“Amos and Martin”

Amos 1:1-2; 5:7-15, 21-24

Rev. Caela Simmons Wood

First Congregational UCC, Manhattan, KS

November 9, 2025

As a 21 year old in my first semester of seminary, I discovered there was a LOT I didn’t know about the Bible. Like the time I asked the professor “what is this exile they keep talking about?” and watched as the entire classroom turned around and stared at me like I was from another planet. It turns out that The Exile (with a capital E) is a major plot point in the Hebrew Bible. I hadn’t known. 

Or the time we were assigned the entire book of Amos. I don’t think I had ever read any of it before. I got to the end of chapter 5 - “let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream” - and became indignant. “WHY IS THIS GUY QUOTING MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR.?!?”

Wait. No. Other way around. MLK is quoting Amos, of course. 

Such was my introduction to the world of prophetic literature. Seminary is also where I learned that prophecy is not primarily future-oriented, as I had assumed. Biblical prophecy is not like Nostradamus (concerned with predicting events way off on the horizon). Instead, the prophets in the Bible are more concerned with the here-and-now. Biblical prophets like Amos are careful observers of the systems they live in. Their primary, God-ordained task is not to predict the future but to shine a light on the present day. 

Of course, Biblical prophecy also involves statements about the future, but it’s a flexible future. “If you keep doing X,” say the prophets, “you’re going to end up with Y.” But the possibility for change is the point. “If you repent,” say the prophets, “if you turn around and go a different direction, these terrible things will not come to pass. You can go another way.” 

Amos and Dr. King lived millennia apart, but it turns out that the prophetic tradition doesn’t change that much over time. Whether we’re in the 8th century before Christ or the 20th century after, prophets are still keen observers. They still open themselves to receive a Word from God. They are still, to use a Kingian phrase, “creatively maladjusted.” They are still on the side of the poor and marginalized. They are still big-picture thinkers. They are still despised by people in power. They are still reviled while they live and celebrated after they die. 

Another thing about prophets like King and Amos - and this is one we don’t talk about as often because I think it scares us a bit: they’re human. 

Which is to say: they put their pants on one leg at a time. They hit snooze on their alarm clocks. They have been known to laugh a little too loud at inappropriate jokes. They disappoint their families. They disappoint themselves. Prophets get tired. Exhausted, even. They are plagued by moments of frustration and hopelessness. They daydream about checking out and binging reality TV. And I think it’s safe to say that no prophet told their third grade teacher they wanted to be a prophet someday. 

Take Amos, for example. We don’t know too much about him, but here’s what we do know: he was originally from Tekoa, in the Southern Kingdom, but was sent to try and talk some sense into the leaders in the Northern Kingdom. He was not a priest or politician. He was a sheep-farmer and a “dresser of sycamore trees.” What does that even mean? The sycamore we’re talking about here isn’t like the sycamores in our part of the world. Instead, it’s a fruit-bearing with a large canopy. It’s long, low limbs make it an excellent shade tree. And, yes, in case you’re remembering Zacchaeus climbing the tree to watch Jesus pass by, we’re talking about THAT kind of sycamore. Those low limbs make it good for climbing, too. The fruit of these trees is fig-like and grows in clusters that stay very close to the trunk of the tree. Without help, the fruit isn’t very tasty. So tree dressers like Amos would climb these trees and poke or slice holes in the top of each piece of fruit to help them ripen and make them more palatable.. 

How does a sheep-farmer and tree-hugger become one of the most famous prophets of all time? 

Probably much in the same way Michael King did. 

Michael Jr. was born in 1929 in Atlanta, Georgia. His father was the pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Church, just as his father-in-law, Adam WIlliams before. Michael Senior’s parents had been sharecroppers in rural Georgia. When Michael Jr. was about five years old, his father traveled to Germany for a worldwide church convention. He came home and changed his name and his child’s name to Martin Luther. 

Martin Jr. was a voracious reader and lover of words. He enjoyed beauty, and by the time he was a teen was known for his keen sense of style.. Like his mother, a trained classical pianist, he was musical. He could sing, play the piano, violin and loved to go out dancing with friends. He was incredibly close to his maternal grandmother, Jennie. When he was 12 she died and he jumped out the second-story window of his house, trying to follow her into death. 

By the time he was 15, Martin had finished high school and headed to university at Morehouse. But first, he traveled North to Connecticut and spent the summer working on a tobacco farm. Like Amos, he got his hands dirty working in the fields. Like Amos, he probably had plenty of time to let his mind wander while his hands worked. 

