Season 5 - Episode 11
To listen to an audio version of this post, visit www.covenantchurch.ca/podcasts/covenant-weekly.
On Sunday, Glenn gave us a really practical reminder and primer on how to live at peace with people we don’t agree with. In his introduction, he read from the book of Amos and mentioned that Amos was a prophet who emphasized the importance of something we, in our contemporary language, often call social justice. We’re going to consider a few verses from Amos 5 and the prophet’s idea of justice in this Covenant Weekly for November 11, 2025.
These are words of God to the nation of Israel through the prophet Amos. The book of Amos begins with God addressing the evil of nations all around Israel. In each case, the evil was the mistreatment of people. And God says that it will not go ignored. In going through each of the neighbouring nations, however, God is getting closer and closer to Israel. And it is against this northern Jewish kingdom that the greatest indictment is levelled.
Listen to the beginning of God’s accusation against Israel:
Did you hear the four kinds of indictment?
- They profit on the backs of the innocent and the needy.
- They abuse and deny justice to the poor and oppressed.
- They use vulnerable people for their own pleasure. (The suggestion here is through prostitution, but it certainly isn’t limited to that one means.)
- And they do all this while participating in the worship of Yahweh.
The fact that this is spoken against all of Israel suggests that this kind of behaviour has become the cultural water in which they are now swimming. Their economic policies, justice system, and pursuit of pleasure is all built on the backs of those who are the most vulnerable. And, to put it into contemporary parlance, they do it all while singing the religious songs on Sunday morning, hosting a small group, and serving on the church board. They, and the system they are in, hold them up as religious people par excellence.
And this, God cannot condone or let go. God’s love for the vulnerable outweighs divine patience with those who are perverting justice and worship. And that is where we get to Amos 5. God wants their worship no more. Rather, God’s desire is for justice.
The way the book of Amos is crafted sets up Israel to really feel God’s words against them. By starting with spoken judgement against Israel’s neighbours, God lays it out for Israel to excitedly join in God’s judgement.
“Yes! Get ‘em! Get our enemies! Make them pay for their evil!” And as it gets to the enemies that are closest at hand, one can imagine their collective voice getting more and more eager for God’s right hand of judgement to come against their enemies who are doing wrong.
Until it is no longer their enemy.
It is them.
They haven’t learned what their law does make clear. Unless justice exists for everyone, justice doesn’t exist at all–for anyone. And if justice–rightness, fairness–doesn’t exist, things are far from the heart of God. And unless we are joining God in the pursuit of justice for everyone, we remain far from the heart of God no matter what the songs we sing and the rituals we embrace tell us.
Notice that other than the introduction of this, I haven’t referred to social justice. That is because the way the Bible speaks, all justice is social justice. There can be no justice without social justice. Justice isn’t primarily about punishment or revenge. It is about each person being treated with love, respect, and compassion. That is a necessary reality for all who claim to love God.
As the Apostle John wrote, “Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar.”
And most of us are familiar with how tightly Jesus tied love of God and treatment of people in the great commandment.
“‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
Don’t miss how Jesus connected them. “And the second is like it…” The second commandment isn’t part 2 or even a 1 b. Jesus says that it is just like the first. They are inextricably linked in the eyes of God.
Working this out at the individual, congregational, and community levels is hard. There are forces at play far bigger than what we can change. And none of us has the bandwidth to address every justice issue that needs to be addressed! But ignoring issues of justice and willingly becoming complicit–profiting on the backs of the innocent and the needy, abusing and denying justice to the poor and oppressed, and using vulnerable people for pleasure–isn’t an option that is consistent with our worship.
But it is also really hard. It is hard to do. It is hard to even think about! I’m still struggling to process how much more aware of global injustice I am since having our Cuban friends with us. Sending them home to a place where many kids are only eating one small meal a day is heartbreaking. And it feels like there is very little we can do about it. And that is just one example of many local and global injustices. We need to trust in God to make a way forward in pursuit of justice for all. And to trust God to provide when we live with divine generosity.
It is, perhaps, why it’s in the context of discussing financial wealth that Jesus implores us to, “Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.”
God, guide us. God, sustain us. May we learn from Israel’s hard-learned lesson and pursue embodying your heart in the world.
P.S. On Sunday, I mentioned the YouTube channel The Enemies Project as something to watch to see the lessons Glenn shared on Sunday in action. You can find it by searching The Enemies Project on YouTube.