Oak Chapel United Methodist Church

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When I was preparing this sermon, my son wandered into my office and pointed out that I had the title backwards. Isn't it supposed to be good news, bad news? He of course was thinking of the many jokes that begin with "I've got good news and bad news." I assured him that I thought I had the title in the right order for what I had planned for this sermon. I would suggest that the Scripture readings today form a bad news, good news situation. Unlike the jokes, the message to us from Scripture is serious.

If we only read the introduction to Chapter 8 of Amos, we might be left with pleasant thoughts of summer fruit. When I think of summer fruits and vegetables fresh from the garden, I usually think of the goodness of the harvest and the enjoyment of eating what has been grown. Possibly that is what Amos first thought when he had this vision. God asked Amos what he saw, and Amos replies, "A basket of summer fruit." But God did not allow any image of pleasure to remain. Rather this vision joined the three previous visions of Amos in forming a vision of judgment for Israel, and it preceded a final vision of the judgment to come.

Sins of the People

Amos was prophesying to a people who had come to depend on their wealth and military might rather than God. The people lived in prosperous times, but the summary in my study Bible cites grave social injustice, abhorrent immorality, and shallow, meaningless piety as characteristics of Jewish society when Amos came onto the scene as a prophet. The portion of Amos we heard this morning accuses the people of trampling on the needy and ruining the poor, observing their religious customs but being more concerned about making money and practicing greed and deceit. The nation that was formed by God and that had relied upon God for its existence and essence had turned away from God. God had freed them from oppression. God had provided for their needs. God had asked only that the people would put aside the gods of the world and worship the one true God.

In good times, the people had adopted the gods of power and possessions. The passage that follows the description of the fruit is not one of a people following God's will or commandments. The consequences of the people's actions are severe -- their songs shall become wailing and many will die. And so, this vision is as far away from what our first thoughts of the ripe fruit might be as Israel was from God's vision for the people. Amos' vision was of judgment, and the ripe summer fruit represented the immediacy of Israel's situation. What we had was not just ripe fruit but fruit that was rotting. Perhaps the values of the Jews had deteriorated to the moral level of "Its okay as long as I don't get caught" or worse, believing that it didn't matter as long as they performed the minimal religious rituals. Religion is just an insurance policy in case there really is a God. You can do whatever you want as long as you do the magic.

Warning of Impending Punishment

The message of Amos to the people is not good news. The message is a warning that major changes were about to take place because they had turned from God to their own self-interest and greed. In this passage Amos does not lay out hope for the people, there is only bad news -- because you did these things, there will be judgment, and the judgment will be harsh. Even though the message is not one of hope, when God sends a prophet to the people there is always at least the implied hope of redemption if the people will change their ways. By the time of this vision, however, it seems that the judgment is sure and that the people are beyond the point of turning back. The response of the people to Amos was to want him to prophesy elsewhere.
 

Through Christ, Redemption is Possible

Certainly Paul did not view religion or his relationship to God as something casual or just as an insurance policy. In writing to the Colossians, he speaks of the supremacy of Christ, not only in the church but in the universe. Paul had an experience in meeting the Risen Lord that few people have. His encounter with Christ changed him through and through. Paul is the classic example of the transforming power of Jesus Christ. Paul wanted to share the transforming, saving power of Christ with the world. Jesus Christ was not and is not incidental - Christ is essential. Paul emphasizes the centrality of Jesus Christ and the reconciling nature of Christ on our behalf. God did not act just for a few people in a remote land 2000 years ago. God acted for the redemption of the whole world throughout time.

Unlike the message of Amos, the message of Paul is one of hope. Christ came to reconcile the world to God. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is good news to all who will hear and respond to the Word. The message is not "God will destroy you." The message is "even though you may have been estranged from God, if you remain established and steadfast in the faith, you will be presented holy and blameless before God." Spreading this good news had become Paul's life. Paul did not care what anybody did to him. He had been imprisoned, beaten, and made to suffer, but his faith in Jesus and his focus on Jesus Christ had not been shaken. He not only spread the good news of Jesus Christ, he maintained a relationship with these people to assure that they were not led astray by false teachers and to assure that they did not return to their old ways. He encouraged them in many ways and when necessary he told the churches that they were headed down the wrong path. Paul is clear in his mission to the church as the body of Christ -- "I became its servant according to God's commission that was given to me for you, to make the word of God fully known."

