Ninth Sunday after
Pentecost, Proper 11
Year C
July 21, 2013
Amos 8:1-12 Psalm 52
Colossians 1:15-28 St. Luke 10:38-42
Hymns: 618, 657, 686, 662
If
anyone wonders where I get to get my rather universalist views from,
the author of Colossians must surely bear some of the responsibility.
In the passage for today we are told that “God was pleased to
reconcile to himself all things” through Christ.
There
are no limits in that statement. There is no holding back. All
things have been reconciled to God through Christ. It includes you.
It includes me. It includes the world.
This
is one of the reasons I have a hard time with the concept of hell.
Certainly the jewish tradition had no hell. And I'm not sure that
there is a lot of biblical support for it.
Of
course that leaves many of us struggling with things like Hitler and
other monsters in the world. What happens to them if there is no
hell? I think there are two possible answers. One is that like the
rest of us they are reconciled to God and end up in heaven. Which
might actually be a form of hell to have to live up to the enormity
of the evil the perpetrated against others through all eternity. Or
perhaps they are just snuffed out of existence. Who knows? And
really, at this point in our faith walk, who cares? We should all be
focused on what God calls us to do and worry less about how others
responded to God's call in their lives.
God
didn't choose just a select group to be reconciled with as some would
like to believe. That, in my mind is way too limiting of the love
of God. And as heretical as some might find this rather simple view
of mine, there is a message in from the prophet Amos that I feel is
even more earth shattering.
It
is a message for us true enough, but I feel it is even a more
important message to politicians and those in power. What has
shocked me in recent years is the apparent ability of people to
separate their responsibilities to their creator from their life in
the world. The message from Amos is a powerful warning to those in
power. This should not be particularly surprising as God tends to
always speak powerful messages to those in positions of power.
Amos
warns that those who “trample on the needy, and bring to ruin the
poor of the land” are going to be called to account for their
actions. Amos was apparently one of the earlier liberation
theologians. Actually when you look at the words of the prophets,
they were all liberation theologians. This understanding has often
been expressed as God's preferential option for the poor. In the
words of Gustavo Gutierrez, “God demonstrates a special
predilection toward those who have been excluded from the banquet of
life.”
Too
often our political leaders in this day and age clearly have a
preferential option for the rich and what to ignore the poor, I guess
in the futile hope that they will go away.
God
wants each and every one of us to live into that special predilection
to those who have been excluded. There may have been many reasons
for the exclusion. But not one of those reasons will represent God
to those who are excluded.
We
are called to step out and take risks. It is not easy. And it
certainly is not safe.
No comments:
Post a Comment