Friday,
January 31, 2020
“True justice must be given to foreigners living among you and to orphans, and you must never accept a widow’s garment as security for her debt. Always remember that you were slaves in Egypt and that the Lord your God redeemed you from your slavery. That is why I have given you this command. “When you are harvesting your crops and forget to bring in a bundle of grain from your field, don’t go back to get it. Leave it for the foreigners, orphans, and widows. Then the Lord your God will bless you in all you do. When you beat the olives from your olive trees, don’t go over the boughs twice. Leave the remaining olives for the foreigners, orphans, and widows. When you gather the grapes in your vineyard, don’t glean the vines after they are picked. Leave the remaining grapes for the foreigners, orphans, and widows. Remember that you were slaves in the land of Egypt. That is why I am giving you this command. Deuteronomy 24:17-22
If I were left in charge of
gathering the harvest of grapes, olives, or gain, it’s a certainty that there
wouldn’t be much left after the fields had been picked. There’s something in my soul of a waste-not/want-not
mantra that cannot be denied. If there’s
a crust of bread left in last week’s loaf, this week’s new loaf cannot be
opened in our home…under penalty of the Russell stare of intimidation. In our household you just do not waste
anything.
There are a lot of moving parts
to the issue of the displaced, misplaced, and wandering homeless among us. I, personally, do not have political programs
worked out to solve the dilemma of all who suffer the crushing blows that make
life crumble. That said, there is a
principle contained in these very specific commands of Moses; that principle is
kindness over greed.
The principle becomes easier to
understand (and apply) when we put faces on the words. When one is greedy the face that is projected
on those who are in need is that of greed; a person saturated with goods and
self only sees the other who wants what he has. A person who is kind understands the face of
hunger, homelessness, and fading hope. Thinking
of the harvest, which was the basis of economics in Moses’ day, Deuteronomy
instructs us to be generous with those who have no part, no place, and hardly a
reason to smile.
The perfect example of this
principle of those who have plenty being kind enough to share with those who
have little to nothing at all is seen in the incarnation of Jesus Christ. God, who has everything, not only died for us
on the cross, but did so after joining us in our humanity.
· That
humanity had no claim on anything of goodness; we had evil as our legacy.
· That
humanity had no place to call home; we didn’t belong in heaven, and our earth
had been cursed by our sin and selfishness.
· That
humanity had no plea for how we got in that condition; we chose our sin and
separation from God.
Humanity…you…and I…and all…were
without.
· We
were lost and undone; we were without strength or hope.
· We
were the widows of our dying selves.
· We
were the orphans of self-inflicted ignorance.
· We
were the strangers of even who we are…aliens in our own skins.
And He joined us.
For
You Today
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