Year B
Amos 7:7-15
Psalm 85:8-13
Ephesians 1:3-14
Mark 6:14-29

May the words of my mouth, O God, speak your truth…

In the verses just prior to today’s passage from the prophet Amos…  God pronounces a litany of indictments against an indulgent society…  in which the powerful and wealthy are accused of arrogance and self-satisfaction…  and in today’s reading…  God is imaginatively described as standing beside a wall…  which was built using a plumb line…  which God is still holding…  and God asks the prophet what he sees…  and as we heard…  he answers correctly…

A plumb line is used to measure…  it uses the law of gravity to find right angles…  to indicate the most direct route from top to bottom…  and to keep things…  well…  plumb…  a plumb line doesn’t change or move with the whims of the carpenter…  with gravity to guide it…  the line remains true…  so that all of one’s work can be measured against that line…  or else it will miss the mark…  think for example…  about a door needing to be set squarely within its door frame…  

And the term plumb line is referenced in scripture in several contexts…  in Isaiah 28:16…  God is pictured as a builder and who says…  See…  I lay a stone in Zion…  a tested stone…  a precious cornerstone for a sure foundation…  this is a promise of an unshakeable kingdom…  and as God builds the kingdom…  God will ensure that there will be no crookedness…  no skewed angles…  no sin…  the kingdom will be perfect in every way…  and in the very next verse…  God says…  I will make justice the measuring line and righteousness the plumb line…

And so with that in mind…  God tells the prophet…  See…  I am setting a plumb line in the midst of my people Israel…  I will never again pass them by…  and God does this to examine them…  to see how they’re measuring up to God’s standards…  and it’s not looking good…  and the reluctant prophet continues God’s pronouncements…  that the high places of Isaac shall be made desolate…  and the sanctuaries of Israel shall be laid waste…  and God will rise against the house of Jeroboam with the sword…  nope…  not looking good…

So Amaziah…  the priest of Bethel…  does two things…  he sends word to King Jeroboam…  to tell him that Amos is speaking against him…  and he tells Amos to flee to Judah…  to prophesy there…  and we can almost hear Amos saying…  don’t blame me…  I was minding my own business…  doing the work I do…  and God called me…  and told me what to say…

Douglas King…  Senior Associate Pastor at Brick Presbyterian Church in New York…  wrote…  when Jacob awoke from receiving his promise of blessing from God… he said this of Bethel…  how awesome is this place…  this is none other than the house of God…  and this is the gate of heaven…  how ironic then…  how illuminating it is…  that Amaziah never once mentions God in this exchange…  when he feels threatened by Amos’ words he turns to the king…  when he speaks of the sanctuary at Bethel…  it is not God’s sanctuary…  but the king’s…  and so the fulfillment of God’s blessing to Jacob…  the creation of a kingdom with its many offspring…  has led the people of God to a place beyond which they can even recognize the presence of God…  the very abundance of blessings provided…  has distracted them from the God who has provided them…

And like the previous verses from Amos…  today’s Gospel reading is a continuation of last week’s reading…  Jesus has just been going about from village to village casting out demons and healing people…  and he sends out the disciples to do the same…  and this is what Herod has heard about…  and he’s afraid…  the king of this world is afraid…  because while some are saying that it must be Elijah who’s doing this…  and while others are saying it’s one of the other prophets of old…  Herod’s guilt elicits fear in him…  because he thinks it’s John the Baptist…  who in today’s Gospel flashback we learn he beheaded…  but who has been raised…  and he’s afraid because he knows that both the prophets…  and especially John…  are people who challenge authority…  and Herod felt perplexed…  and challenged…  by his conversations with the Baptist…

Pastor Isaac Villegas writes…  Herod is part of the one percent…  a member of the class of people who feast while others struggle for their next paycheck…  he throws a party for his courtiers and officers and the leaders of Galilee…  and the powerful eat more than they need…  and drink from bottomless glasses…  Herod and his friends leer at Herodias’ daughter –– enlisted as their entertainment — in a scene of sexist exploitation…

And this exploitation exists still today…  the Me Too Movement arose out of it…  exposing the ways the Jeffrey Epsteins of the world treat women…  and it goes as far as paying hush money to avoid exposing pre-election indiscretions…  and while Herod may have spoken too quickly…  while he may feel cornered by the rash promise he made to Herodias after she danced…  his regard for his guests and those who support him…  is apparently far greater…  egregiously greater…  than his regard for human life…

And in a small way…  the entrance hymn we just sang reflects that…  The Canticle of the Turning…  is based on the Magnificat…  when for example…  the words of the canticle tell the king to beware…  because God’s justice will tear every tyrant from his throne…  the Magnificat says…  He has cast down the mighty from their thrones…  and has lifted up the lowly…

We cannot understand these ancient stories and hymns…  without also understanding that they are our stories too… we just affirmed that after Deacon Kim proclaimed the Gospel…  and the truths expressed in them thousands of years ago…  remain true in our time…  and the transcendent themes of power and corruption are reflected in the news stories of our time…  and I wonder how we can hear them without slapping on partisan labels…  how we can hear them as a corrective…  how we can hear them as an invitation to embrace God’s justice…  how we can hear them…  as we grapple with the gap between our nation’s ideals…  and the work that we still need to do to achieve them…  and are we willing to let God’s plumb line measure how far we are…  from God’s sure and true guidelines…  guidelines that are no arbitrary human construct…  but which arise out of our evolving perception and integration of God’s construct…  and God will save us from everything that blinds us to God’s will…  but for those who benefit from a system that produces such dehumanizing disparities…  salvation…  coming back into alignment…  will feel like desolation…

But coming into alignment won’t be easy…  there will be a cost…  because while Herod stopped John…  while he’ll have a hand in stopping Jesus… we must still grapple with the actions of too many modern Herods…  those who don’t see their role in public service as a sacred trust…  but rather as an opportunity to promote themselves and their many interests…  those who abduct children to scare immigrants from crossing borders…  those who imprison truth tellers like Alexi Navalny…  those who assassinate presidents as happened this week in Haiti…  those who seek to manipulate voting laws solely so they can remain in power…  and until the scales are tipped in God’s favor…  there will be desolation for the unrighteous…  and tragically…  for some of the righteous alike…  but God’s power to do good…  to bring light…  and to restore wholeness cannot be stopped…

The baptismal promises affirmed today’s Epistle to the Ephesians…  that God chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world…  to be holy and blameless before God in love…  affirm that we have also obtained a divine inheritance…  and while we see and experience glimpses of that inheritance in this world…  we will experience it’s blessing…  and completion…  and utter fulfillment…  in the next…  and for that we say…  thanks be to God…