A SENSE OF PURPOSE, A SENSE OF MISSION
15th Sunday in Ordinary Time(B) July 12, 2009 Usually, rejection comes with scorn, with disdain, with a whole lot of sarcasm and biting humor, and – to top it all off – perhaps a subtle accusation to boot. All this appears to be what is behind the experience of Amos, the prophet. The envious Amaziah, probably acting at the behest of the King, told Amos in effect to shut up or ship out. Lumping Amos with the band of rowdy and noisy charlatans – the paid “visionaries” of the time – Amaziah tells him to scram and get lost. He tells Amos to go and get cheaply paid some place else, not anywhere near the King’s “sanctuary and royal temple.” It is bad enough to be rejected. But it is even worse to be accused, subtly or not so subtly, that he was nothing more than a paid hack, a cheapjack who earned his keeps by prophesying. It was an accusation that merited a straightforward answer from the not-so-easily-discouraged Amos: “I was no prophet, nor have I belonged to the company of prophets; I ...