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Letting the Sycamores Go Naked

I had an acquaintance some years ago who struggled with his call to ordained ministry.  His struggle was not whether he was really called to the ministry.  It came from a strong (desire/call?) to minister in the inner-city.  His wife and children supported his job change, his seminary education, and his desire to be a pastor.  However, they were not willing to move with him into the kind of neighborhoods to which he felt drawn, and he was not willing to live in a house outside the community in which he wanted to minister.     

My counsel to him was that his preceding calls as “husband” and “father” needed to be a primary voice in discerning the actual place or way in which God was calling him to minister.  His argument was that—if God was calling him to do inner-city ministry—then God’s voice had precedence over spouse and family.  “I’m not looking to break up my family.  The choice is theirs whether to follow me and my call, or to split up.” 

There are all kinds of issues that this situation raises.  Is pastoral ministry, as a call, any “higher” or more important than other Christian calls, including marriage, family, neighbor, etc?  God’s call is sometimes defined as “where the world’s needs, your ability to help, and your joy all intersect.”  Even with such a definition, it is hard to discern God’s “call” from personal agendas, such as a desire to be a messiah-type hero. 

Personally, I think the real “call” of scripture is both less “mystical-miraculous” and also more “everyday-spiritual” than we make it.  I feel it is more tied to how we respond to the tasks, situations, and people at hand, than to any of our over-riding occupations or titles.  Moreover, we might better serve all of our neighbors if we each (including church professionals) gave better attention to the Godly calls we have to our “nearest” neighbors: spouses, children, family, and out from there. 

And yet, that doesn’t mean we necessarily stay where we are.  Amos, the dresser of sycamores, left his home and family, and risked his life to answer God’s call to speak prophetic and unpopular words.  However, Amos’s answer to Amaziah may give us some insight into this question.

Link to the First Reading

After Amaziah sneered at Amos, “Seer, crawl back to that land from which you came and earn your bread there; stop mucking up Bethel’s peaceful sanctuary!”  Amos answered, “Ah, but you’ve got it wrong, I am not a prophet/seer.”  In other words, “I’m not professionally invested in this.  I am a herdsman and a dresser of sycamores.  I am only here because God sent me with these words.” 

Yes, he left his shepherding and dressing of sycamores behind, but only to fulfill a more immediate, but less permanent call, with a specific message.  It was an issue of priority in which that specific message to Bethel was more important—for the moment.  Amos’s understanding of his task: put the sheep and sycamores in God’s hands, do this task, and then return home. 

In the movie, Gladiator, Maximus was a Roman General, but only so long as his Caesar and Rome needed him to lead their army.  Despite his “call” to the army, Maximus never stopped being a Spanish farmer, husband and father.  In fact, his role as general was not necessarily an interruption to these preceding calls, but a temporary and supportive one.  To him, a stronger Rome would lead to a greater security and life for his greater calls upon his return.   

The caution needed is that we can rationalize neither passivity nor personal heroics by blaming God.  God may be calling any one of us at any time into risk and ventures of which we cannot see the ending.  Temper that with the realization that in following our various “calls” we are never called “above” or to escape from our current life and people.  We are called to simply be and do what seems most right and just in each situation as we encounter it, and to trust in the forgiveness and the faithfulness of God to see us through to the other side.

Link to the Psalm

“Righteousness and peace will kiss each other.”  Our righteousness results from the gift of God’s forgiveness.  No, we cannot by our own powers or character be perfect; we cannot be on the level—or in a right relationship—with God.  Instead, he declares us so, for Christ’s sake.   

Being declared “right with God” by God himself ought to be a declaration strong enough to ease our guilt and fears, so that we are freed finally to do the work to which God calls us.  Throughout all of this, we can live with both a sense of great responsibility AND a sense of peace.  “Righteousness and peace will kiss each other; faithfulness will spring up from [this] ground.”

Link to the Second Reading

“Having heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, believing him, and being marked with the seal of the promised Holy Spirit, this is the pledge of our inheritance.”  Clearly, we are safe in God’s hands.  See again: the link to the Psalm above!

Link to the Gospel Reading

In these lessons Amos and his harsh words to King Jeroboam are linked to John the Baptist and his embarrassing words to Herod and Herodias.  The risk of being prophetic is also made clear.  In spite of Herod’s guilt or sympathy, John’s truth-telling resulted in his physical death and mutilation. 

But the story doesn’t end there.  We almost forget the start of this passage.  Word of Jesus had reached Herod; some were calling him “a prophet, like one of old,” or Elijah.  King Herod agreed with those who were saying Jesus was “John the baptizer, back from the dead.”   

I have my suspicion that Herod meant something more deep and haunting than that Jesus was John’s literal reincarnation.  Herod realized that John’s words and message were not cut off and buried with John.  Truth will not be buried; it will ultimately be revealed, and usually in our own lifetimes. 

In both a positive and frightening sense, this passage promises that God’s will and desire, and that his Truth, will always/ultimately win out.  In living out this life, we can be honest when we need to be, take risks when it seems most helpful and wise, because (even if it’s a mistake, and even if it kills us) we will be okay.  We have been given a relationship with God, and that cannot be severed, not by death, and not even by our sin and mistakes, which—only because they are covered by Christ’s forgiveness—can stand the light of truth.

Questions for Discussion

1.Do you struggle, or do you have a clear sense of your Christian “call” right now?  Is it generally connected to your major occupation, or do you encounter it more occasionally, depending on your present context?

2. How might seeing your relationship with Christ as a “central” priority of your faith and life be more helpful than trying to make it your “top” priority?  Is there a difference?  If so, how might that affect what you are called to do at various times in your life?

3.Describe an experience you may have had: when you were busy with other “important” things, but it became clear that you needed to stop and take care of someone or something more basic or immediate.

4. How might you have tried to advise the person mentioned at the start of this WORDLINK?  What might you have said to his family?

5. What steps do you take, or might you take, to determine whether God is calling you to do something bold or dramatic for a while?  How would you weigh the various voices of family, friends, pastors, peers, Bible, prayer and colleagues?