July 18, 2021 ― Eighth Sunday after Pentecost 7:10-15 10 Then Amaziah the priest of sent a message to Jeroboam king of : “Amos is raising a conspiracy against you in the very heart of Israel. The land cannot bear all his words. 11 For this is what Amos is saying: “‘Jeroboam will die by the sword, and Israel will surely go into exile, away from their native land.’” 12 Then Amaziah said to Amos, “Get out, you seer! Go back to the land of Judah. Earn your bread there and do your prophesying there. 13 Don’t prophesy anymore at Bethel, because this is the king’s sanctuary and the temple of the kingdom.” 14 Amos answered Amaziah, “I was neither a nor a prophet’s son, but I was a shepherd, and I 15 also took care of sycamore-fig trees. But the LORD took me from tending the flock and said to me, ‘Go, prophesy to my people Israel.’ “Go back to the land of Judah!” (v 12) That is the kind of message a foreign missionary hears implicitly when his entrance into another country gets bound up in red tape or when someone bluntly tells him to go back to where he came from.

The prophet Amos’ walked only about 25 miles north from his hometown in Judah, through to Bethel, which was the religious center of the northern kingdom of Israel. It was a short journey to a distant place. Short in miles, distant because the religious leaders if not most of the people saw him as an unwelcome intruder.

You do not have to travel far to find a tough, cold response to the good news about Jesus Christ. No doubt you have experienced that, up close and not far from your home. When it happens, you might want to shrink back into your shell and return to your version of Judah. Toughen up, your Savior tells you, bear your cross; do your job. You represent the one who redeemed you from sin and its consequences. Chances are you care deeply about that person or those folks who do not welcome your Christian faith with open arms. You are walking in the shoes of your Christian forebears. You are taking up the cross of Christ; like Amos your Savior sends you to offer tough love.

1. Expect resentment (10-13)

Amos must have known he had accepted a tough assignment from the Lord. His call to duty meant going to that part of Israel that had broken ties from Judah some two centuries before, when they rejected heavy taxes imposed by the king who succeeded Solomon.

To keep the people from worshiping at the temple in Jerusalem and falling back under the sway of Judah, new king of the north set up a worship center just 10 to 15 miles north of Jerusalem in Bethel. He made of golden calf, of all things, and told the people that represented the Lord God. Remember how their ancestors hundreds of years before had worshiped a golden calf when Moses was receiving the Ten Commandments? The people in the north were going back to that!

They replaced the laws God gave them about worship festivals; they rejected the line of priests God had established and chose their own priests. Even worse, they set up altars in the hills where people worshiped representations of the false goddess Astarte; the people were led to think Astarte could bring rain and prosper their harvests; and to make the proposition even more enticing the worship included orgy. For all that, the northern people still told themselves they worshiped God. Sure, there was that side worship up in the hills; yes, they were replacing God’s laws regarding worship with their own; but they still used God’s name. They worshiped at Bethel you see. Bethel means “house of God.” Their priest was named Amaziah, which means, the LORD is strong. It’s all a lie. The leaders of the northern people were lying, and the people were accepting it; their approach to God and their mixing it with Astarte sounded good to them. They liked it.

Lies lead to more lies. The people lie to each other; they use false measures for selling grain and fruit; some get rich off others and then abuse the poor. The northern people are in a bad place; and soon their disobedience will come crashing down on them. They will lose their independence; their wealthy elite will be taken into captivity.

The northern people need to be warned; and God has sent spokesmen to do just that. like Elijah, Elisha, Hosea, and Amos did just that. The warning is not couched in niceties and ambiguous language. Amos, that farmer from Judah, speaks very…clearly.

Tough love is often not welcomed, at least not at first. Amaziah, that false priest in Bethel, reports to the king. In his report he says, “This is what Amos is saying: “‘Jeroboam [the king] will die by the sword, and Israel will surely go into exile, away from their native land.’” (v 11) It is an unacceptable message, Amaziah, days. “The land—our land-- cannot bear all his words” (v 10).

The king would not take this report lightly. Amos is trouble. In fact, his name means burden! The king would likely send men with swords. Regardless, the priest Amaziah doesn’t wait. He says to Amos, “Get out, you seer! Go back to the land of Judah” (12). No doubt Amaziah is protecting his property and power; priests often lived quite well; they were part of the ruling elite. Naturally, Amaziah projects his selfish motives onto Amos. He says, “Earn your bread there and do your prophesying there” (v 12). This is my franchise, Amos. Make your money off your people, leave me to mine!

