Speaking Up
Amos 5:6-7, 10-15
Rev. David Domanski
10/13/20244 min read
Some say that silence is golden. And indeed, as Ecclesiastes tells us, “There is a time for silence and a time to speak.” Knowing when to speak and when to be silent is a most difficult art. Sir Francis Bacon said, “Silence is the virtue of fools.” But Abraham Lincoln said, “Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to open your mouth and remove all doubt.” Martin Luther King Jr. said, “In the end we will remember not the words of our enemies but the silence of our friends.” These are all wise words, and notably they are . . . spoken.
Amos, the prophet of God sent to the corrupt Northern Kingdom of Israel, also speaks about silence. He observes two things about silence. First he says, “Therefore he who is prudent will keep silent in such a time, for it is an evil time” (v 13). And, second, he observes, “They hate him who reproves in the gate, and they abhor him who speaks the truth” (v 10). These acknowledge that silence might keep you personally safe in evil times, but God tells us that in the face of evil, one cannot remain silent. Amos learns that even if he must endure hatred from his fellow Jews, a prophet of God must speak up because to be silent in such times is deadly.
Silence is evil’s best friend. In Amos’s time, silence facilitated false worship. Silence was deadly then and it is now when the people of God are led to false worship under the guise of “cultural relevance.” Israel was silent when it came to worshiping demons in Bethel, Gilgal, and Beersheba (vv 5–6). But through Amos, God called His people away from false worship to Himself again.
And silence is deadly when it ignores the cry of the powerless. Our text mentions that evil people refused to listen to the rulings of the judges at the city gates. The gates served as a kind of small claims court, where the poor and disenfranchised could come to seek justice, but no one would listen to sound rulings, and even some of the judges were evil. About these judges, God says, “And how great are your sins—you who afflict the righteous, who take a bribe, and turn aside the needy in the gate” (vv 11–12).
And our silence is deadly too when we do not speak for those who have no voice—the unborn, the elderly, and those who suffer here and around the world for the name of Jesus.
Silence is concerned only with self-preservation. Every age will produce a multitude of people who see evil, know it is wrong, but fear man more than God. We know that being silent in the face of evil may seem “prudent” from the perspective of personal safety and benefit, but when we refuse to speak up, we stand condemned by the Law of God. Now is not the time for silence but for repentance!
God has always spoken up when evil tempts people to remain silent. Through the prophets, God’s voice has spoken to all generations. And two thousand years ago, it seemed as if those voices of the prophets had been forever stilled. For four hundred years, since the close of the Old Testament, silence had seemed to reign. But then there came “the voice of one crying in the wilderness” who spoke clearly and directly to the evils of the silence of his day: “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee the wrath to come?” John spoke the Truth of sin and many were saved by the One he proclaimed. John was the first prophet of God who could point to the Lamb of God who saves—a privilege that WE ALL have. So as prophets who can share the Good News of Jesus, don’t we owe it to our culture and our neighbors to speak up about the evils of our day and direct them to the joy of Jesus too?
God has forever broken the silence that enabled and empowered sin through the thundering victory of Jesus’ death and resurrection. Jesus cleansed the temple of a den of thieves. Jesus challenged the pretentious self-righteousness of Pharisees, Sadducees, and priests alike. Jesus delivered justice to those who were oppressed, wholeness to those who were broken, and hope to those who suffered by speaking up and telling the people of God’s love and forgiveness.
Jesus was no silent observer of an evil time. And the message of His resurrection continues to break the silence of every evil time. It breaks through the silence that would condemn us all with the astounding news that because He lives, we live too!
Today, listen for God’s voice that breaks the silence of your life. Our Lord confronts our silence with the cross, and the Holy Spirit delivers the blessings of that cross through Word and Sacrament. Hear Jesus in the words once spoken over you, “I baptize you in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” Hear Jesus in the words of absolution, “I forgive you all your sins.” Hear Jesus as you kneel and receive him in the Supper, “Broken for you. . . . shed for you.” He speaks to you and to me and tells us that His life is our life, His peace is our peace, His perfection is our perfection. Jesus invites you and me to speak up about these truths that evil may be called out, that justice may flourish, and that the world would find its hope in Him. God has forever broken His silence, and we joyfully proclaim that Jesus is Lord, forever and ever. Amen.