Proper 10, Year C 2019

Grace Episcopal Church, Galveston
1st Lesson: Amos 7:7-17
Gospel: Luke 10:25-37
14 July 2019

The Hebrew Bible is full of powerful images… a burning bush, a man in the belly of a fish, a ladder to heaven...just to name a few. In our first reading, God gives Amos one of the most simple yet poignant images of scripture: a plumb line like that used by builders as a vertical reference, but here, used by God to reveal the moral distortion caused by injustice and unchecked greed. Builders know that measurements along the course of a project are essential to success. Sometimes, an error is found and some work must be torn out. It is costly to tear out and do over, but this may be the only way to make the project right.

Per the reading, God measures the northern Kingdom of Israel with a plumb line and finds the nation to be out of alignment. Today’s reading does not identify exactly how Israel had missed the mark, but a full reading of Amos makes this very clear. Elsewhere, Amos bitterly describes the way that those with wealth trample the poor in the dust, taking their land and inhibiting their access to legal recourse. The wealthy build houses of stone with ivory furniture by systematically cheating those with few resources...and even parading their ill-begotten luxuries before God in their places of worship. In the 5th Chapter of Amos, we read God’s strong language of condemnation: “I hate, I despise your festivals, and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies,” ...but (instead) “let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.” Amos proclaims that God has had enough, the divine patience has been exhausted, so to speak, and God is rising up against the Kingdom with the sword. Israel and its King Jeroboam are finished!

Amos’ message does not sit well with Amaziah, the priest of Bethel. Amos called for change while Amaziah espoused the status quo. Amaziah informs Amos that Bethel is the King’s sanctuary and directs the prophet to go back to his home in the south. Go back to your home and preach to the folks in the temple at Jerusalem...you are from Judah, so go pester them with your repulsive message and let them pay your salary. Amos responds to Amaziah by pointing out his independence. He is not a religious professional but, rather, a herder and farmer.

The story of Amos and his confrontation with the Priest of Bethel has something to say in every generation. The message of this story for us, in our own day, is surely how our own households, our own communities, our own nation are measured by God’s plumb line. There is also a warning for us in the way that the priest of Bethel had become a mere agent of a sitting king. The Christian life includes an awareness that the actions of governments are not necessarily aligned with the will of God. Christians should be prepared that faith will sometimes require standing apart from government and perhaps apart from the economic “soup” in which we live in order to make an effective call for change. We should especially be wary whenever religion and secular government appear too close and mutually compromised!

Fortunately for Americans, standing up for a more just society, is also a way of being patriotic at the same time. The Founding Fathers envisioned the separation of Church and State in order to preserve religious freedom for all. As I understand it, our democracy works best when there are organizations, such as the Church, that can speak with a voice independent of our government.  One recent example is a joint communique from the bishops of 6 Episcopal Dioceses in Texas.  It is a call to action for more humane conditions at the border.

We ignore at our own peril the ways of injustice and unchecked greed in our land. Should we ignore the separation of children from their parents at the border? Should we ignore the price-gouging of insulin and other medications? Should we ignore the abuse of our planet without regard for our children and grandchildren? Should we ignore when a wealthy and well-connected person gets preferential treatment from the courts? In every generation, the Church has a choice...will we be more like Amaziah, an agent of the State and the status quo? Or, will we be more like Amos, a speaker of Truth even when the Truth is inconvenient, unsettling, and unwelcome?

Our Gospel reading is the familiar Parable of the Good Samaritan. The context is the question, “Who is my neighbor?” The one who poses the question is a devout Jew who is doing his best to do the right thing. He wants to do what God requires...he seeks to love his neighbor as himself. “Just tell me who my neighbor is,” he asks. Jesus does not answer the question but instead tells a story about a person who acted like a neighbor.

Jesus guides this man (and us) away from the idea that some people are neighbor while others are not. For Jesus neighbor is not defined by who the person is, where he is from, or how well-connected she is. It is whomever we encounter who is in need...even if that person is different from us. Perhaps, Jesus is recommending we focus more on being neighborly than on defining our neighbor.

Here’s an analogy that has been on my mind lately: I’m thinking about when I was first learning to drive on city streets in Baton Rouge. I was in a “driver’s ed” class sponsored by my school and remember feeling uneasy the first time I got behind the wheel. The hardest part was keeping the car centered in the lane. My first strategy was to find some mark on the hood, an ornament or a crease line, and then figure out where that feature needed to appear in relation to the curb. (Sort of like spot bowling.) This required constant monitoring, but I found that I could keep the wheels off the curb this way...most of the time, at least. I soon outgrew this strategy, and orienting the car became “second nature” with no need to think about it.

I’m suggesting that the need to define neighbor is like needing to monitor a reference point on the hood to keep your car on the road. This is like having to justify yourself by monitoring your performance according to God’s law. It is cumbersome and prone to error. But, in Christ, we have been set free from the law by the transformative power of God’s love. I don’t know how it happened, but at some point, my body learned to keep the car on the road without having to constantly think about it. In the same way, let us aspire to be neighborly as a kind of “second nature.”

Jesus tells the religious lawyer to go and be a neighbor like the Samaritan in the story. Whether it’s loving neighbor or driving a car, practicing a skill helps to change us. I imagine most of us in life are somewhere in between needing a reference point and loving freely those whom God sends our way. Truth be told, the plumb line held up to my own life shows me out of alignment...and chances are it does for you too. That’s what it means to be a redeemed sinner.

The great Season after Pentecost is all about the Christian life. Today we are reminded that we are out of alignment with God’s Law, but more importantly that Jesus encourages us to drive on anyway. There is grace in our trying, and the promise that God’s love will change us. We do not need to obsess on how we miss the mark of any external measure. God promises that Love dwells with us and that this Love changes us from the inside out. AMEN.