Homily, 7-1-24; Monday of the 13th Week in Ordinary Time:
Our reading from the Prophet Amos begins: “Thus says the LORD: For three crimes of Israel, and for four, I will not revoke my word.” Previous to our passage, Amos uses the same language to say that God has condemned six of Israel’s enemy nations for the sins against humanity. Then he also condemns Judah and in our passage, Israel, the Northern Kingdom. But when he condemns Israel and Judah, He mentions sins against God, not sins against humanity. They are held to a different standard because of all God has done for them. He has brought them out of Egypt. He defeated the nations ahead of them so they could receive the Promised Land.
I struggled to understand this odd expression: “For three crimes and for four.” But finally I found a commentator who explained that: “Three is the first number of which we can say ‘many or all.’ Four denotes excess. Thus God forgives many sins, yet punishes when they become excessive.” Israel’s sins had become excessive and God was going to punish them at the hands of their enemies. He will no longer defend them, but will instead turn them over. Through Amos God says: “An enemy shall surround the land, tear down your fortresses, and pillage your strongholds.”
Will our nation, like Judah and Israel, be held to a greater standard because of all that God has done for us and blessed us? Are the sins against God of our nation reaching the point where God can no longer forgive them? Are they becoming so excessive that will God punish us at the hands of our enemies? Scary thoughts for sure.
What can we do? We must pray for sure; pray for God to turn our country back to Him by some means other than a severe punishment, some means that we cannot foresee. But we also must be prophets in our time as Amos was in his. We must speak out against injustices. We must not quietly accept immoral behaviors for fear of being criticized. We cannot let ourselves be cowed into using incorrect pronouns. We must stand up for the truth and fight against the lies even if that means persecution and personal loss.
And we must pray for strength and wisdom that, if God does punish our country at the hands of our enemies as He did to Judah and Israel, that our faith in Him will not fail; that we will remember that our time here is temporary; that God will stay true to His promise of eternal life for those who love Him. It is not a time to be afraid; it is a time to stand strong and accept God’s will for our country and for us individually.