If I didn’t take in my poinsettia, it would have froze. It’s doing well transplanted… ah, transplant like Amos the prophet…

If you think we’ve HEARD THE STORY BEFORE – we have.  Amos, a Fig Farmer, gives us the small MIGHTY fine print understanding of an era that God covers again and again in the old testament. And it FIGures, it’s probably no coincidence that Amos is a FIG FARMER called into be a prophet, where we now are seeing in scripture the consistent thought process for Israel being a FIG TREE that should have been blooming all along. It needed farmers in the prophets. Even told they were purposefully placed into captivity, and watch for signs. But no, the Israelites and Judah-ites knew of David’s Kingdom and the promise it was to be restored, (see the Psalm Sunday scene), but the rulers and their fellow folks couldn’t see to listen to God and BE FRUITFUL, even in dry spots of the nation’s life. 

The season of the Lord’s coming “should” have been met with a blooming Israel to greet Him, but Jesus sees them not seeing, and an accursed fig tree, recorded in Matthew, represents the Israel not fruitful (scholars say this, this makes sense). God uprooted the complacency of Israel many times, and like carrying the Ark of the Covanent around in a prescribed way, they should have carried out the hope in a Messiah and all that the Lord asked. 

A familiar king Jeroboam doesn’t listen to God, so God sends a messenger in a prophet, Amos. Even the prophets have to realize that God needs them to go, (just ask Jonah), so why a king can’t listen is because they don’t want to disturb their own status quo. 

These stories are of a long line of not listeners, of sadly thinking our thinking is above God’s, of even ignoring His Way as if it didn’t exist or won’t happen. It’s not being fruitful in a dry spell.

God is Almighty, Go with God. Bear His Fruit. Be thankful. Even Jesus said ask God to tell the mountains to move and they will. We can be fruitful in listening to His Way. 

Amaziah, not listening, was a priest of the divided kingdom section of Israel, and not happy to be told Israel was going into exile. Maybe Amos was like a worn out record of warning and against the status quo especially saying such within “the king’s sanctuary and the temple of the kingdom.” Amaziah was displeased and tried to turn away from the truth. So, Amos explained, he was clear that even He was pulled into service to speak God’s truth. And gave a frank account of God’s Plan. If the king (or priest) wasn’t listening to God, then they would not have given any encouragement for the people to. They were destined to be exiled, as matter of fact as it could be. It was them keeping the status quo of being selfish and not selfless to God’s plans. 

Remember, or if you didn’t know, we are currently in exile ourselves from an Eden with God, and we certainly spread through the earth for God’s mission, and are told to bear His Fruit from His Living Water, and keep planting seeds. This is God’s Plan for us. If we are to go, then let’s go. If we are to bloom where planted then bloom for this time, then send forth fruit. Like Amos, we must be messengers, go FIGure…

Always may we Go with God, and keep blooming… stay warm (like the poinsettia) in His Love.

Amen 

—

AMOS 7:10-17

Amos and Amaziah

Then Amaziah the priest of Bethel sent a message to Jeroboam king of Israel: “Amos is raising a conspiracy against you in the very heart of Israel. The land cannot bear all his words. For this is what Amos is saying:

“‘Jeroboam will die by the sword, and Israel will surely go into exile, away from their native land.’”

Then Amaziah said to Amos, “Get out, you seer! Go back to the land of Judah. Earn your bread there and do your prophesying there. Don’t prophesy anymore at Bethel, because this is the king’s sanctuary and the temple of the kingdom.”

Amos answered Amaziah, “I was neither a prophet nor the son of a prophet, but I was a shepherd, and I also took care of sycamore-fig trees. But the Lord took me from tending the flock and said to me, ‘Go, prophesy to my people Israel.’ Now then, hear the word of the Lord. 

“You say, ‘Do not prophesy against Israel, and stop preaching against the descendants of Isaac.’

“Therefore this is what the Lord says:

“‘Your wife will become a prostitute in the city, and your sons and daughters will fall by the sword. Your land will be measured and divided up, and you yourself will die in a pagan country. And Israel will surely go into exile, away from their native land.’”

—

Mark 11

Jesus Comes to Jerusalem as King

As they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage and Bethany at the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two of his disciples, saying to them, “Go to the village ahead of you, and just as you enter it, you will find a colt tied there, which no one has ever ridden. Untie it and bring it here. 3 If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you doing this?’ say, ‘The Lord needs it and will send it back here shortly.’”

They went and found a colt outside in the street, tied at a doorway. As they untied it, some people standing there asked, “What are you doing, untying that colt?” They answered as Jesus had told them to, and the people let them go. When they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their cloaks over it, he sat on it. Many people spread their cloaks on the road, while others spread branches they had cut in the fields. Those who went ahead and those who followed shouted,

“Hosanna!”

“Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”

“Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David!”

“Hosanna in the highest heaven!”

Jesus entered Jerusalem and went into the temple courts. He looked around at everything, but since it was already late, he went out to Bethany with the Twelve.

Jesus Curses a Fig Tree and Clears the Temple Courts

The next day as they were leaving Bethany, Jesus was hungry. Seeing in the distance a fig tree in leaf, he went to find out if it had any fruit. When he reached it, he found nothing but leaves, because it was not the season for figs. Then he said to the tree, “May no one ever eat fruit from you again.” And his disciples heard him say it.

On reaching Jerusalem, Jesus entered the temple courts and began driving out those who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves, and would not allow anyone to carry merchandise through the temple courts. And as he taught them, he said, “Is it not written: ‘My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations’? But you have made it ‘a den of robbers.’”

The chief priests and the teachers of the law heard this and began looking for a way to kill him, for they feared him, because the whole crowd was amazed at his teaching.

When evening came, Jesus and his disciples went out of the city.

In the morning, as they went along, they saw the fig tree withered from the roots. Peter remembered and said to Jesus, “Rabbi, look! The fig tree you cursed has withered!”

“Have faith in God,” Jesus answered. “Truly I tell you, if anyone says to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and does not doubt in their heart but believes that what they say will happen, it will be done for them. Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive them, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins.” 

The Authority of Jesus Questioned

They arrived again in Jerusalem, and while Jesus was walking in the temple courts, the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the elders came to him. “By what authority are you doing these things?” they asked. “And who gave you authority to do this?”

Jesus replied, “I will ask you one question. Answer me, and I will tell you by what authority I am doing these things. John’s baptism—was it from heaven, or of human origin? Tell me!”

They discussed it among themselves and said, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will ask, ‘Then why didn’t you believe him?’ But if we say, ‘Of human origin’ …” (They feared the people, for everyone held that John really was a prophet.)

So they answered Jesus, “We don’t know.”

Jesus said, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I am doing these things.”