The Urgency of Redemption and of Responding to God

So, now we have the bad news and the good news. For those who ignore the message of God there will be judgment. For those who believe that it does not matter what they do and for those who believe that if they go through the motions but do not believe, the time of judgment will come. Scripture gives us visions of what God's judgment may be like, and the overarching message of the Old Testament prophets and the New Testament writers is that judgment is sure for those who turn from God. What may pass for a while in this world may not be the end of the story. In fact we believe that what happens in this world is not the end of the story and that God has something for us that surpasses anything we can imagine or express. The kingdom of God will be very different from the way of the world. Although we may not feel as compelled as the Apostle Paul to make the proclamation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ our primary mission to the world, maybe we should stop for a moment to consider the lesson from the Gospel of Luke.

Attend to the Word of the Lord

The story of Martha and Mary is fairly short and on the surface we can read it and say obviously Martha should have paid attention to Jesus just like Mary did. If Jesus came to my house, I would pay attention to him. I would suggest that Martha thought she was paying attention to Jesus' needs and to the needs of those who were traveling with him. Although the story does not explicitly say that the disciples were there, the word "they" at the beginning implies that Martha was host to Jesus and his disciples, so Martha may have had a crowd at her home. It is not stated whether Jesus had planned to visit or whether this happened with little notice. What we are told is that Martha welcomed Jesus into her home (the text is explicit that it was Martha's house).

Hospitality dictated that she provide for her guests so there was obviously work that needed to be done. When Mary did not help, Martha was annoyed. Jesus' response to her complaint was to point out that she had become distracted by many things. Jesus did not deny Martha's attempt to provide hospitality. Rather, he pointed out that she was distracted by trying to do too much and that there was something better. Listening to the word of the Lord is more important than the many busy things we can do that take up our time and distract us from what is essential. Are we so preoccupied with doing things that we do not take the time to hear the word of God, so we know what we should be doing?
 

Listen and Don't Forget to Respond

I am particularly interested in the story of Martha and Mary, not just because I lead a very busy life. I am interested because this story is placed in the Gospel of Luke immediately after the story of the Good Samaritan. This is not a comparison taken up by the commentaries I read, but I believe that we need to consider the contrast as we look for a balance in our lives. The story of the Good Samaritan points to the efforts of the Samaritan as being better than the two Jewish religious leaders who passed by the injured man, presumably to allow them to perform their religious duties without becoming ritually unclean. Here we have a story of the superiority of Mary's choice when she did nothing other than listen to Jesus' teaching. Certainly we need to take time from our business to stop and listen to the word of God. We need to take time to come together as the gathered community through our religious services. But we also need to respond to the needs of those around us or we become like the religious leaders who walked past the man in need. In both cases we have the message that we are to do what is essential. The story of Martha and Mary points to the essential nature of listening to the word of God and building our spiritual nature. The story of the Good Samaritan points to the essential nature of responding to the needs of those around us or our religious exercises are hollow.
 

God Gives Us Each a Role in This Fallen World

The Apostle Paul felt compelled to travel preaching the Good News. This was God's commission to him. God has given each of us talents that we can use to respond to the needs of the world. It is almost impossible not to see the crying needs in the world today. We live in a society where the prevailing moral code seems to be anything goes. Some people might say that the United States today is sweet, ripe fruit. Others would say that the fruit has begun to rot. John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, wrote that we should do nothing that would harm someone else. This is the first step in improving our world, but the second step is to do something about the evil and injustice that we see. Do we pass by on the other side or do we speak out against what we see and take action to correct injustice? Where are the prophets and apostles today? Have we welcomed Christ into our lives, only to ignore him as we go about our business; or have we decided to listen to the word of God and respond as we proclaim the Good News to the world through our words and our deeds?

For us the bad news is that we live in a fallen world where evil frequently seems to have the upper hand. The good news is that Jesus Christ came into the world to bring reconciliation to the world. If we believe in him and respond to his call in our lives, we will stand with Christ when the time of judgment comes. I pray that when that time comes we will hear the words, "Well done, good and faithful servant."