July 12, 2009, 15th Sunday in OT. B.

The first reading is the account of the rejection of the Prophet, Amos, by the priest of the temple in Samaria. Amos, today, would be called a "bleeding heart liberal." If "liberal" is a bad word for you, don't read the prophet Amos. In fact, there is much of the Bible you can't read. On the other hand, for those for whom "conservative" is a bad word, much of the Bible is a closed text to you, too. Ideology is not the point of the Bible, and those who want to read their own politics into the text, always have to pick and choose.

 

Anyway, Amos had been condemning the king of Israel for having been extremely successful in getting a booming economy going, but for having neglected the poor. As the GNP rose, they cut the safety net from under the poor to try to preserve profits. They called it efficiency. Amos called it a crime that cried out to heaven, and he reminded the king that "the cry of the poor will pierce the clouds!" Well, the ruling elite were no happier with that message, then, than our congress would be today if it were given to them today! So, the priest threw Amos out of the temple and told him to get out of town if he valued his life!

 

The point the collector of this prophet's words wanted to make is this: God cares deeply about those who are struggling to survive...whether that be economic poverty, or spiritual poverty, or psychological poverty, or emotional poverty...God is always met on the edge of poverty...in the deserts of our lives, and if the temple (meaning the official religion) wont be there to act on God's behalf, then God will find other ways to make His love and support apparent.

 

That is quite a challenge to the Church in every age!

 

Then, in the Gospel reading, Jesus sent his most religious followers, The Twelve, to those most marginalized in their society. In Jesus' day, most people were poor. The entire peasant class, of which many historians believe Jesus to have been a member, lived on the ragged edge of nothing. They were always hungry, they were always poor, and there was no way out of that. BUT, among those, there were some who were worse off than the rest because they were considered to be evil and possessed by evil.

 

Jesus sent his religious followers--in total poverty--with nothing to eat, nothing to drink, nothing to buy anything in an emergency. He sent his followers out as poverty-stricken beggars to minister to those thought to be evil...letting them know that everyone else may hate them, but God loved them. To these outcasts they were to bring some sort of healing peace through their acceptance of them and their love. Love casts out evil. Love invites reconciliation. The disciples learned the miracle...it's not money, power, status, etc. that transform ugly situations. It is simple love. The Twelve had no money to throw at any problem. They had no status. They had no "papers" showing who they were. Rather, they came with nothing but their walking stick...they didn't even have FOOD! Only through their inner gift...the gift of acceptance that had already been given to them, did they have to share. And when they shared it, miracles happened. Evil ceased to evil. 

 

These are powerful spiritual lessons. They remind you that God is desperately concerned about your poverty...and we each have ours. And God seeks to meet you there with his bounty of love. And, too, we learn that if we want to be people who help to transform our world and make it a gentler place, and that IS what religion ought to do--then we need to be loving, accepting people. Love enables people to change. Other strategies ossify people, and leave them unchanged, and often worse for the encounter.

 

And may God bless you all. +

-Father Bill Axe, O.SS.T.