Two construction
workers are nailing siding to a house.
Neither is exactly the sharpest knife in the drawer, if you get my
meaning. Every time the first worker
reaches into his pouch and pulls out a nail, either he tosses it over his
shoulder or nails it into the siding.
The second worker asks him, “Why are you throwing away all those good
nails?” The first carpenter explains
himself: “If I pull a nail out of the pouch and it is pointed toward me, I
throw it away because it is defective.
If it’s pointed toward the house, then I use it because it is
good.” “You idiot,” the other worker
replies, “The nails pointing toward you aren’t defective! They’re for use on the other side of the
house.”
In the book of Hebrews
we find a verse that sums up a theme running throughout Scripture: “Every house
is built by someone, but God is the builder of everything” (3:4). The root of the Greek word translated here as
‘builder’ means one who furnishes, equips, prepares, and/or makes ready. The biblical motif of God as a builder points
in two directions. The first is related
to God the creator of all things in heaven and earth while the second is more
spiritual. God builds up each one of us
to be ambassadors for Christ. God builds
us to be citizens in the kingdom of God.
In today’s Old
Testament reading we learn that God the builder is also something of a building
inspector who takes a look at what we are constructing with our lives and in
our society in order to determine the quality of our work. God the building inspector says to the
prophet Amos, “I am setting a plumb line in the midst of my people.” A plumb line is a cord with a weighted piece
of lead or stone at the end. When held
up, it will make a perfectly straight line against which a builder can check to
make sure the verticality of a structure is true. If it is not true – think of the leaning
Tower of Pisa – eventually it will fail.
By setting a spiritual plumb line God sets out to assess the rule and
reign of King Jeroboam.
It is not a good sign
when the Hebrew meaning of the king’s name is “he strives to oppress the
people.” Jeroboam first comes on the
scene when King Solomon appoints him to head up a public works project. He uses this position to orchestrate a failed
conspiracy against Solomon and as a result has to flee to Egypt. He returns to Israel after Solomon’s death
and promptly divides the kingdom into ten northern tribes, which he ruled,
against two southern tribes, Judah and Benjamin. He erects as objects of worship golden cafes
in key locations so that his northern tribes will not have to make pilgrimages
to Jerusalem, which is located in the south.
During the course of his reign, Jeroboam launches continuous military
attacks against Judah, thus keeping God’s people in a constant state of turmoil
and civil war.
In today’s psalm
reading, we are given beautiful images of what a plumb line will find in a
well-constructed ‘house’: “kindness and truth, justice and peace. Truth shall spring up from the waters of the earth,
justice shall reign down from the heavens.”
The images of springs and rain in such an arid region suggest how precious
and vital these qualities are and how necessary they are for people to live
together in a godly way. And, as the
reading from Amos suggests, they are completely absent in Israel during the
reign of Jeroboam.
So poor Amos has to do
what prophets of God always have to do.
He has to confront the king and pronounce God’s judgment:
The wall that you have
built is not plumb. And because it is
not upright it must come down. The king
will die by the sword and the people will be led into exile. Only then can a new and a true wall be
built.
Speaking the truth to
power has never been easy and it has never made one popular. It is an occupation for which there cannot
possibly be sufficient hazard pay. Amos,
to his credit, proclaims what God tells him to speak.
The notion of the
prophet speaking God’s plumb line truth connects the Old Testament reading with
today’s Gospel lesson. John the Baptist
speaks out publically against Herod’s marriage to Herodias. Herod was already married when he fell in
love with his brother’s wife, who also happened to be his niece. So he divorces his wife and marries his
niece, an act that infuriates his ex father-in-law and his brother. The two join forces to march against Herod. At one point the Emperor Tiberius has to send
troops to intervene.
These kinds of actions
don’t happen in isolation, as if conducted on a chessboard, but rather disrupt
the lives of everyday people who suffer mightily as a result. Herod’s private affairs have public
consequences and John holds him accountable.
He gives voice for God and for the masses when he speaks up and in so
doing becomes the focal point of Herodias’ deep anger.
She allows pure hate
to fester in her heart, awaiting the opportunity to strike. It comes at a party, at an event that
combines alcohol and sensuality. Add
power to this mix and hatred has all the elements it needs to act. How dare the prophet hold a plumb line to
their lives of royal privilege! The end
of John’s life is as quick as it is brutal and senseless.
Some of us gathered Tuesday
night with several hundred other people from around Suffolk for a prayer vigil
in response to the June 17th shootings in Charleston. Titled “From Hate to Healing”, it was a
powerful event that we hope to build on as a racially diverse community of
faithful people. I was incredibly
impressed with Alana Simmons, a Newport News resident, whose grandfather, the
Rev. Daniel Simmons, was one of the nine people murdered by a young man an hour
after they welcomed him into their Wednesday evening bible study.
Alana spoke powerfully
about how the victims’ families have been able to forgive the shooter. She said that her grandfather would want his
legacy to be one of love, not hate, and for that reason she cannot hate the
person who perpetuated this horrific act.
Simmons has started a social media movement called the “Hate Won’t Win”
Challenge. It encourages people to post
stories and photos of folks from different races doing something nice for each
other. It may sound like a small thing,
but for me, it has served as a tool to be mindful to go the extra mile and then
perhaps even another extra mile to show kindness to people different from me and
to be grateful for the kindness they show to me.
At the prayer vigil we
were reminded of a Gospel truth that emanates from the Cross – unmerited
suffering is still redemptive. I have
not read enough about Dylann Roof to be able to speak to what he hoped to
accomplish. But surely he did not intend
for hundreds of communities around our nation to hold vigils uniting people of
different races in prayer. Surely he did
not intend to energize efforts aimed at racial reconciliation. And surely, as he waved the Confederate Flag
as a symbol of his view of white supremacy and racial hatred, he did not intend
to accomplish in a matter of weeks what the citizens of South Carolina have not
been able to do for generations. What he
did not intend was for God to hold a plumb line to his actions in order to
redeem unmerited suffering.
But this is what God
does because this is who God is. Herod
may have enjoyed his power and Jeroboam may have been able to run off Amos, but
God is the one who holds the plumb line to measure our actions for kindness and
truth, for justice and peace. Nothing
will move that line and nothing short of plumb will stand in the world that God
is building.
Today, Amos is
remembered for his godly witness and John’s Advent call to repent prepares the
way for us to receive the kingdom of God as revealed in the person of Jesus
Christ. Their lives continue to matter. They continue to inform. They continue to inspire. God has been honored by them and continues to
work through them. Jeroboam and Herod
are little more than passing names in dry history papers or perhaps are
referenced in archeological digs to note a period of time connected to
unearthed broken artifacts.
Long after we have
forgotten Dylann Roof’s name, we will remember the Charleston 9 and we will
remember how their families spoke words of forgiveness and healing. We will remember how one cruel act of hatred
brought together people of different races to embrace and affirm the value of
kindness and truth, of justice and peace.
We will remember hatred unleashed does not rule our world and that,
through the grace of God, unmerited suffering is still redemptive.
