The Plumb Line
Amos 7:7-15[1]
As many of you know, I spent a year studying in Germany over 25
years ago. It was an amazing experience in many ways. The pace of life was much
slower, by design. I lived there the year “the Wall” came down and East Germany
along with the rest of Eastern Europe opened their borders. One of the
interesting aspects of living abroad was getting accustomed to the housing
arrangements. Some aspects of that experience were more “interesting” than
others. If you’ve been abroad, you know what I’m talking about!
One of “weird” facts about the apartment we lived in is that the
building was 400 years old! It was prime real estate, because it was right in
the heart of the “pedestrian zone” of Tübingen. And yet, because the building
was 400 years old, the corners weren’t quite square and the walls weren’t quite
plumb. To be sure, the building had been renovated, probably more than once. It
had all the necessary appliances and the décor was fairly modern. And I’m sure
the walls were straight up and down when they were built. But after 400 years,
those picture-postcard buildings in that quaint German University city were all
leaning on each other! Four Centuries offers a lot of time for buildings to
settle!
Amos, our prophet for this week, lived in a time when the
commitment of the people of Israel to “doing justly, loving mercy, and walking
humbly with your God” had had time to “settle.” Those who were at the top of
the social ladder were living in relative prosperity. Unfortunately, as is so
often the case, prosperity has a way of undermining spiritual and moral values.
As Jesus said, “You cannot serve God and wealth” (Matt. 6:24). Amos could see
by the conditions of the day that especially the leaders of Israel were more
concerned about serving their own wealth than about serving God.
Unfortunately, that kind of obsession with wealth has a way of
blinding us to our own spiritual poverty. The word of the Lord that Amos
received was almost “sneaky,” in that he began by predicting the downfall of
Israel’s enemies. One by one he declared God’s judgment on the nations
surrounding Israel. And I can imagine that as he proclaimed his message of judgment
on those around them, his audience nodded in approval. They were blind to the
condition of their own spiritual house.
But Amos finally came back to the people of Israel. And he
pronounced even stricter judgment on them because they should have known
better: they were God’s people. And yet they failed to practice the most basic
principle of God’s justice: to show compassion to the most vulnerable among
them. This was the “plumb line” by which God measured their lives. But instead
of practicing compassion, their mistreatment of the poor echoes like a refrain
throughout the book of Amos. He said that they were “trampling on the needy,
and bringing ruin to the poor of the land” (8:4). The corners of their
spiritual house were not square, and the walls were not plumb.
In all of this, the prophet’s message of judgment was this: “You
twist justice, making it a bitter pill for the oppressed. You treat the
righteous like dirt” (5:7, NLT). And perhaps the most shameful aspect of their
behavior was that it was all so that the powerful in Israel could further
enrich themselves. It was all so that they could live in the lap of luxury:
they built “houses of hewn stone” (5:11), feasted on couches made of ivory
(6:4), and drank wine by the bowlfuls (6:6). And yet, because they had not
followed the “plumb line” by caring for the most vulnerable, the walls of their
spiritual “house” were leaning so badly they were on the verge of collapse.
I don’t think there is much debate about the fact that the rich
are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer in our country. Income data
over the last several decades makes it clear that a greater portion of wealth
is concentrated in the hands of the very rich. And with some notable
exceptions, they seem to be using their influence to continue to enrich
themselves. In Amos’ day the solution was straightforward: “establish justice
in the public square” (5:15). In our day, it may seem more complicated. But the
plumb line remains: showing compassion to the most vulnerable in society. Jesus
said it this way, “as you did it to one of the least of these, you did it to
me” (Mt. 25:40).
When I was in Germany, I also witnessed the fall of the oppressive
regime in Romania. In the aftermath, humanitarian aid came pouring in from all
over Europe. And my church in Germany sent several of us with supplies to some
churches. Along the way, I met with a missions supervisor in Vienna. He
observed that the church in Eastern Europe had thrived under communism: the
churches were bursting at the seams. But he said the church in Western Europe
had languished under capitalism. I’m afraid that prosperity tends to have a
deadening effect on our relationship with God.
The antidote has always been to serve the needy. We live in a
time when the most vulnerable in our society seem to be getting poorer and
needier every year. And, of course, the real question is how to find true and
workable solutions to poverty. I don’t pretend to know the answer. But it seems
to me that the walls of our spiritual house are leaning. It is a time when, perhaps
more than ever, we must hold fast to the plumb line of God’s justice: showing
compassion to the most vulnerable in our world.
[1] ©
2018 Alan Brehm. A sermon delivered by Rev. Dr. Alan Brehm on 7/15/2018 at Hickman
Presbyterian Church, Hickman, NE.
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