The Park Forum

Links for today’s readings:

Apr 21 Read:  Amos 5 Listen: (3:44) Read: Matthew 25 Listen: (6:04)

Scripture Focus: Amos 5.7, 10, 25-26

7 There are those who turn justice into bitterness 
and cast righteousness to the ground.
10 There are those who hate the one who upholds justice in court 
and detest the one who tells the truth.
25 “Did you bring me sacrifices and offerings 
forty years in the wilderness, people of Israel? 
26 You have lifted up the shrine of your king, 
the pedestal of your idols, 
the star of your god— 
which you made for yourselves.

Reflection: Justice to Wormwood

By John Tillman

As the people ignored Amos’s calls to repent, God called into question Israel’s entire history of worship, implying that in their hearts they had always worshiped a god of success, wealth, and comfort rather than him.

Rather than provide justice (mishpat) to the poor, they were frustrating justice and causing bitterness, more literally, “wormwood.” Wormwood is translated as “bitterness” multiple times. It is symbolic of a curse or poison and may refer to hemlock. For example, wormwood is used to describe the poison of an adulteress whose lips “drip honey,” but in the end, she leads victims to a bitter death. (Proverbs 5.4)

Justice is very much the business of people of faith, and when people ignore it or frustrate it…God notices. God points out that the wealthy enjoy great benefits of stone mansions and lush vineyards (Amos 5.11), but because of their treatment of the poor, the vineyards will be filled with wailing instead of joy and they will be exiled from their comfortable homes. (Amos 5.16-17)

Amos is sympathetic to the plight of living in a corrupt land where justice is denied. “The times are evil” Amos acknowledges and points out that “the prudent keep quiet.” (Amos 5.13) But this acknowledgment of the evil state of the world is not an endorsement of doing nothing or a command to be quiet. Prudence should mean “approaching a problem wisely,” but too often it means “avoiding a problem selfishly.” Rather than avoid trouble, God charges the people to “hate evil, love good” and to “maintain justice in the courts” despite the days being evil.

We are under the same charge. Is there bitterness and poison? We must counter it with justice and righteousness. Justice, or mishpat, is the law being upheld. Righteousness, or sedeq, implies the actions that uphold it. We must not sit quietly but speak out. We must not avoid the unjust but confront them and comfort their victims.

It will not do for us to sing about justice without bringing it to pass. We must bring justice to counter bitterness. We must bring a flood of mishpat to wash away wormwood.

23 Away with the noise of your songs! 
I will not listen to the music of your harps. 
24 But let justice roll on like a river, 
righteousness like a never-failing stream! — Amos 5.23-24

Divine Hours Prayer: The Refrain for the Morning Lessons

Purge me from my sin, and I shall be pure; wash me, and I shall be clean indeed. — Psalm 51.8

– From The Divine Hours: Prayers for Springtime by Phyllis Tickle

Read more: A Trinity of Neglect

The goats didn’t actively cause hunger or oppression or sickness. They just didn’t do anything about it.

Read more: Wake-up Call

We need a wake-up call. From the goats, a clamorous claxon resounds: Serve Others! Serve the poor! Serve the hungry! Serve the outcast!

Links for today’s readings:

Apr 20  Read: Amos 4 Listen: (2:21) Read: Matthew 24 Listen: (5:59)

Scripture Focus: Amos 4.1-3

Reflection: Fat Cows and Fat Cats

By John Tillman

Amos called Samaria’s women “cows of Bashan.” He wasn’t body shaming, but he was drawing attention to shameful things.

Just as the poet of Song of Songs was not insulting the bride by saying her hair was like a flock of goats (Song of Songs 4.1; 6.5), Amos was not insulting the physical appearance of these women by comparing them to prize cattle.

The region of Bashan was a symbol of wealth and power. Bashan had rugged mountains and terrain (Psalm 68.15-16), towering forests of strong trees (Ezekiel 27.6; Isaiah 2:12-14; Zechariah 11.2), and strong, well-fed cattle of all kinds. These fattened animals were desirable for eating (Ezekiel 39.18) and for sacrifices.

In agrarian societies, cattle are a symbol of culture and wealth. This is why Pharaoh saw fat and skinny cows in his warning dream about the famine. (Genesis 41.1-4) Amos’s “fat cow” metaphor is less instinctive to our finance-driven society, but “fat cats,” which is similarly unrelated to physical appearance, still resonates today. 1920s journalists coined “fat cats” to shame ultrawealthy industrialists and robber-barons who had outsized influence on political campaigns and public policy. Their influence contributed to increasing poverty and the Great Depression. 

