Year C. Sixteenth Sunday after Pentecost September 23, 2001
Amos 8: 4-7
Title: “Be not deceived.”
Amos was from a village just south of the border between Israel and Judah, Tekoa, but he prophesied at Bethel, the main religious center in the north, just north of the border. In 1:1 he is said to be a shepherd, but in 7: 14 he also says he was a “dresser of sycamores,” one who punctured the immature figs to make them turn sweet. He preached during a time of great material prosperity in Israel, also a time of social and religious corruption the reigns of Uzziah of Judah and Jeroboam of Israel- 786-742BC. This was a period of “calm before the storm.” The Assyrian conquest of the north was soon to take place in 722BC. Even though he was the first of the classical prophets, he was the least hopeful. He prophesied that Israel’s fate, her destruction, was a done deal. They- the kings, priests, prophets, wealthy classes- were just too corrupt to reform. Their exploitation of the poor and their pretense at religious piety had gone on too long and was too ingrained in the conduct of business to have any hope of changing in time to ward off the impending doom.
Chapter eight contains a series of four visions and chapter nine the fifth and final vision structured on the same pattern. God shows Amos something- locusts, fire, a plumb line, summer fruit. He asks him what, in fact, he sees, and then interprets for him its meaning for Israel’s future fate. Prophecy, like all revelation, is fact plus interpretation. It is not enough to get the facts right, hard and rare as that may be. The facts must be rightly interpreted and only God can do so. In the first two instances Amos intercedes for his people and God relents, but after that there is no relenting. It is too late. The present verses, four to seven, are attached to the fourth vision. It is really an oracle, a statement from God, typical of prophecy, condemning the merchants of Israel for their feigned piety and their poorly disguised greed. The consequences of greed and religious hypocrisy are described in physical terms as earthquake in verse eight, eclipse verses nine and ten, famine in verses eleven and twelve, and drought verses thirteen to fourteen. These are all different ways of describing the fundamental truth that behavior has consequences.
In verse four, you who trample upon the needy: The prophet has just compared the impending judgment and harvest to overly ripe fruit at the end of summer. God’s message is that the punishment for sin is long overdue. Now the prophet specifies who he means. The merchants are the first to be singled out. They exploit the poor.
The poor of the land: This will become a rather well used and somewhat specialized term that subsequent writing prophets will develop. The basic meaning is the obvious one: economically poor. However, it will develop into a broader reference, implied in its usage here. The humble, dispossessed, those without sufficient property and goods for living, those with diminished powers, strength and worth, those who do not really own the land, even if, legally, they do, but see themselves as sojourners, tenants- all these notions will be included in the meaning of “poor,” `ani. These references will be combined with another word, the word used here, `anawim, for “poor.” Together these words will be applied to those who suffer as victims, under any form of coercion, risking dependence on God alone. While they are practically synonymous, `ani tends to be used to stress the sense of separation and aloneness and `anowim is used in connection with people assembled in acts of worship, united in their oppression and in their confident dependence on God for everything. Vulnerable to human exploitation, they are especially dear to God. Those who victimize them are playing with fire.
In verse five, when will the new moon be over…and the Sabbath: The beginning of each month was a feast day, a day of rest from work, equal to a Sabbath. The merchants showed external piety and duly worshiped on such days. Inwardly, however, they could not wait until they were over and business could continue as usual, time is money, the business of exploiting those who could do nothing about their rapaciousness.
We will diminish the ephah, add to the shekel, and fix our scales for cheating: Of course, the merchants are not saying this aloud, but plotting within their hearts. The ephah was a dry measure roughly equivalent to a bushel. The shekel was originally a weight. The picture is clear. They sold less than what they claimed for more than it was worth. They cheated people, especially the poor who knew no better, or, if they did, could do nothing about it.
In verse six, we will buy the lowly man for silver…a pair of sandals: The merchants would give the poor food on credit, knowing full well that they could not pay. Then they would call due the debt. The poor debtor would become the property of the merchant who would, in turn, sell him into slavery for a few silver coins or even a pair of sandals.
Even the refuse of wheat we will sell: Greed, the desire to acquire, knows no limits. Since the goal of greed is personal acquisition there is nothing outside what is permissible, so long as it satisfies the desire of the greedy person. That person is the sole determiner of what is right and moral, a monarch.
In verse seven, the Lord has sworn: The prophet delivers in a most solemn way, so there can be no doubt or mistake about it, God’s interpretation of such behavior.
In verse eight, shall not the land tremble because of this: The prophet predicts an earthquake as divine reaction and punishment. This would not be a physical earthquake, but a military and political one, the invasion of Israel and its conquest by the Assyrians. This will be because of Israel’s moral failure. Greed, along with hypocrisy, will cause the downfall of Israel, not really Assyrian military superiority.
While it rises up and tosses like the Nile: A physical earthquake does look like the undulations of a river. The prophet is rather graphic in his description of the consequences- physical, emotional, spiritual, etc.- of immoral behavior.
We can get away with immoral behavior for only so long. Sooner or later the consequences contained, implied, or dormant, within the actions catch up with us. The prophet Amos is telling his arrogant, self-satisfied, complacent and wealthy compatriots that that day is fast approaching. Of course, they ignore him. They are having a fine time at the time and that is all they care about. They will soon change their tune, but it will be too late.
