manipulated gospel

“Justice is a lost cause. Evil is epidemic. Decent people throw up their hands. Protest and rebuke are useless, a waste of breath. Seek good and not evil — and live! You talk about God, the God-of-the-Angel-Armies, being your best friend. Well, live like it, and maybe it will happen…I can’t stand your religious meetings I’m fed up with your conferences and conventions. I want nothing to do with your religion projects, your pretentious slogans and goals. I’m sick of your fund-raising schemes, your public relations and image making. I’ve had all I can take of your noisy ego-music. When was the last time you sang to me? Do you know what I want?

I want justice — oceans of it.

I want fairness — rivers of it.

That’s what I want. That’s all I want.” Amos 5:13–14; 21–24

Not much commentary is needed with this version of Amos. Man, it hits home. Yesterday Jesus followers all around the world celebrated a risen savior. It’s the superbowl for Jesus followers. The empty tomb changed everything….or it should have.

The empty tomb wasn’t meant to be something we stare at and marvel at. It’s meant to be something that propels us with a courage that is not of this world. Courage that pushes us into an unmatched love for others -even when it hurts.

You see, this whole death and resurrection thing wasn’t meant to empower us to fulfill the American dream and have a nice house, two kids, a dog, and an SUV. This whole Jesus thing empowers us to change the world through a different type of love.

The resurrection empowers us to chase love no matter the outcome. It moves us to forgive even when it’s hard. It calls on us to look past the things in this world that divide us and instead elevate the humanity of one another. The resurrection is the thing that pushes us to fight for relationships, not power.

For so much of my life, I live on the wrong side of this Amos passage. I manipulate the gospel to benefit only me. I water it down so I can avoid the uncomfortable. In the end, oftentimes I live as if the resurrection didn’t change anything.

But it did.

The resurrection changed everything. Do you believe that? Is your life evidence of that?