In today’s readings we have two outsiders, Amos the prophet and Jesus the Son of Man. Amos was from the southern Kingdom of Judah but God sent him to the northern Kingdom of Israel. Amos condemned King Jeroboam and Israel for their social injustice and apostasy:
“For three crimes of Israel, and now four…Because they hand over the just for silver, and the poor for a pair of sandals; They trample the heads of the destitute into the dust of the earth, and force the lowly out of the way.” (Amos 2:6-7).
Amaziah, the priest of Bethel, accuses Amos of conspiracy against Jeroboam, King of Israel and rebukes him:
“Off with you, seer, flee to the land of Judah and there earn your bread by prophesying! But never again prophesy in Bethel; for it is the king’s sanctuary and a royal temple.” (7:12-13).
Amos responds that God made me do it! He states that he is not a professional prophet but a shepherd or herdsmen:
“I am not a prophet, nor do I belong to a company of prophets. I am a herdsman and a dresser of sycamores, but the LORD took me from following the flock, and the LORD said to me, ‘Go, prophesy to my people Israel.’”
God sent Amos from the southern Kingdom of Judah to the northern Kingdom of Israel to deliver God’s stern message of judgment and condemnation.
In a similar way to Amos, Jesus is an outsider and not a professional priest or scribe. Some scribes take offense at Jesus’ declaration to the paralytic: “Courage, child, your sins are forgiven.” These scribes accuse Jesus of blasphemy since no one could forgive sins but God. Jesus healed the paralytic and thus proved that he as the “Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.”
The message of both these readings is that God works where he will and we cannot restrict God to one place or his words to only “professional religious.” This is also the message we hear in John’s Gospel: “The wind (spirit) blows where it wills, and you can hear the sound it makes, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes; so it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.” (John 3:8)
Image: “Blaubeuren Klosterkirche Chorgestühl Amos 013” by GFreihalter is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.