But Let Justice Roll on Like a River…

By Dr. L. William Oliverio, Jr.

It seems that if any biblical text might be appropriate for our moment in history, it may be the book of the Prophet Amos. In the book of Amos, the northern kingdom of Israel (which had been split from the southern kingdom of Judah a century before) stood in grand confidence due to its territorial expansion and increasing wealth, as well as its faithfulness in holding religious rituals in the Israelite tradition. But it was also good at worshiping other gods, and it was a society fixed upon injustices – especially abuse of the poor.

Along came Amos, a farmer from the borderlands along Judah and Israel (though from Judah’s side), who came and prophesied in the northern Israelite holy place, Bethel, and for some time. The book starts out with a series of divine judgments on the idolatrous neighboring nations of Israel. Now that’s good preaching, Amos – with judgments on violent Damascus, enslaving Gaza, treacherous Tyre, merciless Edom, child-murdering Ammon, Moab for its assassination of Edom’s king, and then even to Judah for rejecting the law of the LORD and being led astray by false gods.

The Bible Project video on Amos (Bible Project) nicely illustrates how the literary structure of Amos forms a spiral circling around – and then turning in to the northern kingdom of Israel. The LORD will be relentless on Israel, he prophesies, because,

“For three sins of Israel,
even for four, I will not relent.
They sell the innocent for silver,
and the needy for a pair of sandals.
They trample on the heads of the poor
as on the dust of the ground
and deny justice to the oppressed.
Father and son use the same girl
and so profane my holy name.
They lie down beside every altar
on garments taken in pledge.
In the house of their god
they drink wine taken as fines.” (Amos 2:6-8)

Innocent people are sold out. The needed are treated as cheap, lowly goods. Justice is denied. Women are treated as prostitutes. Any altar that creates profit or advantage is a place for business. They celebrate in idolatry. And, ouch, the house of “their god” assumes they are pagans, not worshipers of the LORD, Yahweh.

It is so easy for paganism and immorality and injustice to slip back under the guise of biblical faith, as Amos’ sermon to Israel mocks the religious trappings and observations in the places of worship,

“Go to Bethel and sin;
go to Gilgal and sin yet more.
Bring your sacrifices every morning,
your tithes every three years.
Burn leavened bread as a thank offering
and brag about your freewill offerings—
boast about them, you Israelites,
for this is what you love to do,
declares the Sovereign Lord.” (Amos 4:4-5)

The (in)famous statement “prepare to meet your God” actually comes from a portion of this sermon shortly after (4:12).

Then there’s this, the culmination of the sermon in chapter 5.

“Hear this word, Israel, this lament I take up concerning you:

Fallen is Virgin Israel,
never to rise again,
deserted in her own land,
with no one to lift her up.

This is what the Sovereign Lord says to Israel:

Your city that marches out a thousand strong
will have only a hundred left;
your town that marches out a hundred strong
will have only ten left.

This is what the Lord says to Israel:

Seek me and live;
do not seek Bethel,
do not go to Gilgal,
do not journey to Beersheba.
For Gilgal will surely go into exile,
and Bethel will be reduced to nothing.

Seek the Lord and live,
or he will sweep through the tribes of Joseph like a fire;
it will devour them,
and Bethel will have no one to quench it.

There are those who turn justice into bitterness
and cast righteousness to the ground.

He who made the Pleiades and Orion,
who turns midnight into dawn
and darkens day into night,
who calls for the waters of the sea
and pours them out over the face of the land—
the Lord is his name.
With a blinding flash he destroys the stronghold
and brings the fortified city to ruin.

There are those who hate the one who upholds justice in court
and detest the one who tells the truth.

You levy a straw tax on the poor
and impose a tax on their grain.
Therefore, though you have built stone mansions,
you will not live in them;
though you have planted lush vineyards,
you will not drink their wine.
For I know how many are your offenses
and how great your sins.

There are those who oppress the innocent and take bribes
and deprive the poor of justice in the courts.
Therefore the prudent keep quiet in such times,
for the times are evil.

Seek good, not evil,
that you may live.
Then the Lord God Almighty will be with you,
just as you say he is.
Hate evil, love good;
maintain justice in the courts.
Perhaps the Lord God Almighty will have mercy
on the remnant of Joseph” (Amos 5:1-15)

 For, as is, their worship is not acceptable,

“I hate, I despise your religious festivals;
your assemblies are a stench to me.
Even though you bring me burnt offerings and grain offerings,
I will not accept them.
Though you bring choice fellowship offerings,
I will have no regard for them.
Away with the noise of your songs!
I will not listen to the music of your harps” (5:21-23).

The only answer is this, and it’s simple, if difficult for those married to corruption,

“But let justice roll on like a river,
righteousness like a never-failing stream!” (5:24)

That’s all. There’s no replacement for obedience, for righteousness, for justice – for true worship of the LORD.

So also with us. The call is to choose life, to love neighbors as ourselves, to work against systematic injustices, and to live with a heart of generosity and love and good will to others. Without love of neighbor, love of God rings hollow.

Amos will soon offer hope. But that hope is dependent, only, on the provision above from 5:24.