Amos shamed the wanton appetites and greed of Samaria’s society that contributed to the oppression of the poor. Their hearts, not their bodies, were misshapen and we can find the same “heart” in our society. Amos would not have to look far today to find “cows of Bashan” and “fat cats” and we don’t either.

Don’t make excuses, thinking Amos only meant uber-wealthy people. His condemnation is broader. Amos wasn’t just talking about rich women—he included everyone. Take the log from your eye first. (Luke 6.41-42) Much more is demanded of those who have been given much (Luke 12.48), however, greed is not just a sickness of the wealthy. It infects us all.

Our society promotes and celebrates unfettered appetites of greed and pleasure. If you want it, you need it. If you need it, you take it. Or, better yet, force someone to give it to you. We cannot sit in this river passively—we’ll be swept away to destruction. We must constantly resist the current by paddling toward mercy, benevolence, and equal justice and anchoring ourselves to the generosity of Christ.

Like God, look at the heart, not outward appearance. (1 Samuel 16.7) It is shameful for those blessed by the generosity of Jesus to find our hearts shaped by greed. Continually confess and repent this cultural influence of greed and power.

Divine Hours Prayer: The Request for Presence

For the sake of your Name, lead and guide me. — Psalm 31.3

– From The Divine Hours: Prayers for Springtime by Phyllis Tickle

Read more: Prepared to Meet God

Through the mediation of Jesus, we can prepare to meet God with confidence.

Read more: Cherishing Chaff

Many things the disciples prized, Jesus recognized as poison. Many things they cherished Jesus called chaff in the wind.

Links for today’s readings:

Apr 17  Read: Amos 1 Listen: (2:38) Read: Matthew 21 Listen: (7:10)

Links for this weekend’s readings:

Apr 18  Read: Amos 2 Listen: (2:12) Read: Matthew 22 Listen: (4:56)
Apr 19  Read: Amos 3 Listen: (2:11) Read: Matthew 23 Listen: (4:53)

Scripture Focus: Amos 1.1-2

1 The words of Amos, one of the shepherds of Tekoa—the vision he saw concerning Israel two years before the earthquake, when Uzziah was king of Judah and Jeroboam son of Jehoash was king of Israel. 
2 He said: 
“The LORD roars from Zion 
and thunders from Jerusalem;

Reflection: Burden Bearers

By John Tillman

Amos, the fig picker and shepherd prophet, was an outlier. He was not trained as a prophet, was not a part of the priestly lineage or profession, and was not a part of the higher class of educated people from whom most prophets came. And even if all of that were not the case, he was an out-of-towner. He came from the southern kingdom of Judah to the northern kingdom of Israel to confront one of Israel’s most powerful and successful kings.

Financially and militarily, Israel was at its peak of power when Amos arrived. 

Because of God’s compassion for the people, God had used Jeroboam II to save them militarily, despite his being an evil king. (2 Kings 14.23-27) But God would also remove him. Bad news was coming. The good times were about to be over. The country was proud, powerful, and profitable, but the stench of spiritual rot was real, and the wealth of the few was squeezed from the poor. (Amos 4.1-2)

Amos would have been comfortable among the fishermen-followers of Jesus. When these men confronted the religious elite of their day, the Sanhedrin were astonished that “they were unschooled, ordinary men…” (Acts 4.13) 

Amos shared the background of the shepherds in the fields who heard of Jesus’ birth. He would have been more familiar with the smell of the sheep and the fields than temple courts and palaces. But instead of carrying “good news of great joy,” Amos carried news of great suffering, judgment, and disaster.

Amos’s name means “burden” or “burden bearer” and he certainly bore a burden. He was burdened with bad news. Yet, the Lord was still willing to relent. (God turned back two judgments due to Amos’s prayers. Amos 7.1-6) Amos was burdened with a love for Judah and Israel. Yet, he would be accused of being an unpatriotic outsider and a conspirator against the king. (Amos 7.10-17)

Part of the “good news” of the gospel is the “bad news” of our sins. This is a part of the burden we bear toward others to speak this truth to them in love.

May we, like Amos, be burdened to intercede and intervene. 

May we bring to others the news that Jesus Christ will, if we ask him to, bear our burdens of sin and spare us as a remnant from the judgment to come.

Divine Hours Prayer: The Greeting

You are the Lord, most high over all the earth; you are exalted far above all gods. — Psalm 97.9

– From The Divine Hours: Prayers for Springtime by Phyllis Tickle

Read more: The Discrepancy of the Fig Tree

The fig tree discrepancy that concerns Jesus is the discrepancy between outward posturing and the true fruit of faith. Truly flourishing faith produces deeds.

Read more: Judgment, The Great Equalizer

God judges the heart within us, not the dirt we live on. Judgment equalizes us all, but so does his mercy.