3rd Tuesday of Advent (December 17). LET JUSTICE ROLL DOWN

Prepare to Listen.  Let justice and righteousness roll down like waters.
 
Prayerfully Read Amos 5:18-24
18Alas for you who desire the day of the LORD!
   Why do you want the day of the LORD?
It is darkness, not light;
   19as if someone fled from a lion,
   and was met by a bear;
or went into the house and rested a hand against the wall,
   and was bitten by a snake..
20Is not the day of the LORD darkness, not light,
   and gloom with no brightness in it?
21I hate, I despise your festivals,
   and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies.
22Even though you offer me your burnt-offerings and grain-offerings,
   I will not accept them;
and the offerings of well-being of your fatted animals
   I will not look upon.
23Take away from me the noise of your songs;
   I will not listen to the melody of your harps.
24But let justice roll down like waters,
   and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.
 
Prayerfully Wonder and Reflect
“Why do you want the day of the LORD?”  How would you respond?
 
Amos’ people longed for the day of the LORD, hoping it would immediately restore the nation. Amos, who was fearlessly blunt, warned them that the day of the LORD meant judgment, “darkness, not light, and gloom with no brightness in it,” what we least expect.  Jesus also repeatedly warned his coming meant judgment.[1]
 
Amos warned that those who practiced religious festivals, made offerings to God, sang worship songs with musical instruments aren’t exempt from judgment.  God was dismissive of their pious worship, “I hate, I despise your festivals, and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies.”  The problem?  They neglected justice and righteousness.  I wonder what God would say about our worship and pious moral standards, if we neglect what Jesus called “the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy” (Mt 23:23), if we fail to let justice, mercy, righteous roll over our communities like water and a flowing stream.
 
Justice and righteousness begin with love for God and for what God loves and emphasizes—the poor, the alien, the powerless, all those on the margins of society.  God’s people, when characterized by justice, mercy and righteous, will have this same emphasis on the marginalized and disenfranchised.  This is the river we follow and it’s up to us to get out of the way and let justice roll down like waters and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.
 
What do you think you need to do so that justice and righteousness flood our world, drowning the distortions and parodies of God and God’s way?
 
Prayerfully Respond
Lord, it’s easy to get stuck on my ideas of what matters because they are always less challenging than your demands.  Forgive me for getting side-tracked and keep me faithful to the weightier matters of your law.  Amen.
 
Live obediently.  Let justice and righteousness flood the world today.
[1] See Luke 21:25-36, 1st Friday of Advent.