The eighth century BCE Prophet,
Amos, was minding his own business, taking care of his father’s sheep and
pruning Sycamore trees and the LORD
took him from following the flock, and “the LORD said to him, Go, prophesy to my people Israel.'"
I suspect Amos’ first thoughts were not, “cool, let’s do this.”
Amos explained: “this is what the Lord God showed me: the Lord was standing beside a
wall built with a plumb line, with a plumb line in his hand. And the LORD said
to me, Amos, what do you see? And I said, a plumb line. Then the Lord said to
Amos,
See, I am setting a plumb line in the midst of my people Israel; I will never again pass them by; the high places of Isaac shall be made desolate,and the sanctuaries of Israel shall be laid waste, and I will rise against the house of Jeroboam with the sword." (Amos 7:7-15)
And Amos went, and prophesied
to the king and the people of Israel. Holding
the plumb line is what prophets do. They hold God’s message, God’s standard, up
and allow us, or perhaps force us to compare our lives and actions to God’s
message and actions. The plumb line is
always straight, it has to be, so if anything is off kilter it is the human
being, or the society, or the church or other organization. God’s plumb line helps us see what we are
called to do and to be and gives us a chance to straighten up. Sometimes we do
and sometimes we do not.
John the Baptist, a prophet, was arrested for holding a plumb line
up for King Herod, telling him that it was not proper or right for him to marry
his brother’s wife. Herod was bothered
by some of the things John said, but he was also intrigued by him. Although he
did not want to put John to death, he had promised his wife’s daughter, Herodias,
anything she wanted because he and his dinner guests were so pleased with her
dancing for them. (Mark 6:14-29)
Even though John had held a plumb line for
Herod, Herod could not make himself bend to that line. Why not? He knew he did
not want to keep the promise to Herodias, but he kept it anyway. Why did Herod and why do we do things we do
not want to do? I believe it is our
pride or our embarrassment. We have made
a promise in front of our friends. What will they think of us if we do not
follow through? Will they think us week,
insincere, less manly or less womanly? Will
we lose power and control over others? Will we look weak? Herod saw the Plumb
Line but he could not straighten up.
Prophecy calls us, summons us to change,
it challenges our norms and seeks to awaken us to the presence of God in our
lives and in the world. Prophecy can break through denial, and challenge norms
and seek to awaken our hearts and minds.
Or, we can become reactionary, get our backs up and do all we can to
justify ourselves. We then attack and dehumanize the prophet. We might even, in
our reaction stand for things we have never stood for in the past just to prove
that “no one can tell me what to do.”
Like Amos, the modern prophet holds the
Plumb Line against us and our institutions, calling us to stand up straight
against all that threatens the peace and unity of the human race. When we hear the prophets and when we stand
straight against the “crooked walls” we will seem out of line and may even be
classified and condemned as prophets ourselves. As Flannery O’Connor said, “you
shall know the truth and the truth will make you odd.”
Jesus left in his wake a trail of
uneasy, intrigued and perplexed hearers.
I suspect there were some among them who knew that if they listened long
enough, that he would bring them to a point of decision they would much rather
avoid. Prophets do that.
The Bible, the Book of Common Prayer and
the Holy Eucharist are some of our plumb lines today. The Bible is not the end of God’s
communication with us, but a beginning, a foundation. The Holy Spirit through
today’s prophets will use these plumb lines to lead us and guide us into all
truth, and to give us the courage to live into that truth through our actions.
I believe that if we listen to the words
of scripture and engage fully with one another and with Jesus in the reception
of Holy Communion that we too may be brought to a point of decision we would
rather avoid. If we embrace Jesus’ message to “love our neighbor as ourselves,
to do unto others as we would want them to do unto us,” folks might think us
odd, but, we might just understand and help others to understand why some
symbols we hold dear can hurt and frighten others; we might think twice about
what we say, or write or post on social media.
We have the freedom to do and say what we please, but will that doing
and saying build up, or tear down? As Saint Paul wrote, “do not for the sake of
food, destroy the work of God. Everything is indeed clean, but it is wrong for
you to make others fall by what you eat.” (Romans 14:20)
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