Amos 5:18–24 / Psalm 70 / I Thessalonians 4:13–18 / Matthew 25:1–13
This is the written version of the sermon given at Flohrs Evangelical Lutheran Church (ELCA) in McKnightstown, Pennsylvania on Sunday, November 8, 2026 by Fr. Gene Tucker, Interim Pastor.
“BLINDFOLDED & STUMBLING INTO JUDGMENT”
(Homily texts: Amos 5: 18–24 & Matthew 25: 1-13)
It
isn’t often that we take a close look at our Old Testament readings. However,
this morning’s reading from the prophet Amos offers us a rich lesson in
humility, in being able to see ourselves as God sees us, and in being willing
(with God’s help) to remove the blinders we often wear, blinders which shield our
own spiritual condition.
Before
we look at the implications of Amos’ warnings, let’s remind ourselves of the
times in which Amos lived, and of the mission that God called him to undertake
to the Northern Kingdom of Israel.
Amos’
ministry is generally thought to have taken place in the period of about 760
BC, but perhaps as later as 740 BC or so.
At
that time, God’s people had separated themselves into two nations: The Southern
Kingdom of Judah, with Jerusalem as its capital, and the Northern Kingdom of
Israel, located in Samaria. At the time of Amos’ ministry, both kingdoms were
enjoying a time of relative calm and prosperity. Both were relatively immune to
the dangers that rival, much larger empires, would pose.
God’s
call to Amos wasn’t an easy one to ministry. For one thing, Amos was from the
Southern Kingdom, so that meant that he was a foreigner to the people of the
Northern Kingdom. But it was to the people in the Northern Kingdom that Amos
was told to go to. Furthermore, Amos admits that he is unqualified for the
mission he’d been given: He says that he is no prophet, nor is he a prophet’s
son. But he is, he says, a shepherd and a dresser of sycamore trees. (Amos
7:14).
Just
what were the conditions in the north that Amos addresses?
For
one thing, the wealthy in the land gained their wealth by defrauding the poor,
using false weights in their trading. Amos’ words sting as he says, “Hear this,
you who trample on the needy and bring the poor of the land to an end, saying,
‘When will the new moon be over, that we may sell grain? And the Sabbath, that
we may offer wheat for sale, that we may make the ephah[1] small and the shekel[2] great and deal deceitfully with false balances[3],
that we may buy the poor for silver and the needy for a pair of sandals and
sell the chaff of the wheat?’” (Amos 8:4–6)
Spiritual
arrogance was another sin. Notice how Amos points out (in the passage cited
above from chapter eight) that the wealthy of the land were eager for the
Sabbath to be over and done with so that they could get about the much more
important business of treacherous dealings in their business affairs.
“Woe
to you who lie on beds of ivory and stretch themselves out on their couches,
and eat lambs from the flock and calves from the midst of the stall, who sing
idle songs to the sound of the harp and like David, invent for themselves
instruments of music, who drink wine in bowls and anoint themselves with the
finest oils. But are not grieved over the ruin of Joseph.” (Amos 6:4–6) Blindness!
Blindness to their own depraved spiritual condition is contained in Amos’
description of the self-satisfied lives of ease that the wealthy of the land
enjoyed, and that at the expense of the poor.
Empty
worship is yet another sin of the people in the north. Their priest, Amaziah,
says to Amos, “O seer[4], go,
flee away to the land of Judah, and eat bread there, and prophesy there, but
never again prophesy in Bethel, for it is the king’s sanctuary and it is a
temple of the kingdom.” (Amos 7:12–13) Notice that Amaziah doesn’t say that the
temple is God’s temple, but rather, it is a temple of the king and a temple of
the kingdom.
A
whole lot was going wrong in the Northern Kingdom. Amos’ task is to try to wake
them up, to see themselves (and their true spiritual condition) as God sees
them, and to make them aware that God’s judgment is coming, in direct
consequence for their sinfulness.
Indeed,
that judgment did come, just as Amos had predicted: In the year 722 BC, the
Assyrians swept in from the north and east, and conquered the Northern Kingdom.
In the process, the Assyrians deported much of the population to parts unknown
(what has become known as the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel). The Assyrians also refilled
the land with peoples from other places (the legacy of this action was the
creation of the Samaritans, about whom Jesus had a lot to say).
Amos’
message is timeless, for each and every person, every one of us, in every age,
in every time, and in every circumstance, are called to remove the blinders
which can so easily sugar coat our own estimation of our true spiritual
condition. For, in truth, each of us are prone to say, “I am rich, I have
prospered, and I need nothing, not realizing that I am wretched, pitiable,
poor, blind, and naked”. This is the description of the Letter to the Church in
Laodicea, found in the Book of Revelation 3:14–22. The description found there
fits, quite well, with the situation of the Northern Kingdom in the eighth
century BC, and it could easily describe our own true, spiritual condition.
St.
Augustine of Hippo[5],
who is – perhaps – the foremost theologian that the Western Church has ever
produced, maintained that we human beings are so easily fooled by the Evil One.
We are, indeed, easily fooled, if we are honest about our inability to deal
with evil deception.
Advent
is coming!
The
season of Advent is a time of preparation. Its dual themes are God’s judgment,
and God’s blessings found in the sending of His Son, Jesus.
Our
Lord encourages us to prepare, to be aware, to be ready for God’s coming. Surely
that is the message that the Lord provides us this morning in His Parable of
the Wise and the Foolish Bridesmaids. That coming may come as the conviction that
the Holy Spirit brings, as the Spirit enables us to see ourselves truly, and as
God sees us. That coming may involve a descent into the depths of life, as we face
the prospect of the loss of all things, in order that God might begin to remake
and to remold us into the holy people He desires to call His own.
After
all, absent the possibility and the reality of a transformed life, no encounter
with God can be genuine unless we find ourselves on a journey to godliness,
holiness, and amendment of life as a result of that encounter.
AMEN.
[1] An ephah was a measure of about 3/5 of a bushel.
[2] A common coin.
[3] Marketing often involved measuring the weight of something like grain
(for example) on a balance beam with the money on the other end of the goods to
be sold.
[4] A seer is a prophet.
[5] Augustine lived from 354 – 430. He was the Bishop in the Roman city of Hippo, located in northern Africa.
