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 Timothy: righteousness, 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.
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.
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