It is customary to say that the role of a prophet is to “afflict the comfortable and comfort the afflicted.” The prophet Amos emphasized the first of those two attributes. He lived in a time of great economic disparity. The rich were very rich and the poor very poor. He denounced the rich who piled on luxury after luxury while those who worked for them lacked basic necessities. Beware, I will crush you into the ground
as a wagon crushes when laden with sheaves. At our baptism each Christian is anointed as a prophet. We too have the obligation to afflict and to comfort. In our context this will play out most particularly in the political choices which we make. Will we elect representatives who guard the status quo which has inequality built into it? Or will our political choices look toward those who seek to create a society which promotes the common guard of all the people?
