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The story is told about an engineer, who was working in an automobile assembly plant. The company had to make some changes to its assembly lines every year because of the new model changes. Occasionally, though, entirely new products would be introduced, which would require a more extensive overhaul of the facility. The engineer’s crew was installing and testing about six miles of overhead conveyors that would move car bodies through the plant from one area to another. As is often the case in such projects, it was taking more time than initially planned, and the work was behind schedule. In order to save time, the project team would often have crews removing old equipment at the same time that others were installing the new. Sometimes the crews worked pretty close to one another.
Part of that engineer’s job was to supervise a group of workers and make certain that the equipment actually worked the way it was supposed to work. One day, as he walked into the area around one of the work stations, minding his own business, someone grabbed him roughly and pulled him hard. It was very unnerving to the man, and he was about to shake himself loose and issue a sharp, angry objection. A few seconds later, however, he was very, very thankful to his unknown assailant.
You see, while he was busy looking at the work station, he was not paying real close attention, and he was certainly not looking up. He didn’t know it, but, about twenty feet over his head, a team was dismantling a very big piece of equipment with cutting torches. A couple members of the team were walking around down on the main floor as safety observers. These safety observers were called spotters. They were watching for people just like that pre-occupied engineer.
About two seconds after one of the spotters grabbed him, a forty-foot-long I-beam about twelve inches thick dropped down from the ceiling. If that spotter had not grabbed him, that I-beam would have ended his life instantly.
The man experienced about a dozen different emotions all at the same time. He was a little dazed and shocked. He was grateful to be alive. He was thankful for the quick actions of the spotter. He was frightened at the thought of what that I-beam could have done to him. He was also quite embarrassed. He felt stupid that he had not been more aware of his surroundings. It was a construction zone. He was wearing a hard hat for good reason. He should have been more careful, and knew he would pay closer attention to important things in the future, especially to the presence of the safety spotters.
Did you know that the Bible also has spotters in it? Some of the spotters were called prophets. Others were called apostles. Both prophets and apostles acted as spiritual spotters who warn people when they are about to get into spiritual danger. Today’s Old Testament reading comes from the writings of one of those spiritual spotters, a prophet named Amos.
God chose Amos to warn Israel and other countries. Judging by his words in today’s reading, he didn’t really want to be a prophet. He didn’t really want to be the one who told Israel what kind of danger they were in, but God chose him and he couldn’t do anything about that.
In today’s Gospel, we learn of another spotter—one sent to warn Herod of spiritual danger. John the Baptist was the last of the Old Testament prophets. He was the forerunner of the Messiah. When Jesus talked about John, He said, “Among those born of women none is greater than John.” (Luke 7:28)
John was the spiritual spotter that God sent to Herod. Herod had stolen the wife of his brother. That and many other sins had placed his soul in danger. John the Baptist warned Herod of this danger.
Our readings today tell us that there is one very obvious difference between the spotter who saved the man’s life in that factory and spiritual spotters. For one thing, people are usually very grateful to those who save their physical lives, as the engineer was to that spotter who kept him from walking under that I-beam in that factory.
Spiritual spotters, on the other hand, often get no respect. The reward for warning someone of the danger to their soul instead of to their body may be verbal and physical abuse—in some cases, even death. The Israelites in the Old Testament reading wanted to send Amos into exile.
God had told Amos to proclaim the many consequences of staying in their current situation of spiritual danger. Instead of listening to the warning that God gave through Amos and moving to the safety of God’s salvation, they decided that Amos had to go. They suggested that he go to Judah and prophesy there.
Our Gospel tells us that Herod—though he respected and feared John’s preaching—was maneuvered into having John beheaded. John had warned Herod and Herodias, his illicit wife whom he had taken away from his half-brother, of the dangers of adultery. Marriage is not only the union of man and wife, but it is also a picture of the communion between Christ and His Bride, the Church. Herod and Herodias had not only sinned against marriage, but also sinned against the very image that God established as an image of His relationship with us. They were in danger of going to hell where their souls would be lost forever.
But Herodias was enraged and vengeful at having been called out on their sinful and sordid behavior. She responded to John’s faithful and scriptural ministry by first using her own daughter as a sexual tease to Herod and his dinner guests. She then took advantage of his drunken, prideful oath to get John’s head put on a platter and displaying it as a party decoration.
God still sends spiritual spotters to watch over His people. After Jesus rose from the dead and before He ascended into heaven, He established the pastoral office. The pastor is the spiritual spotter that remains with us to this day. Being one of God’s spotters can often be very fulfilling, but it can also be very uncomfortable and frustrating sometimes. People don’t always comprehend, much less appreciate, the service and the gifts that God provides for them through His spiritual spotters.
Oh, they’ll listen to their doctors’ guidance about weak, mortal bodies that’ll one day turn to dust. They’ll listen to their mechanics about addressing problems with cars that will one day turn to rust, or be crushed and melted into something else. They’ll listen to their brokers and bankers about handling their fleeting worldly fortunes.
