Thursday, September 22, 2016

Sunday Gospel Reflection, September 25, 2016: He would gladly have eaten his fill of the scraps...


   Have we lost touch with the world around us?  

   The prophet Amos certainly seems to think his community has!  In the message Amos delivers to the northern kingdom, God calls the Israelites complacent and suggests they are so self-consumed that they are dead to covenant – they don’t see the need of their brothers and sisters, but delight instead in beds of ivory, eating and drinking and living lavishly.  Their attention is not on other, but on self; they live in their own little world rather than sharing in a life created for and by all.  They represent the wicked of Psalm 146, the antithesis of all God’s goodness:  justice for the oppressed, food for the hungry, sight to the blind, protection of strangers, the fatherless, and widows.  Those who follow God’s ways, keeping faith forever, are blessed; this is what Amos’ audience must strive for:  metanoia, a return to covenant, and a renewed relationship with the world around them.

   The rich man in Luke’s Gospel has similarly rejected covenant, doing nothing to ameliorate the suffering of the poor man named Lazarus; in Jesus’ story, this division is cause for a reversal after the mens’ deaths.  While Lazarus was carried away by angels to the bosom of Abraham, the rich man is in torment in the netherworld, and the chasm between them is now too great to traverse.  Like the rich man, Jesus’ audience – the Pharisees – believe they have no responsibility to reach out to those around them, when in fact they should keep faith, pursuing all those values Paul speaks of to Timothyrighteousness, devotion, faith, love, patience, and gentleness, virtues, all, that help us to live our baptismal call in a life dedicated to neighbor, to other, gifts, in other words, that keep us firmly in touch with the world around us, ready to compete well for the faith

   To see a picture of the kind of bed of ivory Amos mentions, click here.

This post is based on Fr. Pat’s Scripture class.
Image source:  Wordle
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