and Levite to be heartless, but in truth these two did nothing wrong according to the Law. You see, the Law states that the Priest and Levites were not to become unclean by coming in contact with a dead body... or in the case of the story, a possible dead or dying person, if they did, they would not be able to perform their duties until they had been purified.

I can think of many people in the Church (capital C meaning the whole church of God), who would not have done anything different from the Priest and Levite... and would even preach about the good Samaritan, not realizing that there was a message for them in the text. I hesitate to list some, not wanting to offend, but to give an example.... A number of years ago, I went to see a church official about a matter of injustice. My issue, one that left me emotionally beaten and bashed on the side of the road, was completely overlooked and not addressed at all. Instead the church official was trying to work out whether or not I’d be able to marry Joe in the Catholic Church. It was not the issue that I needed addressed – left me emotionally on the side of the road untended - and was a ridicules adherent to the letter of the Law instead of understanding the heart of God. If I was ever concerned about being married to Joe in the Catholic Church, I certainly wasn’t after that! I couldn’t care less... I only care what God thinks of the matter, but sadly some people can’t see the forest for the trees.

According to the research that I’ve done, it is possible that the Samaritan’s were strict adherents to the Law of God also. So it is possible that between the Samaritan’s own “legal” issues and the fact that there was animosity between the two nations, the Samaritan may have had more reason that the others to leave the man on the side of the road to die.

I will go back once again to the Holy Spirit. It is with the Holy Spirit that we can discern the heart of the Law. As the Church we need to be able to state that there is a Law of God and it is sacred, but we need to know where those areas of black and white are and we need to know how God’s Grace fits in and what God’s heart is.... we can’t do this in our own strength, we need to have the Spirit of God operating within us.
From St. Paul’s letter to the Colossians 1:9 “For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding.”

Our nation has a new Prime Minister. It’s possible, with different values and beliefs from that upon which our country has been shaped; she may attempt to pass laws that are contrary to the Law of God and contrary to the heart of the Law of God. We, the Church, are to be the plumbline. Now, more than ever, we need to be filled with the knowledge of the will of God – we need to kindle that gift within us of the Holy Spirit. In all things we need to be loving God with all our heart, mind and strength, and loving our neighbour. Sometimes that will mean standing up and saying something that will make us unpopular.... Sometimes it may mean we will offend in order to set someone free. Love is not always gentle, sometimes it needs to be tough. Really the two greatest commandments - this is the plumbline. It’s time to explain it, live it and proclaim it.