Amid the Chaos: Focus

First Reading

A READING FROM THE BOOK OF AMOS

This is what the Lord God showed me - a basket of summer fruit. He said, "Amos, what do you see?" And I said, "A basket of summer fruit." Then the Lord said to me, "The end has come upon my people Israel; I will never again pass them by. The songs of the temple shall become wailings in that day," says the Lord God; "the dead bodies shall be many, cast out in every place. Be silent!" Hear this, you that trample on the needy, and bring to ruin the poor of the land, saying, "When will the new moon be over so that we may sell grain; and the sabbath, so that we may offer wheat for sale? We will make the ephah small and the shekel great, and practise deceit with false balances, buying the poor for silver and the needy for a pair of sandals, and selling the sweepings of the wheat." The Lord has sworn by the pride of Jacob: Surely I will never forget any of their deeds. Shall not the land tremble on this account, and everyone mourn who lives in it, and all of it rise like the Nile, and be tossed about and sink again, like the Nile of Egypt? On that day, says the Lord God, I will make the sun go down at noon, and darken the earth in broad daylight. I will turn your feasts into mourning, and all your songs into lamentation; I will bring sackcloth on all loins, and baldness on every head; I will make it like the mourning for an only son, and the end of it like a bitter day. The time is surely coming, says the Lord God, when I will send a famine on the land; not a famine of bread, or a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord. They shall wander from sea to sea, and from north to east; they shall run to and fro, seeking the word of the Lord, but they shall not find it.

AMOS 8:1-12

Gospel

THE HOLY GOSPEL OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST

ACCORDING TO LUKE

Now as they went on their way, he entered a certain village, where a woman named Martha welcomed him into her home. She had a sister named Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet and listened to what he was saying. But Martha was distracted by her many tasks; so she came to him and asked, "Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to do all the work by myself? Tell her then to help me." But the Lord answered her, "Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things; there is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part, which will not be taken away from her."

LUKE 10:38-42

Sermon: The Rev. Dr. Maryann Amor

The Air India plane crash. The many deaths in war-torn places like Ukraine and Iran. The flooding in Texas that killed so many young children.

As we hear these reports, we know these won’t be the last terrible things to happen in our world. We know more tragedy will come.

Add to this our own personal struggles: family members coping with illness, ongoing grief, anxiety about our economic situations, our work life, our futures. And all of this is overwhelming. It might feel like living each day with hope, is nearly impossible.

Both our first reading and Gospel provide a way for us to move through the challenges of our lives…both call us to shift our focus, look at things differently.

In the Gospel, Martha could stand as a representation of all of us as we carry the weight of our lives and the world. She’s distracted, troubled, anxious, consumed by everything that needs to be done to prepare for Jesus.

And amidst this, Jesus calls her by name: “Martha, Martha.”

He sees her and wants her to stop, take a moment, refocus her attention on him. He continues, “There is need of only one thing… Mary has chosen the better part.”

Jesus isn’t trying to make Martha feel bad about herself. He isn’t saying Mary is better.

The better part is what he offers — not sitting and doing nothing — but ensuring that Martha’s focus, and our focus, is placed on God.

Applied to us, rather than being distracted or consumed by everything happening in the world and in our lives, Jesus is calling us to put him — to put God — at the centre. To make him the focus instead of all that goes on around us, all the things that pull our attention. That kind of focus doesn’t remove us from what’s difficult, but it allows us to live through it differently…we are anchored in God’s grace, not our own worry and fear.

What’s really surprising is that we find a similar message in our first reading from Amos.

On the surface, Amos seems like the complete opposite of the Gospel. Amos’ vision is full of death and destruction. He says: “The dead bodies shall be many… I will turn your feasts into mourning, all your songs into lamentation; I will bring sackcloth on all loins, and baldness on every head; I will make it like the mourning for an only son.”

This is nothing like Jesus, Mary, and Martha sitting quietly at home.

In this vision, Amos shows God punishing Israel. The people appear faithful…going to temple, keeping Sabbath…but in their daily lives, they are trampling the poor, lying in business, hoarding wealth. So, God says suffering will come to them — punishment for their behaviour.

As we read this passage we might ask, “What kind of God is this? Is God really sending punishment? Causing suffering?”

This text was written for an ancient people — who believed everything from weather to war was caused by divine action. For them, of course God caused death and destruction to fall on Israel. That’s how divine justice was understood.

But we know more today. We have science and medicine. We know what causes natural disasters. We have centuries of prayer, experience, and theological reflection that show us that God does not cause suffering… but God joins us in it. We believe in a God who grieves with us… a God who is not distant from pain, but present within it.

So if Amos isn’t about God causing all that horrible stuff to happen, what is it about?

Amos shows us a God who can see through outward acts of worship to how people live. A God who is heartbroken, outraged, and furious when people forget that they have been called to follow the commandments, care for the poor, put others before themselves.

And God responds, as any ancient prophet would describe it, with powerful force — not because God is cruel and wants to destroy the people, but because God wants them to change. The language of Amos is a divine wake-up call for Israel, telling them that they must change… or there will be severe consequences.

And it is here that we find the connection between the two readings and how they relate to our life experiences.

Martha is distracted by all that she has to do. Jesus calls her to focus on him.

The Israelites are distracted by ritual and wealth. God, through Amos, calls them to focus on how they’re living.

Both texts are about focus.

They are telling us that with everything going on — in the world and in our lives — we can’t let any of it pull our focus away from what we know about God. We cannot let them consume us so much that we forget that God is with us through it all. We must focus on God. This is our deepest hope — what anchors us when everything else feels uncertain.

And we cannot allow the weight of it all to make us numb. Because when we stop feeling, when we stop noticing how much injustice there is, how the actions of the powerful cause the suffering of many…then injustice wins. We must focus on the root causes of the terrible things in our world, so we can contribute to their end.

Our passages today, while so vastly different on the surface, together call us to remember that amidst all the suffering, chaos, and challenges of being human — we must focus. Take time to sit at Jesus’ feet, shifting our focus back to our God — the one who truly matters and is with us through all the difficulties of life. Be people who focus on the suffering of this world and who respond — not by forgetting it and doing our own thing — but by embodying care, compassion, the absolute refusal to let cruelty or chaos win.

So don’t let the world’s suffering — or your own — distract or numb you. Don’t let it pull your focus. Instead, fix your attention on God — and you will find peace. Amen.