Yet they will refuse to listen—sometimes refuse even to physically hear—what God would have proclaimed to them through the means He has established to grant and sustain faith, for the protection of their eternal souls. After all, everyone can read medical textbooks, auto repair manuals, the Wall Street Journal, and the Bible.
Though in physical terms, the advancement of knowledge and technology has made modern life far more comfortable than the biblical prophets and apostle could have ever dreamed possible, in its own ways, being a pastor can still be just as difficult.
Down through the centuries many thousands of pastors have lost their lives because they faithfully proclaimed repentance and forgiveness to those who would not listen. In some parts of the world, it can be just as dangerous to be a spiritual spotter in modern times as it was for John the Baptist in his day.
Fortunately, this country has laws against killing or injuring other people, including pastors. While violence against them is occasionally reported, it isn’t commonplace. People in this country have other ways of persecuting pastors, though. Sometimes this is even more apt to happen inside the church than outside. Many families have roast pastor for Sunday lunch or dinner, pointing out his many flaws, failings, and limitations after the man has only attempted to do what God has called him to do.
God certainly does not talk to pastors in the same way that He spoke to His apostles and prophets. That is because the Holy Spirit inspired the apostles and prophets to write down the guidelines for his spiritual spotters for us in the Bible, so all pastors and those who hear them could share God’s message. Pastors are to do their spotting according to those Biblical guidelines.
Jesus had a vision—a clear and distinct method, even—for those called to proclaim His Word. They were to warn people of spiritual danger, and then tell them about the only place of spiritual safety. Jesus said that, “Repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations …” (Luke 24:47). In order to proclaim and encourage repentance, though, a pastor must first tell people about God’s law and then tell them how they break it, daily. A pastor must tell people that they—just like their pastors—sin frequently. That the penalty for being sinful and unrepentant is eternity in hell.
Pastors do this in love because they want to make people aware of their spiritual danger and then let the Gospel move them to a place of spiritual safety.
After people become aware of their spiritual danger, the pastor then has the wonderful opportunity to proclaim God’s mercy, grace, and forgiveness. There is indeed a place that is safe from spiritual danger. That place is at the cross of Jesus Christ.
In today’s Gospel, John the Baptist died. Although he was a great prophet—the greatest, according to Jesus—John was still a sinner. His death saved no one, but his death did give witness to another. His message in life and his witness in death pointed to the greater one who would follow him, Jesus Christ.
The spiritual spotting the pastor does isn’t just limited to dire warnings of sin and its consequences for you, though. After John the Baptist died, other rulers conspired to commit another crime of violence—this time against Jesus, the one for whom John had come to prepare the way. They tortured Him and then nailed Him to a cross. His crucifixion and death did something John’s death could never do. Jesus had lived a perfect life. He had not committed one, single sin. His death was totally and completely undeserved.
Yet Jesus died not only bearing the sins of the whole world, but actually becoming that sin for us. His death is redemption for all people. His death takes away the sins of the whole world. That means He died for your sins, just as He died for mine. Those who place their faith in Christ Jesus for the forgiveness of their sins are safe from the eternal damnation that our sins fully deserve. You are free of that curse and that fear.
Even here, though, the pastor’s spotting work does not end with the wonderful news that for the sake of Jesus’ suffering and death, your sins are forgiven and its eternal consequences wiped out by God. The pastor also has the opportunity to proclaim the further joyous news of the resurrection—the news that although Jesus died for our sins, He did not stay dead. Jesus is true God and death cannot hold Him. He rose from the dead. He lives and reigns forevermore. Christ’s resurrection opens up the door to eternal life in heaven for all who believe in Him. What a tremendous joy it is for pastors to proclaim the victory of Christ that gives us the forgiveness of sins, eternal life, and salvation.
Spiritual spotters have lives that are full of great contrasts. They want all people to be in that safe place at the cross of Jesus Christ. Unfortunately, many people stubbornly refuse to listen to the warning and remain in their trespasses and sins. They reject the working of the Holy Spirit in the Word of Law and Gospel. This can cause many a pastor to get angry, or frustrated, or even to moisten his pillow with tears at the end of the day. In other cases, though, the Holy Spirit works faith in people, turning them in repentance. He, and not the pastor, puts them in the safety that comes with faith in Jesus for the forgiveness of sins. It is then that the pastor rejoices with the angels in heaven over the sinner who has received salvation.
Spiritual equivalents of heavy I-beams are falling all over the place, all around you. This world is full of sin. When one of God’s spotters, like Amos or John the Baptist, gives you a warning against your sin and those by which you may be tempted, he is only doing what God has called him to do. He is warning of the danger of that sin to your soul and your eternal well-being. He is proclaiming safety in Christ alone; in Jesus who died on the cross for you and then rose from the dead. The warning of a spotter is an act of love, not an act of judgment. Along with the Savior who sent him, he only wants you to abide forever in the safety of Jesus Christ. Amen.