Besides, Amos, it takes a lot of hutzpah for you come up here and bother us. How dare you? Who do you think you are? “Don’t prophesy anymore at Bethel, because this is the king’s sanctuary and the temple of the kingdom” (v 13). This is our deal; keep your nose out of it!

Likely every missionary has followed Amos’ journey and felt like Amos, a burden. Very possibly, you’ve felt that also. But here’s the thing. There’s also a bit of Amaziah in each of us. We would like an arrangement with God that serves our purposes, that makes us feel good, that makes sense to us, that seems more…convenient. At times, more often than we’d like to admit, we would like to come first, then others, god last.

So, when we would tell someone close to us, “what you’re doing isn’t right, your priorities are wrong, you’re worshiping a false god, one that makes you feel good and seems useful to you,” it isn’t just the fact that we know our tough message might receive a cold stare and even worse. That accusation bites that one we know is coming: who are you to talk to me? What makes you so special? What are you after? You make sacrifices for Christ? Come on, get real! It bites because of that Amaziah lurking in us. And then there’s that old canard about going back to Judah. You aren’t from here, are you. Or if you are from here, the canard is, you just don’t understand.

All that, would silence us, until we remember what Amos, that man of burden, remembered. 2. Find reassurance in God’s Word (14-15)

Amos said to Amaziah, “I was neither a prophet nor a prophet’s son, but I was a shepherd, and I also 15 took care of sycamore-fig trees. But the LORD took me from tending the flock and said to me, ‘Go, prophesy to my people Israel.”’ Did you notice that one word in his answer? Not the words about his being a farmer, not a professional prophet, we will talk about that a little later. What did the Lord God call the people of Israel? Did you notice? He called them “my people.”

For all their rebellion, their lies, their corruption, their idols, God still calls these people, “my people.” God had made a promise to these people, centuries before they were born. Right there at Bethel— house of God—their ancestor Abraham had called on the Lord. God’s promise was a covenant, like a contract, except God did everything: he promised blessings, he promised land, he promised protection, he promised a great nation, and especially he promised that one descendant, the Savior. God has not forgotten his firm commitment. These are “my people.” God wants more them to be his people not only in the fact that they are descendants of Abraham; he wants them to trust him, love him and obey him. He sent prophets to them, Amos included, to call them back from the lies and idols. He begs them to turn back to him, to his promises, to salvation, to the Savior.

Some do turn back. The northern people as a kingdom are lost just a generation after Amos preached in Bethel. But a remnant remained. Think centuries ahead when Jesus proclaims the kingdom of God in Galilee. That’s in the north. Unlike Jesus, his mother Mary, and his legal father , many of the Galileans are descendants of the northern people. Jesus goes to and meets the woman at the well. She is a descendant of the northern people. An earthly kingdom passes away, but the kingdom of God lives. People believe the promise, and through faith in the promise Christ rules in their hearts and lives.

You are part of that remnant. Likely, you cannot trace your family tree back to Abraham; it doesn’t matter. God knew you before he created the world. He sent his son to redeem you from your sins. He sent his Spirit to bring you to faith in Jesus Christ. You have been baptized for the forgiveness of sins. Hear again the Apostle Paul’s words written the Ephesians and to you: “In love 5 [God] predestined us to be adopted as his sons through

Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will— 6 to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. 7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace 8 that he lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding.”

Daily we drown the Amaziah in us and turn back to one who redeemed us, who forgave us, who made us his children. God comes to us still, patiently, persistently, and lovingly; he comes to us through his word and sacraments.

God has given you a burden. He makes you an Amos to bring tough love to the people around you who need to be burdened by God’s Commandments and threats, so that you can tell them about forgiveness in Christ. God wants them to be his people.

So, speak up, because God tells you to. Speak, praying that God will give you the right moment to speak, then the courage to speak, and then the right words to speak. Live as unassuming, loving children of God, as disciples of Christ. Shine so that people see your way of life and your humble trusting approach to life; shine so that they would ask you to tell them the reason why you live that way.

The burden God has given us not about us. We do not claim brilliance, power, and position. In Las Cruces, we are like a shepherd and a fig-tree harvester from Judah. None of that matters because the power to turn people to Christ resides in God’s word, not us. When we remember that, our tough assignment is not so tough after all. Amen.