This blog follows the daily bible readings of the Catholic Church

Reading 1, Amos 7:10-17

10 Amaziah the priest of Bethel then sent word to Jeroboam king of Israel as follows, ‘Amos is plotting against you in the heart of the House of Israel; the country cannot tolerate his speeches. 11 For this is what Amos says, “Jeroboam is going to die by the sword, and Israel will go into captivity far from its native land.” ‘

12 To Amos himself Amaziah said, ‘Go away, seer, take yourself off to Judah, earn your living there, and there you can prophesy! 13 But never again will you prophesy at Bethel, for this is a royal sanctuary, a national temple.’

14 ‘I am not a prophet,’ Amos replied to Amaziah, ‘nor do I belong to a prophetic brotherhood. I am merely a herdsman and dresser of sycamore-figs. 15 But the Lord took me as I followed the flock, and the Lord said to me, “Go and prophesy to my people Israel.” 16 So now listen to what the Lord says: “You say: Do not prophesy against Israel, do not foretell doom on the House of Isaac!” 17 Very well, this is what the Lord says, “Your wife will become a prostitute in the streets, your sons and daughters will fall by the sword, your land will be parcelled out by measuring line, and you yourself will die on polluted soil and Israel will go into captivity far from its own land!”‘

not a place for prophets?

As I noted in yesterday’s blog, Amos was totally committed to true religion as opposed to any sort of comfortable piety or manipulative ritual. Amos, who was from Judah, had prophesied in the northern kingdom of Israel and sparked off a turf war with the official priesthood at the sanctuary of Bethel, who “outed” him to the king as treasonable, and sent him homewards to think again. Amos’ reply is fairly devastating, “Your wife will become a prostitute on the streets….” This is not how inter-parish boundary disputes are conducted in the Church of Scotland. Amos denied being any named category of religious person. He was simply someone called by God to speak up for faithfulness and justice. In his insistence that his message was not from any human authority, he reminds us of Paul’s words in Galatians 1.

There is more to the gospel than what Amos can tell us, but not less. Every church can benefit from regular exposure to the harsh herdsman.

Gospel, Matthew 9:1-8

1 He got back in the boat, crossed the water and came to his home town. 2 And suddenly some people brought him a paralytic stretched out on a bed. Seeing their faith, Jesus said to the paralytic, ‘Take comfort, my child, your sins are forgiven.’

3 And now some scribes said to themselves, ‘This man is being blasphemous.’

4 Knowing what was in their minds Jesus said, ‘Why do you have such wicked thoughts in your hearts? 5 Now, which of these is easier: to say, “Your sins are forgiven,” or to say, “Get up and walk”? 6 But to prove to you that the Son of man has authority on earth to forgive sins,’ — then he said to the paralytic-‘get up, pick up your bed and go off home.’

7 And the man got up and went home. 8 A feeling of awe came over the crowd when they saw this, and they praised God for having given such authority to human beings.

The generosity of God

Matthew misses out much of the detail he found in his source for this story, the Gospel of Mark, which depicts the friends vandalising a roof to get their man to Jesus. Matthew wants us to focus on the healing and forgiving ministry of Jesus. He makes these points:

1. It begins with an advance of trust. The man has not even asked for forgiveness, but Jesus freely offers him that comfort: God is on his side.
2. This declaration of the generosity of God is fundamental to the good news, and is shocking to the pious, who question anyone’s right to speak for God in this way.
3. Jesus says that the “Son of Man” possesses this authority on earth. In Matthew’s gospel this title means “Jesus and his people” –a composite identity.
4. Jesus’ healing of the man’s body is another sign of God’s generosity and of Jesus’ right to communicate it.
5. People get the message: human beings can act in the authority of God’s generosity.

This is the gospel which is greater even than Amos’ message.