Amos teaches us that greed and its cousin, hypocrisy, are a kind of religion, a religion with “Me” as the chief god of it. “Me” determines that if something profits me it is good. I determine that religion and religious practices and worship are good for “publicity sake,” “public relations,” to make me “look good” and presumably honest in “front” of others. I do those things for my own good and advancement. I would never think to mix religion and business. Religion has its standards and practices to which I do not really subscribe but pay lip service to for my own benefit and business has its own standards and practices.
Never the twain shall meet.
The highest standard in business is profit. The more profit the better. It matters not how it is gained or attained, just how much. The poor can be exploited because profit is the standard, not justice. Leave justice to the preachers and the bleeding hearts. I might look at the ultimate consequences of my behavior someday, but not now. I will stop over-smoking, over-drinking, over-drugging, over-sexing, over-spending, over-eating, over-working, over-managing someday, tomorrow maybe, but not today. Amos’ words remind us that such an attitude courts disaster. The day of reckoning cannot be controlled, cannot be bribed to come back another day, and cannot be avoided. If we do not do the right thing for the right reasons-justice and love- then we had better do the right thing for smart reasons. The very motive of greed- my own personal advantage at all costs, regardless of the impact on others- can be turned around and applied to doing the right thing. Fear of reprisal, fear of punishment, is not the highest motive and the prophet knew it. However, all else had failed. It is better to be good and do good for less than good reasons than to not do good at all. The habit of doing good and being good provides a better chance for a person to purify his or her motives than being mired in a nexus of evil. Of course, fear does not work for very long. Eventually, fear subsides and, if we have not progressed beyond it as a motivator, we will return to our former ways.
Nonetheless, Amos knows what God has revealed. No one will get away for very long violating God’s principles. The harm we do to others will visit us in some form, probably more intense and violent than even the harm we have done. It is a law of nature, of justice, and of God. Shaking someone up or down may produce an earthquake in our own lives. We will have done it to ourselves. God has warned us. We scoff at his laws at our own peril. Darkening someone else’s light or glory or good name will result in an eclipse of our own good fortunes. Ignoring another’s hunger while we eat well will result in a great famine in our lives- of food and of love. Ignoring another’s thirst for love, attention, help, etc. will involve us in an even more severe drought. Pious hypocrisy and greed, what fools others and exploits them, will ultimately cause us more harm than it will ever cause them. Evil prospers for a time, but in the long run we suffer the consequences of what we sow. The time to repent, relent and reform is now, always now, not tomorrow, for tomorrow never comes and death does come- some day, maybe today. There is such a thing as “too late.”
The Lord is not fooled by external piety, religious practice and observance, without internal authenticity.
Observing the externals of religion in order to be seen as a respectable citizen and neighbor is the height of hypocrisy.
Cheating, be it on taxes, on tests, or on people is both theft and hypocrisy.
Hypocrisy: The word “hypocrite” comes from a term in Greek theater, originally meaning “answerer,” eventually meaning “actor.” Greek theater, in the beginning, would have a chorus of singers and an “answerer,” one who would respond to what was being sung. There was not a lot of movement on the stage, just dialogue, like a radio show before TV. As the genre developed, especially Greek tragedy, the “answerer” became more than one person, then they took over most of the dialogue and the chorus was used more or less as interludes, connecting the dots. The “answerers” still spoke from scripts but added more emotion and movement to their parts, became more ‘real to life” even though they were acting, and the word “hypocrite” came to mean actor. Over time, the word was used to refer to people who lived their “real” lives as though they were actors in a play. They were not their “real” selves, even though they “appeared” to be. They were acting a pre-written role, trying their best to “appear” authentic and credible. Even today, we judge an actor’s performance on the basis of how “real” he or she seemed to be, event though we knew he or she was acting or pretending. Jesus used the term “hypocrite” for religiously observant, externally pious, people. He saw right through them and knew they were pretending to be something and someone they were not. Certainly, not before God. Any time we are not our authentic selves, any time we are not the same person on the outside as we are on the inside, the same person to others as we are to ourselves and before God, we are being hypocritical. If we are that way often enough we become more the person we are pretending to be, the “actor,” than the person we really are. In other words, the more we behave hypocritically, the more we are in danger of becoming a full-blown hypocrite. We are not “real.”
Business and Religion: In the United States we operate by the principle of separation of church and state. No religion is favored over any other and religion, for the most part, it is absent from our public policies and practices. That is not to say that religion does not enter into the decision-making process or that underneath our policies and practices there are no religious principles. That said, there is a separation, “never the twain shall meet.” Given that situation, it is a small step to separate religion from business policies and practices as well. Indeed, just as in Amos’ day, so also in ours, many folks go to church, supposedly practice their religion, and return to work only to employ practices that are inconsistent with the words they heard, the songs they sang, the prayers they uttered, when at church. Indeed, in all of us there is the tendency to “compartmentalize’ our religious life and our business life, our life in church and our life in the world. Especially, when it comes to money, we tend to adopt the attitudes of the world and ignore what we are told in God’s word. It is clear from the second reading for today and from the Pastoral Epistles in general that God does not expect us to turn our government or our businesses into churches or to publicly advocate for the establishment of a “Christian” state. However, it is also clear that God wants us to be consistent in our business practices with the principles of our faith. Whether a spouse is cheating on his or her spouse or whether a person is cheating someone out of something in the business world, both are “cheating” and both are wrong, although for different reasons and in differing degrees. To go to church in order to appear “respectable” to the business world is simply another form of hypocrisy. Amen.
