Sunday, July 21, 2013: Amos 8:1-12; Colossians 1:15-28; Luke 10:38-42
On a busy day recently I pulled into a gas station and filled up my car’s gasoline tank. As I stood next to the car, I noticed that metallic stickers on the gas pump verified that the state department of weights and measures had tested the gasoline and approved its sale.
It’s astonishing that we Americans can assume that a gallon of gas will be a gallon at every station—or that a pound of flour is a pound at every store. In contrast, Martin Luther often expressed indignation at the bad business practices of his time. “Those who can steal and rob openly are safe and free, unpunished by anyone, even desiring to be honored,” Luther sighed, while “the petty sneak thieves who have committed one offense must bear disgrace and punishment to make the others look respectable and honorable.” He singled out “shoddy merchandise,” “crooked deals” and ordinary theft as forbidden by the seventh commandment. Many in our time would respond by saying that “it’s impossible to legislate morality.” But as every gas pump weights-and-measures certification reminds us, in some areas we try.
Luther’s complaint is foreshadowed by the prophet Amos’s condemnation of corrupt business in eighth-century Israel. It was a time of relative peace and prosperity in both Israel and Judah (there was a strong demand for ivory from abroad), but the prosperity did not reach the farmers and artisans. In fact, the new wealth and status of Israel’s elite gave them unprecedented power over small farmers. Instead of honoring the new moon and the Sabbath as respites from work for the farmers, the elite tried to cancel these observances so as to gain an advantage over other businessmen. Amos accused them of selling fraudulent measures of grain at inflated prices, of practicing debt slavery and of selling even the “sweepings of the wheat” that, according to Leviticus, should go to the poor and landless.
