As a college student in preparation for ministry, I had the opportunity to preach in a rural Kansas church with some friends and relatives in the congregation. After the service as I greeted people leaving the sanctuary, a friend from college shook my hand vigorously and said, "I really enjoyed that! Then he paused, backed off a little, and added, "But I wasn't supposed to enjoy it, was I?" Decades later, I can't remember anything I said in that sermon, nor what part of the Bible I based it on. But I have never forgotten his question. We're not supposed to enjoy sermons. It's the preacher's job to make us uncomfortable. Those implications bother me a great deal. Wrong-doing, oppression, abuse, injustice, of course, need to be rebuked and brought to an end. But lives of self-giving service need to be encouraged and celebrated. We need to sing about the "grace that is greater than all our sin." But Wednesday's readings fall within the category of uncomfortable, unenjoyable sermons. (Repeated from December 9, 2003, for December 10, 2003)

Amos 8:1-14

The Basket of Fruit

8:1 This is what the Lord GOD showed me-a basket of summer fruit. 2 He said, "Amos, what do you see?" And I said, "A basket of summer fruit." Then the LORD said to me,

"The end has come upon my people Israel;

I will never again pass them by.

3 The songs of the temple shall become wailings in that day,"

says the Lord GOD;

"the dead bodies shall be many,

cast out in every place. Be silent!"

4 Hear this, you that trample on the needy,

and bring to ruin the poor of the land,

5 saying, "When will the new moon be over

so that we may sell grain;

and the sabbath,

so that we may offer wheat for sale?

We will make the ephah small and the shekel great,

and practice deceit with false balances,

6 buying the poor for silver

and the needy for a pair of sandals,

and selling the sweepings of the wheat."

7 The LORD has sworn by the pride of Jacob:

Surely I will never forget any of their deeds.

8 Shall not the land tremble on this account,

and everyone mourn who lives in it,

and all of it rise like the Nile,

and be tossed about and sink again, like the Nile of Egypt?

9 On that day, says the Lord GOD,

I will make the sun go down at noon,

and darken the earth in broad daylight.

10 I will turn your feasts into mourning,

and all your songs into lamentation;

I will bring sackcloth on all loins,

and baldness on every head;

I will make it like the mourning for an only son,

and the end of it like a bitter day.

11 The time is surely coming, says the Lord GOD,

when I will send a famine on the land;

not a famine of bread, or a thirst for water,

but of hearing the words of the LORD.

12 They shall wander from sea to sea,

and from north to east;

they shall run to and fro, seeking the word of the LORD,

but they shall not find it.

13 In that day the beautiful young women and the young men

shall faint for thirst.

14 Those who swear by Ashimah of Samaria,

and say, "As your god lives, O Dan,"

and, "As the way of Beer-sheba lives"-

they shall fall, and never rise again. (Amos 8:1-14, NRSV)

A basket of ripe summer fruit is the fourth in Amos' series of visions (8:1-3, cf. 7:1-9:15). It "symbolizes the immediacy of Israel's end" R. L. Hicks & W. Brueggemann, NOAB, 2^nd ed., on Amos 8:1-3). A catalog of Israel's sins follows: they "trample the needy,/and bring to ruin the poor" (v. 4), merchants are impatient for the Sabbath to pass so they may continue their fraudulent practices, for they "make the ephah [a dry measure of produce] small and the shekel great,/and practice deceit with false balances" (v. 5) and so forth. Ruin is predicted, but the worst of it will be "not a famine of bread, or a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the LORD" (v. 11). (Comments are repeated in this paragraph from December 9, 2003, for December 10, 2003)

Revelation 1:17-2:7

17 When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. But he placed his right hand on me, saying, "Do not be afraid; I am the first and the last, 18 and the living one. I was dead, and see, I am alive forever and ever; and I have the keys of Death and of Hades. 19 Now write what you have seen, what is, and what is to take place after this. 20 As for the mystery of the seven stars that you saw in my right hand, and the seven golden lampstands: the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches.

The Message to Ephesus

2:1 "To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: These are the words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand, who walks among the seven golden lampstands:

2 "I know your works, your toil and your patient endurance. I know that you cannot tolerate evildoers; you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not, and have found them to be false. 3 I also know that you are enduring patiently and bearing up for the sake of my name, and that you have not grown weary. 4 But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first. 5 Remember then from what you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent. 6 Yet this is to your credit: you hate the works of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. 7 Let anyone who has an ear listen to what the Spirit is saying to the churches. To everyone who conquers, I will give permission to eat from the tree of life that is in the paradise of God. (Revelation 1:17-2:7, NRSV)

John concludes the report of his initial vision of the glorified Christ (Rev. 1:17-20), and turns to the letter to "the angel of the church in Ephesus," the most important city in the province of Asia in western Asia Minor (2:1-7). This church is commended for "patient endurance," not tolerating evildoers, testing and proving false apostles false (Rev. 2:2) and for hating "the works of the Nicolaitans" (v. 8), but the church is chided because they "have abandoned the love you had at first" (v. 4). "The Nicolaitans...taught that Christians were free to eat food offered to idols and to practice immorality in the name of religion (v. 14)" (B.M. Metzger, NOAB, 2^nd ed., on Rev. 2:6) (Comments in this paragraph are repeated from December 9, 2003, for December 10, 2003)

Matthew 23:1-12

23:1 Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples, 2 "The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses' seat; 3 therefore, do whatever they teach you and follow it; but do not do as they do, for they do not practice what they teach. 4 They tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on the shoulders of others; but they themselves are unwilling to lift a finger to move them. 5 They do all their deeds to be seen by others; for they make their phylacteries broad and their fringes long. 6 They love to have the place of honor at banquets and the best seats in the synagogues, 7 and to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces, and to have people call them rabbi. 8 But you are not to be called rabbi, for you have one teacher, and you are all students. 9 And call no one your father on earth, for you have one Father-the one in heaven. 10 Nor are you to be called instructors, for you have one instructor, the Messiah. 11 The greatest among you will be your servant. 12 All who exalt themselves will be humbled, and all who humble themselves will be exalted.

Matthew, chapter 23, presents exceedingly harsh criticism of Pharisees by Jesus. We are reminded that it was criticism of “some Pharisees, not all Pharisees” (E.E. Tilden & B.M. Metzger, NOAB, 2^nd ed., on Mt. 23:13; emphasis [bold print] added). K. Stendahl asks, "Is the criticism in this discourse aimed at actual hypocrites among the Pharisees or against 'Pharisaism' as a system which is wrong in its basic principle?" (Peake's Commentary). Stendahl answers that Jesus "did not enunciate principles, nor did he aim at a new approach to religion, but he taught with prophetic consciousness in a nation where he found the strongest resistance among those who were its spiritual leaders. This must have sharpened his eyes for their shortcomings--most of which they would admit themselves, at least when they were among themselves, as the Talmud shows quite clearly." On the last point, Stendahl cites I. Abrahams' book, Studies in Pharisaism and the Gospels (1924). It would not be hard to find similar shortcomings among the Christians. (Comments in this paragraph are repeated from December 9, 2003, for December 10, 2003)

Ronald D. Worden, Ph.D.

rdworden@hgst.edu

rworden@houston.rr.com