Stephen
Terry, Director
Deuteronomy in the Later Writings
Commentary
for the December 11, 2021, Sabbath School Lesson
"For
day after day they seek me out; they seem eager to know my ways, as if they
were a nation that does what is right and has not forsaken the commands of its
God. They ask me for just decisions and seem eager for God to come near them. 'Why
have we fasted,' they say, 'and you have not seen it? Why have we humbled
ourselves, and you have not noticed?' Yet on the day of your fasting, you do as
you please and exploit all your workers. Your fasting ends in quarreling and
strife, and in striking each other with wicked fists. You cannot fast as you do
today and expect your voice to be heard on high." Isaiah 58:2-4, NIV
This week as my wife and I were
driving to a local grocery store, we saw flashing red and blue lights and several police and sanitation workers gathered under a
railroad overpass that went above the street that takes us to the store. As we
passed by, we discovered that the police were rousting out a sizable homeless
camp and the workers were cleaning up the accumulated trash. A
number of the homeless, who had already been pushed out, were gathering
in groups, with what belongings they could carry, a few blocks on either side
of where their encampment had been, unsure of where to go. After driving
through and reaching the grocery store, which was only a block away, we
discovered an unexpected result of driving the homeless off. To carry away
their meager belongings, they had taken most of the shopping carts from the
store. None were in the cart corrals outside and none were available inside the
store. This cut short our trip to the store. Due to age and disability, we
cannot hand carry very much when shopping.
Of course, what we witnessed is
not unique to our city. Cities large and small across the United States are
struggling to find solutions to the issue of widespread homelessness. Some
cities have tried to criminalize homelessness with loitering and vagrancy laws.
Others have played a game of ping pong with them, buying them a bus ticket to the
next city and then that city buying them a ticket to send them back. Others
have attempted to build housing for the homeless, but the homeless population
seems to grow faster than available housing despite efforts to fix it
While there has always been a
hard-core homeless problem related to substance abuse and mental illness, many dealing with homelessness are not choosing self-destructive
lifestyles based on these issues. Many Americans, especially in those states that
only require the federal minimum wage for employees of $7.35 per hour, are
unable to make enough money to afford a home off the street. Our eastern neighbor,
Idaho, has this as their minimum wage standard. This comes to a little over
$15,000 per year. The average per capita income in Washington State is almost
$39,000, and minimum wage here, effective January 1, 2022, will be $14.49 per
hour. This is just over $30,000 per year or almost twice what an Idaho worker
can expect to earn. When we couple that with a booming real estate market that has
some parts of Idaho, faced with bidding wars over living space, some of the
most difficult areas for low wage workers to find housing. Most property owners
want first and last month's rent along with a security deposit. That can be an
insurmountable obstacle on minimum wage. But if somehow, they could scrape up a
means to meet that requirement, then they are faced with property owners using
credit reports as a criterion to choose which tenant gets to move in. A person
who has been laid off and lost their home due to being
unable to pay rent is not likely to have a sparkling credit history, especially
if they have been forced to default on unsecured credit card debt accumulated
while they were still working.
Decades ago, we had a homeless
man attending our church who had mental health issues. He would come and read
the newspaper during the sermon because it was warmer, and the pews were
padded. He would stay for potluck, loading up on the best nutrition he had had
all week. We tried to find him a better living situation, but he would always return
to the large cardboard box he lived in. He considered that home and did not
want to live elsewhere. But if we think the homeless are like him, we need to understand
that he is the exception, not the rule. Most of us, including most of the
homeless, would rather have a warm bed in an apartment or a house somewhere instead
of piece of torn cardboard spread over a patch of gravel under an overpass.
When we admit that we would not choose to live like that, the scriptural
admonition, quoted by Jesus to "love your neighbor as yourself"[i] strikes
home. Then we realize how little of what we would do for ourselves we would do
for others.
As our text from Isaiah at the
beginning of this commentary points out, while no one thinks of themselves as
immoral, and many claim to be Christian, we nonetheless are constantly at war
with one another, verbally and physically. We think that because we observe the
proper forms of religion, we are above reproach compared to others. But we were
never called to compare ourselves to others. They are not the standard of
righteousness. Christ is. We are called to reflect the character of God in our being.
This was the intent behind mankind's creation, to be in the image of God.[ii] God's
character was to be our character, and God is love.[iii]
If both we and God are love, then the relationship we were intended to have was
to be defined by that love. Reaching back to Deuteronomy 6:5, Jesus shared with
us the greatest purpose, to love God supremely.[iv] It
then follows with so much love to fill our hearts, it would naturally overflow
and touch lives everywhere. We saw this in the character of Jesus, multitudes were fed, and so many were healed of disease that likely
some small villages no longer had a sick person among them. Some
might rightly ask, in the face of a pandemic that has killed so far over
800,000 people in the United States alone, where are the loving healers among
us.
Our lesson this week refers to
the Israelites having gone astray by the time Josiah became king in Jerusalem.
The king was read the book of the Law discovered in
the temple during restoration work and realized how far they had fallen. Fearful
of the result of that fall, he begins reforms to divert the country from its
downward spiral. Considering what we see today, not just in the United States,
but around the world, like those ancient Israelites, we are far from the loving
image we were created to be. And as a result, many are
fearful for what is to come.[v] The
global pandemic, military build ups by the world's major powers, and the rich
grabbing everything they can to add to their overflowing treasure hordes all
are ominous signs of trouble on the horizon, but instead of seeking a return to
godliness like King Josiah, we join in the madness that is destroying us.
Without regard to the love modeled by Christ, we see the world arming for war
both locally and internationally, so we join the rush. We are willing to trade
eternity for a few more days in this chaos. When we pull that trigger on our
neighbor, it cannot be taken back, and the Bible tells us that there will be no
place for murderers in heaven.[vi]
That is because heaven is a place of love and murdering someone is not an act
of love. Sadly, some Christians even brag about their willingness to murder
someone given the right scenario.
We live in a time when it is
easier to justify shooting someone than it is to love them. It is easier to justify
accumulating things we do not need than to love our neighbor enough to make
sure they have the necessities to sustain themselves and their family. We can
multiply vehicles while others have only one they must live in. We abuse drugs
and alcohol to our own detriment, while others, sick and hopeless would love to
have one more day of the life we so carelessly throw away. Long ago, humanity
chose to walk away from love and pursue things instead. The Bible tells us the first
thing was some fruit on a tree. But we have come a long way since then. Each of
us has a television "tree" in our homes, and it showers us with all sorts of
beguiling things we must have, appealing to desire more than common sense. Bad
as that is for our tendency toward selfishness, it also tells us that the
answer to every situation is violence toward others. We must have things.
Others want our things, so we must shoot them. Like a broken record this same
tune plays into our minds repeatedly from cradle to grave. Little wonder then
that we come to see God as made in that image, ready to wipe us out for messing
with his things.
Without understanding the
nature of God and our purpose to emulate that nature, we become enamored of whatever
we desire, no matter the cost to others. We relabel our selfish desires as
rights to ease our conscience where the Holy Spirit still tries to reach us.
But after we fulfill each wish for something, we find emptiness, an emptiness
that drives us to wish for something else in hopes that the emptiness will
finally be sated. But it never is. We will only find peace when we allow God to
restore us and replace selfishness with love. Asking God to make that happen
may be one of the hardest things we have ever done. But it can change everything.