SYCAMORE TREES

 

SYCAMORE TREES

Amos was a cultivator of sycamore trees which produced a fruit like figs, but not the figs we know, and being leafy, provided much shade. He was happy in his work as a gardener and a shepherd.

Then, one day, he was called away by God to be a prophet. ‘I was a shepherd and looked after sycamores. It was the Lord who took me from herding the flock and said “go, prophesy to my people Israel.”’ Being a prophet was a tough calling. Jeremiah groaned under the burden. Prophets often get a poor reception and are sometimes harassed and persecuted.

But something in Amos made him obey. He knew he had to do this thing. He would never find peace if he refused. I know someone in Zimbabwe who struggled with such a call. They resisted and resisted. But in the end gave way and now their work has really blossomed for the benefit of many.

This person and Amos were called to do great things. But we know our days are full of little opportunities to ‘do the right thing’. A multitude of little victories can one day grow into something big. Yet we often take the easy way and avoid the call. And we know this avoidance makes us a lesser person. In some way it diminishes us. We are less alive.

The Lord ‘cultivates us’ as Amos did his fig trees. He wants us to grow. He gives us this wonderful gift we call ‘life’. As the poet says,

          Bliss was it that dawn to be alive,

But to be young was very heaven.  (Wordsworth)

 

Life is beautiful, we often say, but yet we do not grasp it with both hands. We spend our time saying ‘yes’ and ‘no’. What made the saints into saints was their saying, ‘yes’, all the time - even when the going got tough. And what makes the going tough is things like Jesus saying in today’s gospel, ‘take no spare tunic.’ Don’t surround yourself with comforts that make you self-reliant. We are encouraged to be self-reliant in one sense. But, in another, we can make our self sufficiency so secure we forget that life is all about ‘launching out into the deep’ and being ready for surprises.

 

14 July 2024         Sunday 15 B         Am 7:12-15   Ep 1:3-14  Mk 6:7-13