Sermon Notes for Proper 10, Year C
This is what the Lord God showed
me:
the Lord was standing beside a
wall built with a plumb line,
with a plumb line in his hand.
And the LORD said to me, "Amos, what do you see?”
And I said, "A plumb line.” [1]
Plumb line: Amos
- Plumb
line
- Builders’
tool – a weight hanging from a string
- Purpose
of plumb line:
- Build
a wall straight & solid
- Today
– laser levels; same purpose.
- For
Amos – a prophetic image:
- God’s
plumb line, marking what is upright in God’ sight – or not.
How is wall of Israel out of
plumb?:
- Economic
injustice/exploitation
- Trampling on the needy and bringing
ruin to the poor of the land
- Practicing deceit with false balances
- Buying the poor for
silver and the needy for a pair of sandals [2]
- Ritualized
religion with no moral compass:
- I hate, I despise your
festivals and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies.
- I will not accept your burnt-offerings
and grain-offerings
- Take away from me the noise of your
songs;
I will not listen
to the melody of your harps [3]
- The
plumb line God desires is justice:
- Let justice roll down like waters,
and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream. [4]
- Amos:
Since there is no justice, judgment will come.
Plumb line—Gospel [5]
- Testing
lawyer asks Jesus’ a plumb line question:
- What
must I do to inherit eternal life?
- By
what plumb line must I shape my life to be upright to God?
- Jesus
returns a plumb line question:
- What
is written in the Law?
- What
do you read there?
- Lawyer’s
answer:
- Two
Great Commandments from OT Law
- The Plumb Line of Jewish &
Christian Tradition
- You
shall love the Lord your God w/all your heart, soul, strength & mind
- You
shall love your neighbor as yourself.
- Jesus
– “Right! Do this and you will live.”
- Lawyer
returns yet another plumb line question:
- And
who is my neighbor?
- Question
assumes that some are not
neighbors.
- There
are social boundaries that apply to command to love:
- Some
neighbors; some not.
- Does
neighbor include:
- The
village drunk who keeps me up at night?
- The
local landowner, who sets himself far above the rest of us?
- The
slaves of the local landowner?
- The
Roman soldiers occupying our land?
- The
Greek merchants who despise our faith?
- Who is
my neighbor? Who do I have to love?
Jesus done with
debating plumb lines with a lawyer – tells story.
- Man on
dangerous Jerusalem - Jericho road
- Beaten,
robbed, left for dead in the ditch
- Three Passers-by
- First
two: Priest & Levite
- Religious
professionals w/work to do – like me.
- Avoiding
ritual uncleanness so they can do their jobs.
- Before
we judge too harshly…
- What
if didn’t make it to Church Sunday AM because I stopped to help w/flat
tire?
- Third
Passer-by -- must be the Hero – a Samaritan
(!)
- Samaritans
seen by Jews as:
- Unclean,
heretics, despised, to be avoided
- Definitely
not neighbors:
- Gospel
of John: “Jews have nothing to do w/Samaritans.” [6]
- Pick
your favorite despised group to get a feel for this:
·
Wall Street bankers
·
Single moms on welfare
·
Oil company executives
·
Politicians
·
Islamic Fundamentalists
·
Illegal immigrants
- Someone
like this is the hero of story!
- Physically
cares for injured man
- Takes
to inn, pays for care
- Promises
more as needed.
- Treats
not as victim, but fellow human being, as neighbor!
- By
making the hero a “non-neighbor” Jesus:
- Shatters
expectations about social boundaries:
- race,
religion, class, etc. are irrelevant to being neighbor
- Says
social boundaries don’t matter when someone is in need.
- To beaten man, doesn’t matter who helps
him– as long as someone does!
- Destroys
assumptions that there are limits to being neighbor
- This
is made explicit in Jesus’ final exchange with lawyer:
- Jesus:
Who was neighbor to man attacked by
thieves?
- Lawyer:
One who showed him mercy
- Jesus: Go
and do likewise.
- “Neighbor”
not a category which includes some and not others.
- “Neighbor”
a way of acting towards others:
- Neighbors do not recognize social
class. ...
- [Neighbors show] mercy for those in
need regardless of their race, religion or region..
- Mercy sees only need and responds
with compassion. [7]
- Neighborly
love without boundaries is ultimate plumb line for human behavior in God’s
eyes.
Brings us back to
Amos and Plumb line of neighborly love
- Assumption
of merchants, rich, powerful in ancient Israel:
- Needy
aren’t neighbors
- Can
cheat, rip-off, overcharge at will – because poor don’t matter
- Can
worship God without remorse because God doesn’t care either.
- Amos –
NOT!
- Let justice roll down like waters,
and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream. [8]
- Needy
are neighbors
- Poor
do matter
- God
cares about injustice and will judge accordingly.
Plumb line of neighborly
love in our day:
· Our
merchants, rich, powerful: Wall Street bankers, oil company executives,
politicians
o Seem
to share assumption that:
- Needy
aren’t neighbors
- Can
cheat, rip-off, overcharge at will – because poor don’t matter
- That
is true – and worth naming and challenging
- But
too easy for me, for us to point the finger at “them”
- Amos
has done that better than I can.
- More
important question for us to face.
- Plumb
line question for us:
- Who
is our neighbor?
- Parable
– must be everyone.
- But
who do we treat as not our neighbor?
- Who
are we inclined to despise?
- Who
might we pass by if we saw in need?
·
Wall Street bankers
·
Single moms on welfare
·
Oil company executives
·
Politicians
·
Islamic Fundamentalists
·
Illegal immigrants
·
Others for you?
- Whomever
–
- Jesus
calls us to do as Samaritan did;
- Show
mercy
- Do
justice
- Live
compassion
- Be
a neighbor to those:
- beyond our social boundaries
- outside our comfort zone.
- Let
neighborly love for absolutely everybody be the plumb line of our lives.
The Rev. Jack Zamboni
July 11, 2010