Abiding in Christ in the Midst of COVID-19

By Dr. Sanejo Leonard

The past few weeks I have been meditating and practicing lectio divina on a familiar passage in Luke 13, the one where Jesus cries over Jerusalem in his desire to draw the city and its people back to himself. In reflecting upon that scripture, I was drawn to the start of the passage where Pharisees come to him and urge him to leave because Herod wants to kill him. Luke, ever the detailed writer, tips us off in dramatic fashion to the urgency in the narrative by writing “At that very hour some Pharisees came and said to him, “Get away from here, for Herod wants to kill you [italics added]” (Lk. 13:31, NRSV).

Whether the Pharisees were trying to help Jesus, or this was a ploy to get him out of their city (probably the latter), the sense of urgency would cause any normal person to react: someone is trying to kill you, do something about it! Yet, Jesus was no “normal” person. While Jesus was both human and divine and struggled with many of the same human emotions we deal with, there was also a sense of calm deep within him, showing his ability to remain at peace despite the fear and anxiety that swirled around him (e.g., remember the story of Jesus asleep on the boat in the midst of the storm in Luke 8:23-25). Jesus’ frequent time spent with the Father in prayer (Lk. 5:16) seems to have contributed to his ability to respond to life’s challenges with a sense of calm rather than the temptation to react. Knee-jerk reactions often reflect ingrained habits, habits and parts of our character that have yet to be transformed into Christ’s likeness and Christ’s character.

Instead of reacting to the Pharisees and their attempt to cause fear, Jesus brings the focus back around to his mission and to others. It is from there that Jesus proceeds to express his sorrow over Jerusalem, desiring to gather her children together in a protective manner (Lk. 13:34), and as such, letting everyone know that his life was not his own; his life was meant to be lived and to die for others.

Jesus’ example shows us that our ability to weather our current storm of a global crisis is in our daily and frequent connection with God our loving Father, and the deep and abiding peace we will find from that relationship. As we grow in our ability to remain or abide in Jesus and his love, the fruit from that abiding will be our ability to love others (Jn. 15:5-12). The fruit will be our ability to respond from a well of peace rather than react from a shallow point of fear and anxiety. Our fruit will be responding with hope that only comes from a God who is bigger than our current crisis than a trust in human ability alone to fight this crisis. It is only when we learn to abide in Christ that our reactions change to thoughtful and peaceful responses because we are deeply rooted in Christ and his love (Eph. 3:17-18). Being the self-proclaimed “fraidy-cat” that I am, I need to remind myself of this practice as much as anyone.

May we this day, this week, and in this crisis learn to abide in Christ and find peace and calm there, and in turn, love and care for others to bring God’s light in the midst of this darkness.

Amen.

Standing for the Truth

By Pastor Joe Wyrostek

2 Corinthians 13:8, “For we cannot do anything against the truth, but only for the truth.” 

We live in a time like that of ancient Rome when after Pontius Pilate heard Jesus’ mission to “testify to the truth,” he retorted, “What is truth?” (John 18:37-38). Many people today have adopted a view of truth known as “relativism.” Relativism is a belief system that holds to the point of view that there is no absolute truth. When a relativist hears Christians make biblical truth claims about morality they will usually respond by saying, “Well, that may be true for you, but it’s not true for me.” The reason why they react this way is because they don’t believe truth exists; all truth is really just personal opinion.

However, what is remarkable about this erroneous view of truth is that people actually believe it, even though it is self-defeating and contradictory. For example, when the relativist states, “There is no absolute truth,” they are actually making an absolute truth claim. In other words, if there were no absolute truths, no statement could ever be absolutely true, including the one they just made! So a great response to the claim, “There is no absolute truth,” is, “Do you believe your statement, ‘There is no absolute truth’ is absolutely true?”

Another example of relativism’s contradictory nature is when they say, “Your belief may be true for you, but it’s not true for me because nothing is true for everybody.” Similar to before, this statement makes a claim that truth is always relative. But if truth is always relative, then the statement itself couldn’t be true because it is stated absolutely. You could respond, “Is the statement, ‘It’s true for you but it’s not true for everybody,’ true for everybody?”

I know dealing with people like this can be hard and even seem confusing but the only reason it feels so “mind bending” is because relativism tries to divorce truth (facts corresponding to reality) from logic (how we understand and reason within reality). If truth and logic don’t work together to form a proper understanding of reality the world is reduced to nonsense. Likewise, if something is illogical it cannot be true, and when something is true it will always be logical.

Here are three ways you can stand for truth: (1) Believe that absolute truth exists because Jesus (the Truth) exists. (2) Demonstrate that science, math, and logic discover truth because God made humans in His image to use His well-designed universe to learn more about Him. In other words, the pursuit of truth is really the pursuit to understand the mind of God. (3) Use the Bible, God’s foundation for truth, to help others understand that truth comes from God and is applicable to all areas of their lives. For example, the best scientists, doctors, politicians, workers, inventors, teachers, businessmen, and parents are those who believe in God’s truth and apply them to their daily lives.

May we all be like Paul who stated in this passage from Corinthians, today’s passage, “We cannot do anything against the truth, but only for the truth!”