Ash Wednesday Sermon series on Amos 2/13/13

Ash Wednesday 2/13/2012 Text: Amos 1:1-2 This year my Lent series is going to be on the book of Amos 1:1-2. In this study I hope to show you through Amos the prophecy of the Messiah. By looking at his writings and the secular and religious writings of the people living during that time, especially the writing down of a great earthquake we can pinpoint with great accuracy the time Amos was prophesying. In 760 B. C. according to the ancient records of the city of Hazor a terrible earthquake took place. I mention this because it sets down for us the time frame in which Amos was prophesying, the earthquake that happened is the earthquake Amos is talking of in the first verse. It sets the primary theme of the whole book, for it is Yahweh’s earthquake-like judgment that will shake Israel, Judah, and the nations until everything comes crashing down. Only then will Yahweh re-create a new era of Davidic rule, abundant life, and permanence in the land. Amos heard the voice of Yahweh in the earthquake and compared his experience to hearing the roaring of a lion, a roaring that causes pastures to mourn and forests to wither. Everything that follows in the book needs to be heard with this roaring in the background. Amos will personally encounter Yahweh as a Lion and this in turn will lead to Israel’s encounter with Lion Yahweh. Throughout the book of Amos, Yahweh appears as the roaring Lion looking to devour first the nations, then Judah, and finally Israel. Amos places the Judean king Uzziah before the Israelite king Jeroboam ben Joash; the roar of the lion comes from Zion and Jerusalem, not from Bethel and Samaria. This roar coming from Zion and Jerusalem is critical for the whole prophecy, for it is from Zion and Jerusalem that King David’s fallen line will be resurrected; Easter morning when King David’s greatest Son, Jesus the Son of God, conquered death and the grave for us. The temptation, for us today is to put our hands over our ears to drown out his roar. The world, the devil, and the old Adam continue to urge the baptized to clip the claws on the Lion and clean up the bloody Passion they are called to follow. But the Bride of Christ is called to holy reverence before Yahweh, the lion of the universe. The Lion of Judah is found in a series of books titled The Chronicles of Narnia. They were written by one of the greatest Christian writers of modern times C. S. Lewis. These books have been read by millions and in 2005 a blockbuster move of that title was made. In the book and move of the same name, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, Mr. and Mrs. Beaver have this conversation with Lucy about Aslan: “Is—is he a man?” asked Lucy. “Aslan a man?” said Mr. Beaver sternly. . . . “Aslan is a lion—the Lion, the great Lion.” “Is he—quite safe? I shall feel rather nervous about meeting a lion.” “That you will, dearie, and no mistake,” said Mrs. Beaver, “if there’s any who can appear before Aslan without their knees knocking, they’re either braver than most or else just silly.” “Then he isn’t safe?” said Lucy. “Safe?” said Mr. Beaver. “Don’t you hear what Mrs. Beaver tells you? Who said anything about safe? ’Course he isn’t safe. But he’s good.” Yahweh is not safe, but he is good; very good. This Lion will never be safe, but he is very good; forever. As a Lion, Yahweh’s words have teeth in them. He is an undomesticated deity who is powerful enough to shatter all of Israel’s conventional categories and systems of control. Yahweh intrudes into Israel’s settled existence in unsettling ways. He comes to afflict the comfortable and hold them accountable because of their unloving action toward the poor and needy. To become mesmerized with the evils of this present age and with its prince of darkness is to become blind to a much greater destructive entity; the Lion Yahweh. While there are biblical images of Yahweh as a caring Shepherd in Psalm 23:1, a nursing mother in Psalm 131, and a mighty redeemer in Job 19:25; wonderful images of comfort, we dare not let these images remove from our mind the claws and fangs of our God, the Lion who roars from Zion. The Book of Amos was written to restore the rightful roar from the Lion, Lord Yahweh, the God of Israel to the people of his day, as well as ours. But just like the lion in the Chronicles of Narnia who was terribly fearful, but still good our God is good beyond anything we can imagine. When our world crumbles all around us, when the realization of our sins threaten to overwhelm us shattering our confidence, when all our dreams become our worst nightmares, God comes to rescue us in the rubble of our lives. The Lord still says, “My dear child, remember I love you!” And this love rebuilds what the earthquake or maybe we should say what the tornado actually destroyed in your life has in itself been destroyed. God promises in Amos 9:11 to repair and rebuild our lives, for he says “In that day I will raise up the booth of David that is fallen and repair its breaches, and raise up its ruins and rebuild it as in the days of old.” These sure and certain promises to the house of David are fulfilled in Jesus Christ. Our Savior reaches into our wreckage of life to pull us free and He does it with his body and blood, for you see his body was all he had. His disciples had deserted Him. His garments had been gambled away. Even God the Father had turned his back on him. Nails were driven, lashes were given, and blood was shed, and we are saved. Blood was all he had, but the blood of Jesus is all we need. “What can wash away my sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus! What can make me whole again? Nothing but the blood of Jesus!” At the Holy Supper today Jesus reaches into your rubble of life, my rubble of life here and now. His blood rescues, redeems, restores, and repairs everything that has been so broken. All we can do no better than respond to his wonderful gift than use Saint John’s words in Revelation 1:5–6 to thank, praise, serve, and obey our loving God. “To Him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by His blood and made us a kingdom, priests to His God and Father, to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.”