With the pairing of Amos 8:1-12 and Luke 10:38-42, we have two texts which are descriptive of the community which is the people of God. Both readings address the ordinary interactions between God’s people, and speak to how faith is worked out through daily activities.
The message of Amos is easily viewed as a call for justice. Though perhaps not as immediately apparent, the question of what is “just” is also being raised by Martha. The issue of justice underlies all our relationships and interactions.
As Christians, we know that though legal and social systems may produce injustice, constructed as they are by people, they do not create justice. True justice results from the practice of love, and no system or institution can love. We can set up unloving systems which dehumanize, but not loving ones. We can only love and keep whatever systems we have from getting in the way of love, and therefore, in the way of what is just.
Justice is personal. Justice is both loving and merciful. God’s love is not at odds with his justice, and neither should we find a tension here. As a contrasting community deeply based in God’s love, the people of God should be fostering justice/love in the world.
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