DEUTERONOMY 26:1-11

THE BACKGROUND

The entire book of Deuteronomy is given as Moses’ final address to God’s people the Israelites. They are about to enter the promised land, and he will stay behind.  The final chapter of the book gives the details of his final days and his successor. This book has a little history in the first two chapters.  But it is mainly a book of law and of instruction.  Today’s passage is a series of instructions for the people on how to prepare a thank-offering at harvest time.

THE DETAIL

  • Remember that Moses is not going into the Promised Land with the people.  So, he’s telling them what to do, once they are settled in the land. (v. 1)
  • Once they have harvested their crops, the Lord instructs the people to bring the first pick of the harvest to Him as an offering.  They are to bring it to His house, give it to the priest, and declare it to be their offering.  (vv. 2-4)
  • They are to recite these sentences, which recall their slavery, and God’s act of saving grace. (vv. 5-10a)
  • Then, once the offering has been placed on the altar and the speech spoken, it is party time! The person presenting the offering is to host a harvest celebration, inviting the clergy (Levites) and everybody including the foreigners in their midst (aliens).  ( vv. 10b-11)

THE TAKEAWAY

Remember how sweet those first peaches and strawberries are, each year?  These are the first-fruits of the harvest.  The Lord tells Moses to have the people to bring these first-fruits to Him as a thank-offering for all the blessings that He has provided them. 

Verses 5-10a are a sort of creed.  It is a statement recalling the history and suffering of the Israelites.  It also recognizes God as the source of their salvation and prosperity.  Perhaps we should write a similar creed, based upon our own lives.  A creed that recalls our “wanderings” and God’s saving hand. How would yours read?
 

ROMANS 10:8-13

THE BACKGROUND

In this passage, Paul is discussing salvation.  Specifically, what it is that saves us.  He’s examining scripture to find hints of the new law that is contained there.  This is the new l that is coming with the Messiah. He is compares “the Law of Moses” with other parts of Holy Scripture.  (Keep in mind that for Paul, Holy Scripture was what we call the Old Testament.)  Before our passage, in verse 5, Paul quotes Leviticus 18:5.  Moses states that if a person lives righteously, as prescribed by the Law, they shall live.  Then, Paul offers a rebuttal, by quoting three Old Testament passages.

THE DETAIL

  • The first quote is from Deuteronomy 30:14.  The word is on our lips and in our hearts.  (v. 8b)
  • He goes on to explain that by confessing our faith with our lips, and believing in our heart in Jesus’ resurrection, we are saved—we have life.  (vv. 9-10)
  • Verse 11 is a variation of Isaiah 28:16.  We are reassured that we will not be put to shame because of our belief.
  • Finally, Paul reminds us that absolutely everybody who calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved.  It doesn’t matter if you are Jew or Gentile [black or white, American or foreign, etc.], we are all the same in God’s eyes.  He quotes Joel 2:32 as Old Testament support.  (vv. 12-13)

THE TAKEAWAY

While the Law of Moses, such as the Ten Commandments, aid us in knowing God’s prescription for righteous living, it is not our means of salvation.  The only thing that can save us is to believe in Jesus as the Son of God. Our salvation is a free gift from Jesus; all we need to do to claim this gift is to have faith in him.


LUKE 4:1-13

THE BACKGROUND

In recent weeks, we have been reading the gospel of Luke, and are already up to chapter nine.  But we have been saving one story for the beginning of Lent.  Now that Ash Wednesday is behind us, we will backtrack and look at the story called The Temptation of Jesus.  Luke 3 is the story of John the Baptist.  Verses 21 & 22 are about the baptism of Jesus.  The remainder of the chapter is Jesus’ family tree. 

THE DETAIL

  • Immediately following Jesus’ baptism, the Holy Spirit leads him into the desert wilderness, where he will be “tempted by the devil”.  I’ll call them “trials” here.  We’ll discuss this at length in the takeaway.  (vv. 1-2a)
  • He is fasting, which indicates to me that this is partly a spiritual retreat.  Jesus will eat nothing for 40 days.  He was famished by the end of this time.  That’s when the devil shows up.  (v. 2b)
  • The first trial is related to Jesus’ physical needs.  He is famished.  But he has divine power.  Remember the story of the loaves and the fishes?  Surely he can make bread to eat.  But he declines, quoting Deuteronomy 8:3b.  (vv. 3-4)
  • The second trial is about the abuse of power.  Jesus has divine power.  If he wanted to, he could topple Caesar, eliminate the Roman Empire, and establish his own peaceable kingdom.  Surely, this would accomplish the will of God, wouldn’t it?  All Jesus has to do to accomplish this is abandon God’s plan, and follow this worldly plan.  Jesus quotes Deuteronomy 6:13, stating that only God [and God’s plans] must be honored. (vv. 5-8)
  • Jesus’ final trial is the suggestion to test God’s protection of Jesus.  “Surely if you jumped off a high building, God would send angels to soften the impact.”  Jesus again responds by quoting scripture; in this case Deuteronomy 6:16. “Don’t put God to the test.”  The trial is over, and the devil departs… for now. (vv. 9-13)

THE TAKEAWAY

It is interesting that Luke calls the tempter “the devil” here.  Later, Judas is tempted to take the thirty silver coins it is Satan who plants the tempting seed. (Lk. 26:2-4)  They are different words.  Plus, one is capitalized, and the other is not. 

This story has always been entitled “The Temptation of Jesus”.  I have learned that the word is Greek that we’ve always translated as “tempted” is better translated as “tested”.  After his baptism, the Holy Spirit led Jesus into the wilderness to be tested.  This makes more sense than having the Holy Spirit lead Jesus to Satan, and say “Here you go, Satan, our only Son.” 

Perhaps this devil was more like the devil of Job.  In the beginning of that story, he sat with God and talked about the strength of Job’s faith.  That devil suggested that they needed to test the strength of Job’s faith.  This devil is a sort of tester.  In our Gospel lesson, the freshly baptized Jesus is led into the wilderness to be tested.  We know the hardships and suffering that Jesus is going to face.  Perhaps God is having him tested, like he had Job tested.

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

Can you name a time when your faith was tested?  How did you overcome the test?  Did you use Holy Scripture or prayer?  It is comforting for me to know that even Jesus experienced times when the strength of his faith was tested.  He is like us.  He knows our temptations and struggles.