A Lenten Meditation: Deuteronomy 26

You shall rejoice in every good thing the Lord has given you

In our Old Testament text for this week, we hear not only a promise, but a command.  The people of Israel are commanded to give thanks, and bring their first fruits to God for the wonderful deliverance He has provided for them.  A people of slaves, now free and planted in their own land where prosperity flows abundantly, are commanded to give thanks for their blessings, to the God who has delivered them from the hands of their enemies.

As we ponder this divine message through Moses to the people of God, it is important to distinguish between God’s command, and God’s gift.  His Gift is the deliverance He provides, entirely apart from the work or worthiness of the Hebrews—none of those people deserved to be delivered from the hand of Pharaoh, nor to inherit a land flowing with milk and honey.  The Gift of God came to them out of sheer grace, born from the love of God toward His people.

The Command to rejoice in the blessing, is a reflection of the righteousness of the God who delivers the people.  It is only right to give thanks and praise to our saving Lord, who has done all things well for our deliverance.  Even the young child knows that it is wrong to receive a gift and not thank the giver, since this is written into the Natural Law of the cosmos—a gift of grace presumes the righteousness of the giver, and the indebtedness of the receiver.  It is good, right, and salutary, that we should at all times, and in all places, give thanks to the Lord our God, for the great gift of deliverance He has accomplished for us.

Knowing the difference between the Gift and the Command, we can remember them without confusion, both for the ancient Hebrews, and for the whole Christian Church on earth to this day.  We who have received freely from the Lord the riches of His grace, in the forgiveness of sins, life and salvation Jesus Christ has won for the world, have received this Gift without any merit or worthiness on our parts.  We have received so great a salvation, entirely based upon the work and merit of Jesus our Savior, and His divine love for us that moved Him to deliver us from sin, death, hell, and the enslaving power of the devil.  This divine Gift we call the Gospel—the Good News of our Salvation.  Such grace can always and only be received and clung to by faith, which believes the promise of God, and trusts in His Word of life and deliverance.

The Command, however, we must also receive.  And under the weight of that divine Command, we find ourselves wanting.  Who among us has thanked God enough for the great salvation He has accomplished for us in His Only Begotten Son?  Who among us has properly given our first fruits back to God, returning our whole life back to Him as a living sacrifice, which is our spiritual duty.  Who among us, rather, has grown slack in our remembrance of our great salvation, taken for granted the Blood of Christ poured out for the sins of the world—for our own sins, which are our own most grievous fault?   Before the righteous demands of the Law of God, we find ourselves falling short—poor miserable sinners, who neither deserve the Gift we have already been given, nor deserve to retain it for even another breath.  The Law condemns us for what we are:  ungrateful, selfish, prideful, and worthy of all temporal and eternal punishment.

So what are we to do?  How are we to respond in the face of so great a Gift, and so terrible a Command?  How does the Christian, saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ, live before the witness of God’s divine Law and Gospel?  St. Paul reminds us of the ancient, Old Testament axiom:  The Just Shall Live By Faith—a faith given to us as a divine gift, itself.

Faith hears the Word of God’s promised grace, believes and lives by it.  Faith hears the terrifying Word of God’s Law, and falls down in repentance before it.  Faith believes and clings to God Himself, who in the Person of His Son, has reconciled not only the world to Himself, but even the Word of God’s Gospel and Law in the unity of His own divine Person.  In Christ, the Law is satisfied, by His suffering and death.  In Christ, the Gospel is sure, by His resurrection from the dead.  Faith clings to Jesus in trust and repentance, knowing that our God loves us, now and for eternity.  Faith recognizes our sinful state, and knows our need for a Savior.  Faith hears the gracious promise of our Savior, and clings to Him as our eternal inheritance.  Faith believes that what we deserve from the Law has been poured out upon Christ, even as Faith receives the blessed gifts of forgiveness, life and salvation that flow freely from Christ to us.

Here the people of God stand, in a Faith which transcends all time and space—a Faith which at once places us at the foot of His Cross, the door of the Empty Tomb, and the gates of Heaven.  Here we give thanks to God for the gifts of Salvation in Jesus Christ, even as we repent of our weak and tepid thanksgiving.  And the Savior who has delivered us from the hands of our enemy the devil, shall continue to deliver us by His grace, through faith, forevermore.  Amen.