Please read the passage above before reading the commentary.)
Amos called himself a shepherd and a trimmer of sycamores. He lived around the middle of the eighth century before the common era. In the first chapters, Amos gave a series of oracles against the nations. They followed this format, “For the three crimes of so-and-so and for four crimes, the Lord will something to them they would not like.”
In our day, he could have said, “for the three crimes of Russia and for four, the Lord will not relent” (Do I hear an Amen here?). For the three rimes of the Chinese and for four (Amen?). Fir the three crimes etc. of the Muslims, of the Venezuelans, of the Mexicans, of the Canadians (Do I hear an amen?). Lastly, for the three crimes and the four of the United States, the Lord will not relent (What, no amen here?).
Amos would call all the nations on the carpet in his day and in our day. He would call each of us on the carpet. Perhaps the greatest sin of each nation and of each one of us is that we are ready to condemn the failings of others and are smug with our own sinfulness.
How many have said about a recent Supreme Court decision, “Goody, goody gumdrop!” or “We have done that, now let’s go after another issue we don’t like.” We bite into each other and try to destroy the other: this is not the freedom God intends for us. We have freedom only so that we can choose the good over the evil. For all the crimes and failings, we have had in relating to others, God calls us to task, not to embarrass us, but to call us to conversion.
Amos calls us, as he once called the Israelites, to conversion. Do we listen and repent or do we continue on our merry way without the Lord?
P.S. Our relationships with several nations may not be easy. The citing of nations above is not to condemn them, but just as ancient Israel had trubled relations ship with the surrounding nations, so likewise do we have troubled relationships with some nations. I chose nations close to home and not so close to home juat as Amos used nations far and nations nearer to home. One good point is that we should not be spending time criticizing others when we have much to criticize about our own behavior.