21 July 2019
Amos 8:1-12; Luke 10:38-42
The late Mother Teresa (now St. Teresa of Calcutta) once
said, “The poverty of being unloved, unwanted, and uncared for is the
greatest poverty”. In her extensive and
well-renowned ministry to the poor of India she began in 1948, she obviously dealt
with a great deal of hunger and disease, but what she found most heart-wrenching
and distressing in all she dealt with was that poverty of loneliness. Her entire ministry, indeed her very life,
was devoted from the beginning not only to the sick and the hungry - but to
those unwanted, those uncared for, those unloved.
Pope Francis spoke about Mother Teresa’s life of
service in declaring her sainthood in 2016: ”Mother Teresa, in all aspects
of her life, was a generous dispenser of divine mercy, making herself available
for everyone through her hospitality and her defense of human life, those
unborn and those abandoned and discarded. She bowed down before those
who were spent, left to die on the side of the road, seeing in them their
God-given dignity."
St. Teresa of Calcutta (as she is now known in the
Roman Catholic Church) is an exception to almost anything we can speak of to
those who devote their lives to the care of others, but therein lies also the indictment
and judgment of Amos. What she
offered to her “neighbor” as Jesus defined “neighbor”
should be the rule for the whole Church rather than the exception
for only a few - given that our Lord and Shepherd affirmed that Great
Commandment to “love one’s neighbor as oneself”.
The Northern Kingdom of Israel was under judgment but
unlike other prophets, Amos’ call to Israel was not one of repentance. The judgment had already been rendered
because the cry of those “unwanted, uncared for, and unloved” had
reached the ears and the heart of The Lord.
Having been already called to task by other prophets, Amos was The
Lord’s final word to the Northern Kingdom before the fall.
As The Lord spoke, “I will send a famine on the
land; not a famine of bread or a thirst for water, but of hearing the Word of
The Lord … they shall run to and fro, seeking the Word of The Lord, but they
shall not find it” (Amos 8:11-12).
That utter disconnect would be Israel’s undoing
because their meaning as a “holy people”, their very existence as
a “nations of priests” had long ceased. It may be said that complete disconnect would
not only diminish, but eliminate completely, their sacred worth because they were
no longer a people with a mind and a heart for The Lord and His Word;
they were a bunch of persons living for whatever cultural meaning and wealth
they could gain for themselves – often at the expense of others. They were Jews in name only.
I have long maintained that people are pretty much the
same today as in ancient times, the difference being technology. Ancient people hated, ancient people cursed,
ancient people ignored those whom they deemed beneath them … as do we
today. Yet surely compassion, empathy,
and sympathy existed then as much as today.
Not all were of the same heart and mind of those who had been judged by
The Lord. So what happened?
Israel got what they had been asking for, living for. The disconnect between the Northern Kingdom
and the Eternal Word was the very same disconnect between the prosperous and
the poor. Yet the Northern Kingdom was
not being judged for having been prosperous.
They had been judged for “trampling on the needy and bringing ruin
to the poor of the land” (Amos 8:4).
Accumulating wealth cannot be said to be a curse in
and of itself because “wealth” is relative, and defining “wealth” is
subjective. Working and saving to own a
home or buy a car and even saving for one’s retirement all fall under the
heading of “accumulating wealth”. But
when that effort becomes one’s sole focus and purpose, there begins a profound disconnect
not only between ourselves and the Holy Word; there also begins our disconnect
from one another.
Oh, we will still have our families and our chosen,
like-minded, economically, and culturally equal friends … but over time our “neighbors”
(again, defined by Jesus the Living Word) will seem more a bother (not
even a burden which we often freely choose to bear – but only for those
whom we prefer to love).
Once that deterioration begins, it is only a matter of
time before the “neighbor” whom we are commanded to love becomes …
subhuman, a story-book character from Jesus’ parable of the Good
Samaritan, not real, and thus lacking sacred worth (in our own eyes). When they become dehumanized, they become
much easier to ignore and cast aside with a clear conscience. Worst of all, they become easier to exploit
for personal gain.
In our Gospel reading, Martha seems to be getting her
hand slapped by Jesus for working instead of following Mary’s lead “who
sat at Jesus’ feet and listened to Him” (Luke 10:39). Our Lord, however, is not saying our work
need not be done. Rather, our work must
not become our sole focus to the exclusion of all else – most especially our
Shepherd and His Church, His people, His congregation. As it is written in Ecclesiastes,
there is a time and a place for everything.
It is not unlike that great Gift of Sabbath we are
often neglectful of. The Lord knows
there is work to be done, necessary work, work that does in itself have meaning
and purpose. Yet we cannot become so
busy with our work or even our leisure that we lose sight of that which is most
important, that which gives everything we do and everything we are real meaning
– worship of our Lord, study of His Word, and looking out for one another … all
means of experiential grace. At the risk
of repeating myself, we as a people are no better than the worst among us, no
stronger than the weakest among us, and no healthier than the sickest among us.
So let us be about our work and our leisure, but let
us also be about our “neighbor”. Above and before all else, let us be about our
Lord. As a baptized people, we are not
only about Him and with Him – we ARE Him in a world filled
with darkness and loneliness. Let this
be our truth, and it will be enough for today.
Amen.
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