Amos 8:1-10

This is what the Lord God showed me: a basket of summer fruit. He said, “Amos, what do you see?” And I said, “A basket of summer fruit.” Then the Lord said to me, “The end has come upon my people Israel; I will spare them no longer. The songs of the temple shall become wailings on that day,” says the Lord God; “the dead bodies shall be many, cast out in every place. Be silent!” Hear this, you who trample on the needy, and bring to ruin the poor of the land, saying, “When will the new moon be over so that we may sell grain, and the Sabbath, so that we may offer wheat for sale? We will make the ephah smaller and the shekel heavier and practice deceit with false balances, buying the poor for silver and the needy for a pair of sandals and selling the sweepings of the wheat.” The Lord has sworn by the pride of Jacob: Surely I will never forget any of their deeds. Shall not the land tremble on this account, and everyone mourn who lives in it, and all of it rise like the Nile, and be tossed about and sink again, like the Nile of Egypt? On that day, says the Lord God, I will make the sun go down at noon and darken the earth in broad daylight. I will turn your feasts into mourning and all your songs into lamentation, I will bring sackcloth on all loins and baldness on every head; I will make it like the mourning for an only son and the end of it like a bitter day.

Luke 10:38-42

Now as they went on their way, he entered a certain village where a woman named Martha welcomed him. She had a sister named Mary, who sat at Jesus’s feet and listened to what he was saying. But Martha was distracted by her many tasks, so she came to him and asked, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to do all the work by myself? Tell her, then, to help me.”  But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things, but few things are needed—indeed only one. Mary has chosen the better part, which will not be taken away from her.

Our readings today follow the lectionary. We continue to read from Luke’s Gospel. And this morning, the Old Testament reading is from Amos.

Reading the Bible

In general, I’m trying to encourage your interest in the Bible. It’s my hope that, after this sermon, you will want to go home and read Amos this week. Or, at least, read a portion of it to get a taste of what this book is all about. We could think of the Bible not as a single book, but as an entire library of books, a collection of books. Each book in this library is unique and interesting in its own way. So it’s good spiritual discipline to continue reading and studying the Bible, to become familiar with the rich variety of texts, the many ways that God speaks to the people. Which brings me to a note on contemplative reading.

Reading can show you the state of your mind. Read the Bible when your mind is calm and clear. If you pick up a text to read but somehow you can’t understand it, or you can’t seem to get into it, you’re probably too distracted.

You may find that early morning is a good time to read. After a good night’s sleep and before the day gets busy, the mind is fresh and clear. But as the day wears on, the mind gets more fragmented. There are more distractions and interruptions. By midafternoon, it’s more difficult to focus on reading.

You can read at different times of day to find your optimal reading time. Use that time for your most important reading. Amos is a difficult book. But reading and studying difficult texts in the Bible can show us something about our mind.

Background on Amos

I’ll start with some background on Amos. Amos is a prophet. In the Old Testament, we have the books of four major prophets and twelve minor prophets. Major and minor simply describe the length of the texts, not how important the prophets were. The books of Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel, the four major prophets, are much longer than the books of the twelve minor prophets. The book of Amos is one of the twelve minor prophets.

The prophets were social critics. They functioned as the conscience of the nation. Prophets did not predict the future. Rather, prophets spoke out against national mistakes. They were the people who rocked the boat, so to speak. Prophets made people uncomfortable. Prophets criticized the nation. They held up a mirror to the country, to show the raw and ugly stuff. And they did this by delivering something called “prophetic oracles.”

Prophetic Oracles

A prophetic oracle is a literary form. It’s a written statement that has a specific form. Now, this is not “oracle” in the sense of the “Oracle of Delphi” or the “Oracle of Omaha.” Oracle here does not mean a wise person. It’s a literary form. It’s a kind of writing. An oracle is a written statement that contains an indictment and a warning. “You did something wrong. Here it is. And if you don’t stop doing it, if you don’t change your behavior, something bad is going to happen to you. There are going to be consequences.” So, an oracle contains an accusation and a warning about what could happen if things don’t change.

The Book of Amos

The book of Amos is a collection of prophetic oracles delivered by Amos. Amos lived in the 8^th century BC, 750 years before Jesus. He lived in the time of the divided kingdom. So, we are going way back here. To review, remember the most famous kings of Israel, (the big three as I call them), Saul, David, and Solomon. They ruled the United Kingdom of Israel. Israel was one united kingdom. But after Solomon’s death, the kingdom split into two rival kingdoms: Israel in the North, and Judah in the South. It was a divided kingdom with two kings. So Amos lived during this time of the divided kingdom.

Amos was a shepherd. He lived in the southern kingdom, in Tekoa, a few miles outside of Jerusalem. But he prophesied in the north. Amos delivered prophet oracles against the northern kingdom. He criticized the northern kingdom. Specifically, he accused the ruling class of oppressing the poor.

Old Testament Consequences

Now, remember last week when we talked about Deuteronomy, and I mentioned the central difference between the Old Testament and the New Testament. The Old Testament is concerned with consequences, (Do Good, Get Good: Do Bad, Get Bad) while in the New Testament, the focus is on grace. But we still have the Old Testament. We cannot simply ignore or dismiss the Old Testament. It’s still relevant because we live in a world where the law of cause and effect still operates. Yes, we have Grace. But we also have consequences. We have both.

