15th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C, RCL)

Amos 7:7-17

How do we move from Jesus' core ethical mandate to the complex issues we face in the modern world?

It has not happened all that often, but on occasions someone has been upset enough with a sermon I've preached to call me up and complain.

In the Bible, the ambiguity of shame is unmistakable.

An unconfident reader

Imagine that Congress has set up a committee to report on the disquieting events on the Jerusalem-Jericho road and their aftermath. Here are some excerpts from its findings: “The Inquiry is satisfied that the priest acted in a thoroughly professional manner. We are aware that he is a man of high profile in Jerusalem society, and that his first priority is to conduct his temple duties in a proper manner. Getting involved in self-indulgent gestures of solidarity is not recommended: such projects are invariably underresourced, nonstrategic and open to media misinterpretation."

The realization that one has enemies, personal or professional, can make one adopt a guarded and self-limiting stance toward life. Yet in Psalm 25, where someone is wrestling with this kind of situation, we see the psalmist reaching out to the one he can trust as not treacherous, to whom he can relate, secure in the knowledge that in God he has a source of steadfast love.