Amos was a shepherd and a farmer of sycamore-fig trees in southern Judah. He left his quiet, country life and traveled to Bethel, a city where a temple was constructed as a place to both worship Yahweh and pagan gods.

God called and said,
 

“Go, prophesy to my people Israel” (Amos 7:15) and he did. Amos minced no words as he declared to the privileged Israelites of the day, “You trample the poor and force him to give you grain. . . . You oppress the righteous and take bribes and you deprive the poor of justice in the courts. Therefore, the prudent man keeps quiet in such times, for the times are evil.” (Amos 5:11-13 NIV 1984, emphasis added)

The times were defined by the status quo of injustice, and the smart thing to do was to allow it to happen and not speak up. Even when people knew they should speak up, it was not prudent or safe to do so! I see this and so many other parallels to the present day. I wonder if people back then saw the problems and chose to keep quiet because they wanted to avoid conflict? I wonder if there was polarization between people who shared an origin, but they drifted far away from each other? Did they figure someone else would speak up? Did they think it was someone else’s problem?

Today, we too gather in our houses of worship, neglecting the cries of a broken and burning world. We excuse ourselves away as though Amos’ metaphor of justice and righteousness flowing easily downstream is too hard to accomplish—as though it was ever able to be achieved by human effort alone.

We too keep quiet and hope God will raise someone else’s voice to speak prophetically to our community and church. Yet, to live a righteous life we are required to work toward justice: the health and restoration of the whole, ensuring that people, regardless of wealth or station, have equitable societal structures. As followers of Christ, we cannot remain silent in the face of injustice. Because if we do, as the prophet Jeremiah asked: “...what will we do in the end?” (Jeremiah 5:30)