Making Wise Choices—Lectionary Reflection for Epiphany 6A (Deuteronomy 30)

Deuteronomy 30:15-20 New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition

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 certainly 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.”

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                In the movie Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Indiana Jones must make a life-and-death choice. The question is, of all the chalices in the cavern, which one is the cup of Christ? His rival chooses, the most ornate of the chalices. Surely this is a cup fit for a messiah. Of course, he chooses poorly. As for Indiana, he needs to choose the correct cup from the plethora of remaining cups if he is going to save his father’s life, but which cup is the cup of Christ? He chooses the least ornate of all the cups, for surely this is the cup of a carpenter. He makes the correct choice. To which the knight guarding the holy grail, the cup of Christ, tells Indiana Jones, “You have chosen wisely.” So must we as we take the journey of faith, for there will be many choices, some of which could be life and death ones.

                If, as I believe, our choices influence the direction of our lives, that is, I don’t believe that the future has been already determined by God. In other words, we have free will, and that freedom means something. That is, as I read it, the message we find here in Deuteronomy 30.

                Contextually, the people of Israel have reached the Jordan River. Moses offers them a closing speech before they cross over the river into the land of promise. In chapter 31, after Moses finishes this speech, he tells the people that he won’t be crossing over with them. However, the Lord (Yahweh) will cross with them, so they won’t be going alone. Besides that, Joshua will lead them across the river. So don’t worry. There is a plan, it just won’t include Moses (Deut.31:1-3). In the speech Moses gives before revealing his own future in chapter 31, he issues a warning of sorts, along with a word of blessing. He tells the people that they will have a choice going forward. They can experience life and prosperity or death and adversity. If they choose to follow the ways of God, then life and prosperity will be theirs in the new homeland lying across the river. If they choose to reject God’s ways when they cross over, then they will experience death and adversity. The choice is theirs.  

                Choosing the way of life and prosperity involves loving God and walking in the ways of God. That is, they will obey God’s commandments. While not explicitly stated here in chapter 30, an allusion is made to that first and foremost of God’s commands as revealed in the Shema: “Hear, O Israel: The Lord is your God, the Lord alone. You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might” (Deut. 6:4-5). In other words, their future is wrapped up in the covenant that God made with them when they left their life of slavery in Egypt and then crossed the desert toward their ultimate freedom. The choices they make as they prepare to cross the river will have consequences for them, but also their descendants. Choosing wisely will lead to life and increased numbers of members of the community. This is, why, after Moses delivered the Commandments to the people, he told them to pass on the words of the covenant to their children (Deut. 6:6-7).  

                If the people choose poorly by embracing other gods and their ways, then death and adversity will be their future. The primary sin here is idolatry. Idolatry comes in many forms. We are, often faced with calls to give our allegiance to idols that us from serving God’s purposes. We’re seeing that now in the form of Christian nationalism that embraces the message of “America First.” But is that in line with God’s desires for us? What about loyalty to the realm of God? What might God say to us? What did Jesus reveal? After all, in his Sermon on the Mount, Jesus made it clear that he didn’t come to abolish the Law and the Prophets, but rather embraced them (Mt. 5:17-20). When we embrace idolatry, whether in the form of nationalism or some other form of allegiance, then alienation and even death emerge. Consider for a moment the growing violence in our nation, with mass killings becoming commonplace. So, will we embrace idolatry? If so, then we will not live long in the land of promise. Brett Younger puts it this way:

Most of our decisions do not seem important, but life and death are before us every day. We choose death when we ignore God and choose anything inferior. Death is a slow process of giving ourselves to what does not matter. Modern life is impoverished with a lack of purpose. We rush to meet deadlines that are insignificant and bow before ideas that are not worthy. [Feasting on the Word, pp. 341, 343].

So, what should we give our attention to? What is it that God desires for us and from us? Perhaps we might turn to the prophet Micah, who tells us that God desires justice, mercy, and humility (Mic. 6:8). If this is true, then who and what is God concerned with?

                As we read Moses’ final sermon, his summing up of the Law, it’s not all bad news. Remember there’s a choice involved. Moses wants the people to choose life.  As he presses his argument with the people, he calls on heaven and earth as witnesses. This word from Moses has cosmic dimensions. So, “choose life so that you and your descendants may live, 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” (Deut. 30:19-20). Julianna Claassens catches the cosmic nature of Moses’ message in her commentary on this passage:

This text thus causes us to consider the numerous ways in which we, on a daily basis, can go about choosing life and not death so that our descendants, but also people around us, may also live. One, for instance, could explore the cosmic implications of our decisions today and how they affect our children and their children. For example, one might think of our decisions regarding climate change and what type of a world, if any, we leave behind for our children. Or how the ongoing violation of human rights of people today based on race, class, gender, and sexual orientation, may cause significant harm as tensions and divisions fester and erupt down the line. [Working Preacher].

Thus, Moses reminds us that our choices, wise or otherwise, often have long-term consequences that can be passed on from generation to generation. In other words, it’s not just about us!

               I again turn to the words of Brett Younger, who writes:

Worship with all your heart. Pray genuinely. Love your church. Believe that God loves you. Remember the stories of Jesus. See Christ in the people around you. Share God’s love with someone who has forgotten it. Delight in God’s good gifts. See that all of life is holy. Open your heart to the Spirit. Search for something deeper and better than your own comfort. Live in the joy beneath it all. Let God make your life wonderful. [Feasting on the Word, p. 343].

These are wise words. These are words of life that are reflective of the message of Deuteronomy. The choice is ours. We have free will. We’re not beholden to idolatry, even if it sometimes comes easily to us. The river stands before us. We have a choice as to whether we will cross over into the promised land. Once there, we’ll have other choices that are matters of life and death. Which will you choose? Life or death? If we choose wisely, we inherit the promise given to the people by the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob!

 

Image attribution - Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn, 1606-1669. Moses with the Ten Commandments, from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. https://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=55126 [retrieved February 3, 2023]. Original source: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Rembrandt_-_Moses_with_the_Ten_Commandments_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg.