The King’s Sanctuary
Amos 7:7-15, 8:1-12
July 31, 2022
Emmanuel Baptist Church; Rev. Kathy Donley
Note: A recording of the worship service in which this sermon was preached may be found here: https://youtu.be/W6KtH9LzPKk
There was a sacred place in Israel. It was called Bethel which means “House of God”. It was the place where long ago, Abram built an altar and talked with God about the future. Bethel was the place where Jacob slept, exhausted, on his journey to his uncle’s home. It was the place where he dreamed about a ladder to heaven. For some period of time, the Ark of the Covenant was kept there. By the time of Amos, it was one of two primary places of worship for Israel. It was even more like a national cathedral because, of course, ancient Israel was not a democracy, but a theocracy.
In most theocracies, the king or queen is in charge of the nation’s religion. There is no separation of church and state. And so it was in ancient Israel – every time a king was crowned, it was claimed that he was chosen by God to rule. However, unlike the nations that surrounded Israel at the time, the prophets felt free to call the kings to account, to publicly question whether they were really acting as God’s representative or merely a person in power doing what they wanted.[1] Perhaps the best known example of that is when the prophet Nathan rebuked King David for sexually assaulting Bathsheba and for setting up her husband Uriah to be killed in battle. When Nathan spoke to him, David could have continued to misuse his power. He could have had Nathan executed, but he did not. Instead, he acknowledged that Nathan was speaking for God and he sought forgiveness for his sin. So, even though kings were believed to be chosen by God, they were not God and they could still be subject to the word brought by the prophets.
Amos stands in a long line of prophets who speak truth to power. He prophesies to the northern kingdom of Israel during the reign of King Jeroboam. His reign of 41 years was marked by territorial expansion, aggressive militarism and unprecedented national prosperity. Amos is concerned about the concentration of wealth among urban elites, because the prosperity being enjoyed by those at the top seems to have come at the expense of the poor.
Worship has become a sham, a pretext. Amos says that they can’t wait for church to be over, so that they can get back to gouging the poor. He wants them to see that they have systematically crushed the poor and ignored the needy. They take pride in their religiosity and their history as God’s favored people, but Amos says they are deluding themselves. In reality, they have completely abandoned God’s ways. They are out of alignment with the covenant, untrue to God and to whom they believe themselves to be.
Now some of the Biblical prophets offer words of comfort along with judgment. In places, Isaiah and Jeremiah look forward to a time when God’s mercy and forgiveness will prevail. Yeah, Amos doesn’t really do that. Amos is uncompromising. God is angry at the treatment of the most vulnerable, at the victimization of the powerless, and the collusion between religious and political authorities. God’s patience has come to an end. There is no forgiveness, only judgment.
This is a hard word. It makes me uncomfortable. But wiser theologians than I have taught that God’s love demands righteousness, and that violations of God’s repeated calls to justice cause God grief. God is not indifferent to human suffering and oppression. “God’s judgment, for Amos, is a manifestation of relationship with a living God, a God of passion who cares deeply.”[2]
This is a hard word. Amaziah doesn’t want to hear it. Amaziah is the priest at Bethel, that ancient sacred space. He doesn’t want to listen to the truth that Amos is proclaiming so he tries to silence him. His strategies might come straight from a contemporary political playbook. He tells Amos to go back to Judah where he’s from, implying that he is an outside agitator, come to make money by stirring up trouble. He has a specific name for Amos’ words – he calls them a conspiracy. Where have we heard that before? And he claims to have the authority of Bethel, which he considers not God’s sanctuary, but the King’s sanctuary. That’s where he gives himself away. His primary allegiance is not to God, but to the king. His place of service is not the holy place where God and humans connect, but the halls of political power. He occupies a cozy place in the structure of religious nationalism.
The two prophets, Amos and Amaziah each claim to speak for God. With the benefit of history, we know that Amos was the real deal. We know that because his words are consistent with who God is as described elsewhere in scripture. We also know it because his words came true – Israel was captured and taken in exile.
People who haven’t read the Bible may think that it is an old book with outdated, irrelevant ideas. But if you read it carefully, you know how contemporary it is, how much human nature hasn’t changed over thousands of years.
There are multiple prophets in our time. Some speak the truth as best as they can discern it, as clearly as they know how. Others twist scripture and use their religious credentials to gain political power. And so, if we would be faithful, we have two tasks. First, we must listen carefully to any who invoke God’s name in order to discern who is accurately representing God and who is a person with power doing what they want. And second, in this age of deliberate misinformation and attempts to suppress inconvenient truths, we must speak the truth more clearly than ever before.
