Politics, Religion, and Amos
Amos 7:7-15

Today, Barry and I are celebrating our 23rd wedding anniversary. People have been asking us how we are going to celebrate. One couple we know whose anniversary is also this weekend is flying to Las Vegas. They're going to pretend they're not yet married and get married again, only this time by an Elvis impersonator. I guess we'll save that for our 25th. We decided, instead, to practice what it's going to be like when we celebrate our 63rd anniversary. Barry threw his back out lifting a lawn mower, and I sprained my ankle and have been on crutches. So we're navigating through our daily routines like invalids, wondering if there is a nursing home that would take us -- even for just a week.

Actually, a great irony is that our texts for today flirt with the relationship between religion and politics. And that really couldn't be a more appropriate theme to address on our wedding anniversary. Barry is a political scientist by training -- a Ph.D. from the University of Chicago, a professor in the Gerald Ford School of Public Policy at the University of Michigan. And me -- well you know my training and how I spend most of my time. So our marriage has involved an awful lot of talk about the two things no one is supposed to talk about in polite company -- religion and politics.

Our text from Amos does more than flirt with the relationship between religion and politics. It cuts to the heart of it. Israel was enjoying a long awaited time of peace and prosperity. There was no military threat, Israel controlled crucial trade routes so merchants piled up big profits. Luxuries became readily available. And then we meet Amos. If John the Baptist was a voice crying in the wilderness, Amos was a voice of obnoxious annoyance -- a voice that scraped like fingernails on a chalk board. Amos spoke just a bit bluntly, and with the syntax of a farmer. He called the socialites "cows." (4.1) He was just a shepherd, among the poorest of professions. He despised luxury. He kind of reminds me of my Dad in that regard -- my Dad grew up on a farm in South Dakota during the Depression.

But unlike my Dad, who graduated from seminary and served for decades as a parish pastor, Amos was an amateur. He was no professional prophet, making his living talking about God. And that's where he gets into trouble, especially when we meet him today. He's meeting with Amaziah, who was a paid, professional court prophet -- a minister to the King. And they're not getting along very well. Amos was not only a poor farmer, he was a foreigner from the South -- from Tekoa, a small town in Judah. You see, Israel had split from the South about 170 years before. Israelite leaders did not take kindly to criticism from a southerner. But, like my Dad, social acceptance didn't matter to Amos. God had called Amos to leave his job and carry a message. God said go, and Amos obeyed. My Dad was the only one from his family to go to college just so he could then go on to seminary.

The people Amos addressed had plenty of "religion." They worshipped regularly at shrines. They looked forward to "the day of the Lord," when God would fulfill all their expectations for their country. But Amos brought unexpected bad news from God: "I hate, I despise your festivals" (5:21). God didn't want sacrifice or singing. God demanded justice. In our current political climate, "justice" has come to mean "revenge," that is, to "bring justice" or punishment to those who have brought harm. But in the Bible, in the book of Amos, bringing justice means righting all the injustices Amos saw among the elite of Israel: oppression of the poor, dishonest business, bribery in court, privilege bought with money. He could easily have focused on the corrupt religious system which centered on two calf-idols. He focused instead on what we might call the political issues. Instead, Amos announced God's judgment for crimes against humanity.ⁱ

We shouldn't pretend that we can maintain an absolute separation between religious and political matters. What does the Bible have to say about politics and religion? What do the biblical prophets have to say to us about the church's role in public discourse? If we let today's lessons provide a response to our question, we hear two things: 1. People who speak genuinely prophetic words are often judged dangerous -- especially by established political and religious institutions. Amos speaks against the King. The priest Amaziah, who works FOR the king, tells Amos to "Get lost!" Go back to your own country and say anything you want. But don't say it here. Don't disrupt my cushy life. Amaziah is all about maintaining, and justifying, the status quo. And, in case you were wondering, he's not the hero here. Amos is. Amos is answerable to no one but God.ⁱⁱ

In our Gospel, John is imprisoned because he challenged an unorthodox marriage in the great dysfunctional yet powerful family of the Herods. The beheading of John the Baptist, in the context of Mark's Gospel, foreshadows Jesus' crucifixion. Jesus challenged established political and religious institutions too. People who speak truth to the abuse of power will suffer. That is a central theme of the Gospel of Mark. That is a central teaching of the Bible.

The second thing today's lessons teach us about politics and religion has to do with what the real issue is -- and that is power. Politics is necessary and unavoidable. Anyone ever heard about "church politics"? Where there are people, there will be politics. And religion is also necessary and unavoidable. We are made to connect with the divine in community. That's how we're wired. But, as I'm sure you've heard before, power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. That's the issue in Amos -- Amaziah defends King Jeroboam's absolute power. After all, he benefits directly from it. And Amos has an issue with that. In the story of the beheading of John the Baptist, Herod flaunts his absolute power to please his daughter. And I think we all have an issue with that.

In his introduction to the book of Amos, Eugene Peterson says in The Message:

More people are exploited and abused in the cause of religion than in any other way. Sex, money and power all take a back seat to religion as a source of evil. Religion is the most dangerous energy source known to humankind. The moment a person (or government or religion or organization) is convinced that God is either ordering or sanctioning a cause or project, anything goes. The history, worldwide, of religion-fueled hate, killing, and oppression is staggering. The biblical prophets are in the front line of those doing something about it.

The biblical prophets continue to be the most powerful and effective voices ever heard on this earth for keeping religion honest, humble, and compassionate. Prophets sniff out injustice, especially injustice that is dressed up in religious garb. They sniff it out a mile away. Prophets see through hypocrisy, especially hypocrisy that assumes a religious pose. Prophets are not impressed by position or power or authority. They aren't taken in by numbers, size, or appearances of success.ⁱⁱⁱ

God, according to Amos, says, "Take away from me the noise of your songs; I will not listen to the melody of your harps. But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream." (5:23-24) Today, Amos offers some important challenges for us in our context. We are in the early stages of clarifying who we are as the people of God in this community, of figuring out why we are here. As we move through this process to discern our unique mission, will we listen to comfortable Amaziah, or will we listen to annoying Amos? Will we be taken in by numbers, size, or appearances of success? Will we squabble over petty things?

We know better, don't we? We know that God doesn't call us to be successful, only faithful.^iv And so we know that our call is to show the face of justice and righteousness in this pocket of Livonia, the honest, humble, and compassionate face of Christ. That face is already reflected in us. That face is reflected in our lives at work, at home, and at play in this community. When we gather here we encounter that face in the risen Christ, in the Word, in his holy meal, and in one another. And so we don't have to be afraid to suffer and we don't have to be afraid of power. We have Amos today, to help us keep our religion honest, humble, and compassionate. Like Jesus. I think that's what Barry's politics does for my religion. And I'd like to think that's what my religion does for Barry's politics. When our religion is honest, humble, and compassionate, our politics will be too.

Pastor Dana Runestad
16 July 2006 (B Proper 10)
Holy Cross Lutheran Church
Livonia, Michigan

ⁱ Introduction to Amos in "Study Bible: The New Student Bible NRSV," Minneapolis, Augsburg Fortress, p. 924.
ⁱⁱ Matthew L. Skinner in New Proclamation, Year B, 2006 Easter Through Pentecost, David B. Lott, Editor, Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2006, pp. 135-142.
ⁱⁱⁱ Eugene Peterson, Introduction to Amos in The Message, Colorado Springs, CO: Nav Press Publishing Group, 2002, p. 1641.
^iv Widely quoted and attributed to Mother Teresa of Calcutta

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