I was no prophet, but the Lord said to me, “Go, and prophesy to my people Israel.” No one is happy to be the recipient of bad news, especially when it comes from God. The people of the northern kingdom of Israel had had enough of Amos and his threats. His constant reminder to them of their failures as well as the fate that awaited them had now become too much even for the priest Amaziah who then reported him to the king. In his defense, Amos says that he is no conspirator against the king and his kingdom, and that he can possibly have no bone to pick with the king. If anything, he is from Judah, and was never trained as a prophet. His sin? Unlike the people he was sent to preach to, he had obeyed the Lord: “Go and prophesy to them,” the Lord had told him.
A prophet as a messenger of God relays the message of God. The words that issue from his mouth are never his, and he can never alter them. A prophet preaches in season and out of season, when he is favored and when he falls out of favor. Amos was no doubt never favored in the first place, for his message remained consistent: the imminent destruction of Israel. However, even after being told to flee back to his native kingdom, he still prophesied against the king.
The call to prophecy is a challenging one, especially when one is sent to call a people to repentance. It is a call whose only qualification is obedience to God’s voice. And for the most part, a prophet will preach by his life. At our baptism, we took upon ourselves the prophetic mandate to become preachers of the word of God. Like Amos, ours is also a responsibility to relay the message of God as we receive it, even if it will lead to our discomfort.