Though yesterday’s feast pulled us away from the prophet Amos for a day, we certainly do find the content of this oracle to be a 180 degree turn from what we read on Thursday. Today, rather than the doom and gloom that fills the first eight chapters of this book, we read of joy and restoration, something every prophet hopes. Sadly, not many of them lived to see the promised restoration of Israel. The joy and excitement that Amos expresses is surprising inasmuch as he never got to experience it himself. Amos experienced the destruction of the kingdom but clearly believes that God will make good on the promise to restore the fallen hut of David.
We know that this promise was fulfilled in Jesus. However, like the prophet Amos, Jesus was not accepted by many of the people of his own time. Having read the Gospels may times before, we have come to expect the scorn of the Pharisees and scribes. However, today’s criticism of Jesus comes from the disciples of the Baptist, people one would expect to be excited about the advent of the Messiah. They base their criticism on the fact that Jesus and his disciples do not show outward signs of piety or sacrifice. The only kind of religious observance they know is that for which the prophets had proclaimed. They were expecting a Messiah that was clothed in sackcloth and who fasted. Jesus proclaims that something new is about to happen. While the new springs forth from the old, it is still something new and demands a new kind of response.
Sacrifice and acts of penance still have their place in our religious observance. However, it must be accompanied by the joy of the Gospel of which Pope Francis so eloquently wrote at the beginning of his pontificate. “The Gospel, radiant with the glory of Christ’s cross, constantly invites us to rejoice. . . “Rejoice!” is the angel’s greeting to Mary (Lk 1:28). Mary’s visit to Elizabeth makes John leap for joy in his mother’s womb (cf. Lk 1:41). In her song of praise, Mary proclaims: “My spirit rejoices in God my Savior” (Lk 1:47). When Jesus begins his ministry, John cries out: “For this reason, my joy has been fulfilled” (Jn 3:29). Jesus himself “rejoiced in the Holy Spirit” (Lk 10:21). His message brings us joy: “I have said these things to you, so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete.”
The Bridegroom is still with us. We are all called to let the joy of the Gospel pervade our lives so that all who meet us are convinced that we are filled with the wine of the New Covenant of Jesus.
Fr. Lawrence Jagdfeld, O.F.M., Administrator