I watched this play out not long ago on social media. A member of a church had been the victim of gun violence. In sharing their concern for that member, the church said “God forgive us for allowing our idolatrous support of violence and its weapons to continue.”
That is a theological statement. It is a confession of sin. It speaks of idolatry. The church is speaking its truth in its own wheelhouse.
But some people were offended by it. They claimed that the church was trying to turn a tragedy into a political event. They spoke of a “God-given right” to bear arms. One person quoted Jesus saying “No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” And then they interpreted that to mean that self-defense is biblically required. As if shooting someone and laying down your life for someone are the same thing.
One person’s comments grabbed my attention. Speaking to the church, he said, “your nonviolent messages are a breath of fresh air to me. It’s amazing to me how many are bothered by such messages because of their love of weapons of war. I’m not a Christian any more for many reasons, but one of the most mortifying things for me to watch was the penchant “followers of Christ” have for violence, fascism, and weaponry. I have yet to find in the Bible where Jesus encouraged violence against other people, even in the case of self-defense, so it’s pretty bewildering to see how so many “followers of Christ” live lives glorifying violence, lives that are completely antithetical to the teachings attributed to Christ.”
Amos was a truth-teller. Truth-telling is still an urgent task. The things which provoked God’s anger then – the mistreatment of the vulnerable, neglecting the needy, and the collusion between religious and political authorities -- those things still provoke God’s anger now.
Christian nationalism is a blatant form of religious power at work right now. It is a fusion of Christian faith and American civic life. This particular form of Christianity carries with it assumptions about white supremacy, authoritarianism, patriarchy and militarism that are emphatically rejected by other Christians. It carries fear and distrust of religious minorities and condones police violence towards Black Americans.[3] Many scholars are saying that Christian nationalism is the greatest current threat to our democracy. I think that’s probably true.
But even more troubling to me is the effect that Christian Nationalism is having on authentic faith. Some otherwise faithful Christians are being led astray by these false prophets because the message is cloaked in God talk. And many others are abandoning faith altogether because they see prominent Christians endorsing positions completely antithetical to the teachings of Jesus.
Those of us who have wanted to emphasize God’s mercy and forgiveness over God’s judgment, those of us who want to extend soul liberty to those disagree with us, we may have been slow to recognize this danger. But it is just as destructive now as it was in Amos’ time. Christian Nationalism is one of the forces that drives policy decisions and legislation by which the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. These are policies which quite literally lead to death. Christian Nationalism is one of the forces that inspires acts of violence and intimidation, like the mass shooting in a Buffalo supermarket in May and countless others.
I have been slow to understand and slow to speak against this ideology. One of you asked me to talk about power and violence this summer. I think what you had in mind was the war in Ukraine and whether violence is ever justified as a Christian response. That is an extremely important question which I didn’t attempt to answer. I am sorry to disappoint, but I am grateful for the question, because it led me to think about the corruption of religious power and helped me understand the violence of this ideology. If you want to see an example of Christian nationalism beyond the USA, you might consider the Russian Orthodox Church’s endorsement of the invasion of Ukraine.
Chris Kratzer is an author and pastor of 25 years. He writes from his own experience within churches that embraced a nationalistic worldview. He suggests that we might discern the truth by examining the methods as well as the message. He says, “If [they] wanted to change the world towards the way of Jesus, they would be using the way of Jesus to change the world. Instead, they are using the way of Empire . . . because they want the world to change to the way of Empire, not Jesus.” [4]
As we seek the truth, we can look at the methods of the message-bearers. Are they speaking from the king’s sanctuary, employing the tactics of deception, intimidation and violence? What are the fruits of their words and actions? Or do they follow Jesus who modelled compassion and service and self-giving love?
Friends, we are called to speak the truth in love and to participate in the repentance that leads to renewal. The task is urgent. The time is now. May we do so more clearly and consistently than ever before. Amen.
[1] John C Holbert, “This is the King’s Sanctuary” https://www.patheos.com/blogs/theperipateticpreacher/2019/06/proper-10-july-14-2019-amos-77-17-this-is-the-kings-sanctuary/
[2] Elaine T James https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/ordinary-15-2/commentary-on-amos-77-15-4
[3] Information from Taking America Back for God: Christian Nationalism in the United States by Andrew Whitehead and Samuel Perry (Oxford University Press, 2020) found at https://www.christiansagainstchristiannationalism.org/
[4] https://www.facebook.com/chris.kratzer/posts/pfbid0VsqQ4PrqmvNHGsRY6KBWdRdvPngouhfTi71LCmPShf4k381cGC3sTNEv4WBbC7yml