So here, in Amos, we have a perfect example of this Old Testament relationship with God, this view of God. In fact, Amos presents God as a Lion. For Amos God is the destroyer, the Lion. And if you pick a fight with a lion, you are going to get hurt.

It’s ok to be afraid of God sometimes. The fear of God keeps us on the straight and narrow. Fear of God is not necessarily a bad thing. After all, God is not a tame lion. God is God.

Amos says to the ruling class in the north, “you are oppressing the poor and vulnerable, and if you don’t stop it, something bad is going to happen to you.” So he delivers this oracle. Remember, an oracle contains both a criticism and a warning. It follows the formula, Do Bad, Get Bad. If you keep on doing what you are doing, there will be consequences.

The Basket of Summer Fruit

The book of Amos is a collection of prophetic oracles. The first two chapters are oracles against surrounding nations. And then, Amos gets to the part about Israel. Amos is not a fan of the northern kingdom. In our text this morning from chapter 8, we have a famous oracle called the “basket of summer fruit.”

Now this basket of summer fruit is not what it sounds like. Amos is not offering the northern kingdom a basket of delicious fruit. We have to look at the Hebrew to really understand what is going on here because in the Hebrew, there is a pun, a play on words. (I know you all like words. Many of you play Wordle and do crossword puzzles and other word games like Scrabble. So I know you like words.)

In Hebrew, the word for “summer fruit” is qayits. In chapter 8, Amos writes, “This is what the Lord God showed me–a basket of fruit. (qayits) The Lord said, “Amos, what do you see?” And I said, “A basket of summer fruit.” Now, that sounds pretty nice. So Amos had a vision of a basket of summer fruit. Maybe there was a big watermelon in the basket. Maybe there were some grapes.

But this is not what’s going on here. It’s not a basket of fruit that the Lord shows Amos. It’s a warning. This is a warning that disaster is coming. In his vision, Amos got his words mixed up, because the Hebrew word qayits sounds very much like qets, the Hebrew word for end. This is what the Lord God showed Amos: he showed him the end, (qets) that is, the end of Israel.

 And, in fact, the end of Israel was not far off because in 722 BC, the Assyrians invaded the northern kingdom, wreaking havoc, destruction, and carrying out large scale deportations. The massively powerful Assyrians vaporized the northern kingdom. They swallowed them up. They made them disappear. Those who were not killed were assimilated into other cultures. And so these tribes of the northern kingdom became known as “the lost tribes of Israel.”

Oppression of the Poor

The text in chapter 8 is a strong indictment against oppression of the poor. The message is clear. It is wrong to oppress the poor. It is wrong to trample on the needy and bring to ruin the poor of the land. Amos calls out corruption. He says it’s wrong “to make the ephah small and the shekel great and practice deceit with false balances.” Here, he calls out fraud in the marketplace. Shopkeepers would rig their scales. They altered their weights and measures to rip off poor people who were trying to buy food. These were despicable practices, and Amos calls out the corruption. He indicts the ruling class, and he warns of impending doom. The sun will go down at noon. God will turn your feasts into mourning and all your songs into lamentation.

So this basket of fruit is not a basket of fruit. It’s the end of Israel which does eventually occur in 722 BC.

Jesus visits Martha and Mary

Now we turn to Luke. In our reading from Luke, Jesus continues on his way to Jerusalem. He has just finished teaching the parable of the Good Samaritan, which we saw last week, and immediately following this, he meets the sisters, Martha and Mary. Martha and Mary welcome Jesus into their home.

Now, these two sisters are complete opposites. Martha is the busy one, hardworking, distracted by her many tasks, while Mary sits at Jesus’ feet, more of an introspective introvert, not doing anything but simply listening to what Jesus says, giving him her undivided attention. Suddenly Martha complains to Jesus about her sister. “Look at her! She has left me to do all the work around here!”

Does this sound familiar? Have you ever felt resentful because you thought you were working more than others? We are constantly comparing. Martha feels resentful of Mary. Martha is shouldering more of the practical, everyday chores. We can see her cleaning, doing dishes, preparing food for the household. Meanwhile, Mary is having a wonderful contemplative, spiritual experience, being with Jesus, sitting with him, sharing his presence. The invitation here is for us to place ourselves in this story and think about where we are on the Mary-Martha spectrum.

Rather than seeing one sister as right and the other sister as wrong, we could see the two of them together expressing a familiar problem, that is, namely, the problem of finding balance. Sometimes we are too busy. We are too much like Martha, and we need to be more like Mary, pay more attention to our relationships, take more time to be quiet, more contemplative time, doing nothing. On the other hand, sometimes we are too much like Mary, and we need to be more like Martha. We need to work harder and pay attention to getting things done. We need to be active and accomplish things.

This past week, I’ve been doing a lot of yard work. It’s good to work hard. It’s a good reminder that no matter how much I think about a landscaping project, or plan it, or daydream about it, at some point I have to actually get the shovel in the ground and dig a hole. At some point, I have to do the hard work.

 What really matters? What is the most important thing to do with our time and our attention? Well, it depends. So, this is a constant struggle. We want to accomplish things. But, at the same time, we want to have time for prayer and meditation, and we want to have time for relationships with friends and family. So this is really a question of finding balance. It’s the Martha–Mary balance. And we are all doing it. We are all going back and forth between these two sides, the Martha side and the Mary side.

May God give us strength and wisdom to find our balance points, God as gracious friend, God as fearful lion, in our work, and in our prayer. Amen? Amen.