Wednesday of the Thirteenth Week in Ordinary Time
Amos 5:14–15, 21–24
This is one of the most powerful statements in the Bible:
worship without justice is abhorrent to the Lord.
Not incomplete. Not weak. Not merely imperfect.
Abhorrent.
The Lord says through Amos:
“I hate, I despise your feasts.” “I take no pleasure in your solemn assemblies.” “Take away from me the noise of your songs.”
These are terrible words.
They are not spoken to people who have abandoned religion. They are spoken to people who are very religious.
They still celebrate. They still sing. They still offer sacrifices. They still keep festivals.
But the poor are trampled. The weak are pushed aside. The courts are corrupted. The powerful protect one another.
And so God says:
Enough.
Religion has become a cover for injustice. Worship has become noise. Sacrifice has become insult. Prayer has become hypocrisy.
Amos reminds Israel of something easily forgotten:
before God told His people how to worship, He taught them how to live.
The commandments came before the temple. Justice came before ritual. Brotherhood came before sacrifice.
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob had no temple. There was no priesthood like later in Jerusalem. Amos even asks Israel:
“Did you bring me sacrifices and offerings during the forty years in the wilderness?”
His point is sharp.
God does not first ask for ceremonies. God first asks for a people who listen, who obey, who do not oppress, who live as brothers and sisters.
This same truth stands behind the quarrel between Jesus and the teachers of the law.
Jesus does not reject worship. He does not despise the temple. He does not abolish prayer.
But He exposes the terrible danger of religious life without moral integrity.
It is possible to say, “Lord, Lord.” It is possible to prophesy in His name. It is possible to cast out demons in His name. It is even possible to do mighty works in His name.
And yet hear the words:
“I never knew you. Depart from me, you evildoers.”
That should make every religious person tremble.
The words of Amos remain a challenge to every religious community, and to every political community:
“Let justice surge like water, and goodness like an unfailing stream.”
These words are often quoted. They appear in speeches, manifestos, and movements.
But they are seldom allowed to judge us.
Israel heard them and did not change. In 722 BC, the kingdom was swept away by Assyria. There had been sacrifices everywhere, but justice was absent.
Today, our world is not so different.
An economic system that worships profit at all cost tramples the poor and wounds the earth.
We too must remember:
worship without justice is unacceptable to the Lord.
The Eucharist is celebrated in memory of Jesus.
But it cannot be separated from His commandment:
“Love one another as I have loved you.”
If our liturgy does not form us in love, if our communion does not lead us to justice, if our prayer leaves the poor unseen, then Amos still speaks to us.
The Lord may hate our feasts.
And Christ may say:
“I never knew you.”
Biblical Reflections on the Gospel of Matthew
Scripture Attribution
New Revised Standard Version Bible: Catholic Edition, copyright © 1989, 1993
the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of
Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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