Devotional Messages

DEVOTIONAL MESSAGE

Amos 8:4-6, 9-10 – Hear this, you that 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 gratin; and the sabbath, so that we may offer wheat for sale?” We will make the ephah small and the shekel great, 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.” … 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 heard; I will make it like the mourning for an only son, and the end of it like a bitter day.  (NRSV)

Last Sunday in my sermon, I touched on scholar Eric Smith’s reminder that Jesus, as a person, was formed by his religious tradition, Judaism.  It was part of the answer to the question “what is church for?”  Church – or more broadly, our religious tradition – exists to form us in the ways of God.  In scripture, God reminds us that our thoughts are not God’s thoughts and our ways are not God’s ways.  Far too often, we are selfish when God calls us to be generous; we are judgmental when God calls us to be curious; we are prideful when God calls us to humility.  These are just a few of the reasons we need a religious tradition to keep us on track.

One of the key features our religious tradition (Christianity) shares with Jesus’ (Judaism) is a clear command to care for the poor.  The prophets say it over and over again, as Amos does here.  Many scriptures suggest, like these do, that the poor are often purposely kept poor by people using unscrupulous practices.  We don’t generally by our grain by measuring it out in the marketplace these days, but we’re familiar with pay-day loan schemes and food deserts in low-income neighborhoods pushing people to buy the more expensive milk at the gas station.

One of the most deforming aspects of our money-worshiping culture is that it’s continually trying to convince us that being poor is a personal failure.  As one saying puts it: when wealth is an idol, poverty is a sin.  But our faith teaches us this is a lie.  The prophets remind us that those who are much richer than everyone else are likely the reason so many others are impoverished.  They are the ones living in sin, for they are the cause of the suffering of their siblings.

If we truly believe that all we have comes from God, and we understand that God loves all creation equally, then we should easily agree to share what we have so that all have enough.  This is a basic principle of Christianity, the tradition we have committed to be formed by.  So why do we struggle to live this way?  Why do we let the false prophets of commercialism convince us that our financial problems are personal failures, when there is so much evidence the systems are rigged against us?