Amos, This is Stupid Stuff

AMOS, THIS IS STUPID STUFF


One of my very favorite poems is “Terence, This Is Stupid Stuff” by A.E. Housman. In it, a group of young men chide their young poet friend for the morose tone of his verse. They’d rather hear rowdy drinking songs than the serious stuff their friend was writing. Terence then explains his writing style in these great lines:

Ale, man, ale's the stuff to drink
For fellows whom it hurts to think.
Look into the pewter pot
To see the world as the world's not.

But in all likelihood, his friends probably still didn’t get it.

Terence wouldn’t be the first person to be chastised for giving an unpopular message. In Amos 7, the prophet gives the word of the Lord to a most ungrateful audience. Amaziah, the priest of Bethel, tells Amos to leave saying, “Get out, you seer! Go back to the land of Judah. Earn your bread there and do your prophesying there. Don't prophesy anymore at Bethel, because this is the king's sanctuary and the temple of the kingdom.” (Amos 7:12)

Translation: Tell us what we want to hear or don’t tell us anything at all.

Amos was sent by God to warn Israel of the coming judgment. God wanted Israel to know exactly what he was angry about and what would be happening as a result so there would be no question as to what was happening and why. We want honesty when it makes us look good, but we want tact when it makes us look bad.

It’s never easy to be given criticism. It’s never easy for someone to point out our errors, but how much more painful is it to become the victim of consequences that could have been avoided if we’d just been willing to listen?

At the end of Housman’s poem, Terrence tells the story of King Mithridates who protected himself from being poisoned by ingesting tiny bits of poison to become immune. We too have to make ourselves ingest the truth given to us by God through his word and through this people. If Israel had listened to Amos and repented, perhaps much sorrow could have been avoided. What message are we avoiding because it’s just too hard? May we all have the courage to ingest the truth so that we, like Mithridates “can die old.”

© Sandra Perry 2006