Thursday 27 June 2013

Background

Deuteronomy has a lot to say to people who feel insecure andoutnumbered. Most scholars think that the core of this book waswritten at a time when the Jewish people were struggling to becomemore independent from the mighty Assyrian Empire. So it wasimportant for the people to remember God's love for them and theirdistinctive loyalty to God.

All the traditions, teachings and laws which made the Jewishpeople so different from the other peoples and cultures around themwere ways of marking this relationship with God. Keeping all thetraditions was about keeping the people holy - set apart forGod.

The difficult verses which come just before today's passage (Deuteronomy 7:1-5) make this sense ofdifference very clear and are not easy reading in the rich, diverseculture of Britain today. Verse 7, however, speaks more directly tous - just because you are different do not think that makes you anybetter than the people around you.

God loves you because God loves you, that is all. And God hasdone great things for you because of that love. So all the'commandments, statues and ordinances' (verse 11) found in the bookof Deuteronomy are nothing more than a way of life which respondsto that faithful, powerful love of God.

When I was a university chaplain I often asked myself what wasdifferent about the chaplaincy from all the other departments inthe university. Chaplains go into places where they are seen asdifferent people who are doing something rather strange. It is easyto start feeling insecure and outnumbered.

In the Bible God's people spent most of their time beingoutnumbered and had to learn to live with this. Christians inBritain today are having to learn again what it is like to be in aminority. Perhaps the book of Deuteronomy can help us withthis.

 
To Ponder

• How do you think a Christian way of life is different from anyother way of life today?

• If Christians are a minority in our society today do you thinkthey ought to stand out more? Why? And if so, how?

• How can you live life as a response to God's love?