The Eighteenth Sunday after Trinity

We begin each and every Mass with those words from our Lord, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.

This is the first and great commandment, and the second is like unto it. Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.

We hear this so often that it's quite possible to ignore or miss what our Lord is really saying. In our gospel reading, we heard those same words once again, as a lawyer seeks to test our Lord by asking which is the greatest of the commandments.

Jesus responds that loving God and loving neighbor encapsulates the entirety of the law of God and the duty of every human being.

You see, it's not about spouting off opinions or being on a particular political team that is truly important in life. It's about love that translates into action for both God and neighbor.

In our Old Testament reading from Amos chapter 8, We are given an example of the very opposite of love, which is a life of selfishness that ultimately leads to self-destruction.

Amos was prophesying to Judah, the southern kingdom, but he then begins calling on the northern kingdom, that is, Israel, to repent.

And although Israel was enjoying great prosperity and peace at this time, this was about to change. Israel would be overrun and destroyed by the Assyrian army because of their rebellion against their Redeemer and their Creator.

The message from the prophet Amos is very simple and straightforward. Why did Israel need to repent?

Well, we heard in the very opening words of our reading here in Amos chapter 8, the following, You who swallow up the needy and make the poor of the land fail.

How was Israel swallowing up the needy and making the poor to fail? We heard how they were going through the motions of worship, seeking to hurry through the Sabbath and the various feast days so that they could get back to what their true love was, which was buying and selling in order to enrich themselves.

They were rigging scales, that is, they were cheating, in order to make people pay higher prices for their grain and for their food. They were selling bad wheat and then charging top dollar.

In other words, they were not worshiping God and they were taking advantage of their neighbors in the worst way. Therefore, they were about to be humbled and the Assyrian army would be the hand of God that would humble them.

Listen as I reread a portion from Amos chapter 8, verses 9 through 12. And it shall come to pass in that day, says the Lord God, that I will make the sun go down at noon and I will darken the earth in broad daylight.

I will turn your feasts in the morning and all your songs into lamentation. Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord God, that I will send a famine on the land, not a famine of bread nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord.

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. The people had so ignored the greatest commandments to love God and to love neighbor that they would now be entering into that dreadful place, that dreadful period of their history where they would be cut off from the word of God.

Friends, there's no greater judgment than when people become so enslaved to themselves and their own selfishness that they no longer hear the word of God.

They only hear what they want to hear. They go through the motions. And therefore, God becomes more and more distant in their lives as they reflect the wickedness of the culture around them.

So there's a warning here in Amos chapter 8 for all of us. You see, we can become so complacent in our lives that we're not even thinking about putting our faith into action.

We're just serving ourselves. So here are some questions that we need to ask this morning as a way of doing some serious soul searching.

First, do we merely seek to get Sunday morning worship out of the way so that we can go on with what we really want to do throughout our week?

Do we make every effort to worship, fellowship, and grow in our faith and make that the number one priority of our lives? Do we seek to give to God and to others by making tithing a priority in our lives?

Or do we merely give God the leftovers after we have spent our money on our own interests, our own leisure, and our own hobbies?

Do we deal honestly with people, especially in business? Or do we seek to scam or manipulate others and then justify that by convincing ourselves that we're just being good stewards?

Do we reach out to others or check on those whom we know are struggling, whether that be mental, physical, or even in financial matters?

Do we get to know people beyond the surface conversations in order to have a pulse on who really has needs?

In other words, are we willing to inconvenience ourselves to put ourselves out there so that we are putting others' welfare above our own?

And finally, are we teaching our children that Christ is to be loved and revered above all things? Are we communicating and showing our kids that they are not the center of our affection and our worship?

We love our children, but only Jesus Christ has that rightful place in our lives. Confessing that Jesus is Lord means that worship and formation in his word must be the priority, the number one priority in our family calendars.

It also means we are teaching our children in this very self-indulgent culture the importance of prayer, reverence, listening to God's word, and being attentive to him rather than being catered to all the time.

The cry of the prophet Amos was a plea for Israel to repent and to truly love God and to truly love neighbor. And that cry is one that we all must take heed to as well.

Therefore, may we not be guided by our own selfish ambitions and desires that leads to our self-destruction. Instead, may we truly love God, truly love our neighbor by humbling ourselves in serving our Lord and serving others as we live in devotion to our Lord Jesus Christ.

You see, he was the one who perfectly displayed love. Love and service to his Father and love and service to his neighbor.

His neighbor, you. By laying down his life for you. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.

Amen. Amen.