Now you might think it had always been clear that MLK was on track to be a civil rights leader. And it’s true that there were plenty of things in his upbringing that steered him that way. But ultimately, I don’t think that’s where he thought he was headed at all. 

He had an academic’s heart - or brain, at least. He finished university by the age of 19 and went right on to seminary and then on to Boston University for his Ph.D. in systematic theology, which he finished at the age of 26. While he planned to be a pastor, this was an era where a pastor could safely assume they’d spend most of their hours in their study, not the streets. 

So, no, I don’t think Dr. King would have told his third grade teacher he wanted to grow up and be a prophet. I don’t think he would have told the search committee at Dexter Avenue Baptist Church that he wanted to be a prophet. I don’t think he wanted to be a prophet at all. Amos probably didn’t either. 

And yet - when Rosa Parks was arrested as a part of an ongoing campaign against bus segregation in Montgomery, Dr. King went to the meeting of local leaders. He showed up. And he listened. And when the group said they thought he should be in charge of the bus boycott because he was new to town,  he reluctantly said yes. And then he went to his office and bargained a bit with God, “Okay, listen here. I said yes to this because I think you want me to. I did my part. I showed up. But I don’t have a thing to say and the church is packed. So if you have a message you’d like the people to hear, you’d better speak clearly and slowly so I can write it all down.” 

“These are the words of Amos, one of the shepherds of Tekoa. He perceived these things concerning Israel two years before the earthquake…

He said:

    The Lord roars from Zion.” 

Amos heard the word of the Lord roaring forth from Zion - shouting for justice on behalf of the people: “Stop taxing the needy. Stop taking money on the side and turning the poor away with nothing to eat. And stop gaslighting me with these charades of righteousness. I don’t care about your showy religious festivals. None of it matters if you’re not taking care of the poor.” 

Martin heard the word of the Lord roaring forth from Zion, too. 

Like Amos, he listened and he spoke: 

Oh America, how often have you taken necessities from the masses to give luxuries to the classes. If you are to be a truly Christian nation you must solve this problem…[and] use your powerful economic resources to wipe poverty from the face of the earth. God never intended for one group of people to live in superfluous inordinate wealth, while others live in abject deadening poverty. [1]

And spoke again: 

The gospel at its best deals with the whole man, not only his soul but his body, not only his spiritual well-being, but his material well-being. Any religion that professes to be concerned about the souls of men and is not concerned about the slums that damn them, the economic conditions that strangle them and the social conditions that cripple them is a spiritually moribund religion awaiting burial. [2]  

Ours is not a spiritually moribund religion awaiting burial, is it? Is it? 

Then we must be like Martin and Amos and tune our hearts to hear the roar for justice. If we truly want to pray with Amos and Martin, “Let justice roll down like water and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream” then we have to not only speak out for justice and show up for justice but get quiet and steady and still and listen for the what the Spirit is saying in our time and place. 

Thanks be to God, we are not all called to be prophets. Amen? 

But some of you in this room ARE called to be prophets. You may think, “I’m not like Dr. King.” And you know what Dr. King probably thought? “I’m not like Amos.” And you know what Amos probably thought….? You see where I’m going with this. We are not all called to be prophets. But some are. Some are. 

The Apostle Paul wrote to the Romans

We have many parts in one body, but the parts don’t all have the same function. In the same way, though there are many of us, we are one body in Christ, and individually we belong to each other. We have different gifts that are consistent with God’s grace that has been given to us. If your gift is prophecy, you should prophesy in proportion to your faith. If your gift is service, devote yourself to serving. If your gift is teaching, devote yourself to teaching. If your gift is encouragement, devote yourself to encouraging. The one giving should do it with no strings attached. The leader should lead with passion. The one showing mercy should be cheerful. [3] 

Who are you? Are you a prophet? A server? A teacher? An encourager? A giver? A leader? One who gravitates towards compassion? Some other beautiful creation altogether? 

Close your eyes for just a moment. See if you can hear the person next to you breathing. If you feel very bold, reach out and see if they’d like to hold hands. 

“We are one body in Christ. Individually, we belong to each other. We have different gifts that are consistent with God’s grace that has been given to us.” 

(period of silence)

Thanks be to God. 

NOTES

[1] King, Paul’s Letter to American Christians, 1956. https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/king-papers/documents/pauls-letter-american-christians-sermon-delivered-dexter-avenue-baptist-church 

[2] King. Pilgrimage to Nonviolence, 1960. https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/king-papers/documents/pilgrimage-nonviolence

[3] Romans 12