It is in your mouth and in your heart
so you can do it.
Deuteronomy 30:14
Deuteronomy 30:11-20
11 Surely, this commandment that I am commanding you today is not too hard for you, nor is it too far away. 12 It is not in heaven, that you should say, "Who will go up to heaven for us, and get it for us so that we may hear it and observe it?" 13 Neither is it beyond the sea, that you should say, "Who will cross to the other side of the sea for us, and get it for us so that we may hear it and observe it?" 14 No, the word is very near to you; it is in your mouth and in your heart for you to observe.
15 See, I have set before you today life and prosperity, death and adversity.
16 If you obey the commandments of the Lord your God that I am commanding you today, by loving the Lord your God, walking in his ways, and observing his commandments, decrees, and ordinances, then you shall live and become numerous, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land that you are entering to possess.
17 But if your heart turns away and you do not hear, but are led astray to bow down to other gods and serve them, 18 I declare to you today that you shall perish; you shall not live long in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess.
19 I call heaven and earth to witness against you today that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Choose life so that you and your descendants may live, 20 loving the Lord your God, obeying him, and holding fast to him; for that means life to you and length of days, so that you may live in the land that the Lord swore to give to your ancestors, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.
This Week
We're at the end of the season of Epiphany that celebrates revelation, showing forth, and shining out. In John's gospel Jesus calls himself light of the world, but we're in Matthew where Jesus tells us we are salt and light! In Western protestant churches, next Sunday is Transfiguration; three days later, Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of Lent.
This week we'll take an excursion away from Jesus' Sermon on the Mount in Matthew and listen to God speaking through Moses in Deuteronomy.
Deuteronomy
• Surely, this commandment that I am commanding you today is not too hard for you, nor is it too far away. v.11
• See, I have set before you today life and prosperity, death and adversity. v.15
In a world of moral relativism and antinomianism that imagines the primacy of grace frees us from the necessity of obedience, God calls us to the freedom of loving God and loving our neighbors.
The ten words or commandments of the Sinai Covenant [Exodus 20; Deuteronomy 5] are working papers for life in community as well as out in "the world out there" beyond the Sunday assembly gathered around Word and Sacrament. Conceptualizing commandments, decrees, and ordinances [Deuteronomy 30:16] as "law" in our post-enlightenment Western sense leads to a distortion that neglects the resilient, adaptable, life-giving reality of Torah.
Not Too Hard or Too Far Away
v.14 The word is in your heart so you can do it.
With our twenty-first century Western tendency to equate heart and emotions, we need to remember that in Hebrew biology the heart is the seat of a person's will or intention. "Heart" is will, but also encompasses reason, wisdom, creativity, and discernment. Referring to a family's kitchen as its heart or an eating establishment's heart of the house are excellent contemporary parallels. Those places follow rules and guidelines, they expect certain outcomes, yet they expect a degree of messiness and often thrive with improvisation.
Our Deuteronomy reading insists the word of life is so close by it is in our heart and in our mouth; it is part of us. Does that mean we instinctively obey? The NRSV translation says we can observe the word, but better ones say we can do God's word. In his Message translation, Pastor Eugene Peterson says… Just Do It! The Hebrew here is dabar that connotes both speech and action.
Moses presents stark if-then contrasts of life/death // blessing/curse.
If you obey the commandments … If your heart turns away … to bow down to other gods
Ten Words / Sermon on the Mount
The commandments and the sermon on the mount (sermon on the plain in Luke) are paths to the shalom and wholeness for all creation we discussed two weeks ago on Epiphany 4. In his hilltop discourse, Jesus interprets and spells out the commandments. He describes blessings we receive that we then use to bless others.
Relational in both vertical (toward God) and horizontal (toward our neighbors) directions, the ten words are a covenant of gracious promise that binds God to people, a covenant of willing obedience that binds people to God and to each other.
We only need the first commandment:
I am the Lord your God who brought you up out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage (therefore!), you shall have no other gods before me.The other nine commandments and the great commandment to love God, self, and neighbor clarify the first.
Where We Live
In v.15, life and prosperity means that being blessed with bounty from the ground, the community then flourishes and cares for the least of these already in their midst, the stranger and the sojourner that happen by. It's not abundant money, (real estate!) property, and social success as the world and as "prosperity gospel" people consider prospering.
v.18 the land that you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess…
…is the turf God gifted Adam and charged him to till and steward, the place God promised to show Abraham when he got there. Like many waterways, the Jordan River was boundary, border – and barrier – between the old life and the new. Crossing Jordan is a baptismal reality for us.
Initially innocuous desirable stuff (you know, what's sometimes called "goods") and everyday behaviors carried to extremes can become those other gods we bow down to; we need to be careful and observe our own behaviors and compulsions. Both Old and New Testaments narrate the people's journey with their God. Who is our God or our gods? Where is our journey with our God or gods recorded?
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