Fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost: Old Testament, Amos 8:4-7                 

Amos 8:4-7

Tucked back in the folds of the Old Testament prophets are those smaller writings that we label as “the minor prophets.” As I have written several times, there is nothing minor about them other than their size compared to the larger prophetic books. But the substance of their ministry is crucial to Old Testament Israel as well as their New Testament counterparts. Amos stands out to me in that regard because of the sheer stunning nature of what God gives him to say. And it is one of those parts of Scripture that I hold in that old “love-hate” tension. I love it because it is true. And at times I hate it because … well …. because it is true.

In our reading for the week, in just a few verses, God lets us know, or better reminds us that he deems people much more important than money. Invariably more important than anything else he has made. But we have trouble with that. The human heart has been slayed by the shekel from the beginning. And if it takes stepping on those less powerful and “important” to gain some more, then so be it. It’s a tragic dilemma for everyone born to the race. And yes, rich and poor alike fall at the feet of gold.

Amos here warns God’s people never to forget the poor. “Hear this, you who trample on the needy and bring the poor of the land to an end ….” (v. 4). Never forget the poor? Why? One reason: because God doesn’t. They are on his mind and heart from the beginning of the Bible to the end. And he warns his people to never forget their plight because we are all poor in his sight-especially in regard to eternal things. His ears have heard the cries of our poor souls and has refreshed us, bathing us with water and Word to life everlasting. We dare not blind our eyes nor stop our ears from the pain of the poor. They are to our Lord a living treasure. So ought they be to us.