Jesus looks into our hearts. He sees our hang-ups. He sees the temptations that keep us from following him. He sees our shortcomings, our sin, and our self-inflation. He does not turn His eyes away from us.
For followers of Jesus, entrance is granted into the Paradise by faith in a risen Lord, even though we continue to struggle with the First Commandment, because Jesus is greater than Moses.
The best way to get at the Gospel in our Amos reading is to connect it to Christ. It is too easy and tempting to associate it with social justice today. Our people will not need much encouragement to go there. What they need is the surprising and salvific connection to Christ
The big thing is God’s grand design, His good creation He has come to restore and redeem, the Kingdom of Heaven Jesus proclaimed in His life and embodied in His death and resurrection.