Rev. Mark Schaefer
Kay Spiritual Life Center
November 24, 2002
Deuteronomy 8:7-18; Matthew 25:31-46

INTRODUCTION

I spent the first semester of my junior year abroad–as an exchange student in the Soviet Union. (Some of you may have heard of the Soviet Union–it’s where Russia is today). I remember preparing for that trip. There were orientation sessions, visa applications, all kinds of red tape. But the biggest part was the packing. You could only bring two suitcases and a carry-on. It became very important to know what kind of place you were going to and what you needed to bring.

Warm clothing. That was a must. Things to trade: the Russians are really big on exchanging pins of various kinds. We don’t have a lot of those in America. Some I © NY buttons, maybe. Some of the biggest difficulties I had there had to do with what I had brought and what I really needed. My winter coat was not nearly long enough. My boots didn’t have enough traction for all the un-shoveled sidewalks and streets. I didn’t have nearly warm enough a hat. At the insistence of the young Yugoslav woman I was dating, I purchased one of those big furry Russian hats before going off to Leningrad (some of you may have heard of Leningrad–it’s where St. Petersburg is today) and I was exceedingly glad. Leningrad in December is a cold, dark place.

I suppose, too that my life would have been easier had I not brought traveler’s checks (which you could only exchange at government banks for the worst exchange rate or use at hard currency stores, provided you didn’t need too much change). And if I had really been thinking, I would have packed one whole suitcase with Levi’s jeans and Marlboro cigarettes–that was by far the most useful currency in the old USSR.

But it pays to know what kind of land you are entering and what you’ll need to do there, before you go.

DEUTERONOMY

The Promised Land

In effect, that is the lesson the Israelites are getting in tonight’s Old Testament lesson. Listen again to the words we hard earlier from Deuteronomy.

7 For the LORD your God is bringing you into a good land, a land with flowing streams, with springs and underground waters welling up in valleys and hills, 8 a land of wheat and barley, of vines and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive trees and honey, 9 a land where you may eat bread without scarcity, where you will lack nothing, a land whose stones are iron and from whose hills you may mine copper. 10 You shall eat your fill and bless the LORD your God for the good land that he has given you.

These words in Deuteronomy are told in the context of Moses’ final address to the Israelites before they enter the Promised Land. They have spent the previous 40 years wandering in the desert. They spent 400 years before that in slavery under Pharaoh in Egypt.

And after all that, Moses tells the people, “For the LORD your God is bringing you into a good land.” After 40 years in the wilderness, God is bringing them to “a land with flowing streams, with springs and underground waters welling up in valleys and hills.”

After 40 years of manna, and after a flight from Egypt in which they didn’t even have time to allow the bread to rise, they are told of “a land of wheat and barley, of vines and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive trees and honey, a land where you may eat bread without scarcity.”

After living a nomadic existence without much wealth or power, they enter “a land whose stones are iron and from whose hills you may mine copper.”

But entering this land comes with a context. The Israelites are told what kind of land they are entering. Next they are told what they need to do there:

You shall eat your fill and bless the LORD your God for the good land that he has given you.

And how they are to behave there:

11 ¶ Take care that you do not forget the LORD your God, by failing to keep his commandments, his ordinances, and his statutes, which I am commanding you today. 12 When you have eaten your fill and have built fine houses and live in them, 13 and when your herds and flocks have multiplied, and your silver and gold is multiplied, and all that you have is multiplied, 14 then do not exalt yourself, forgetting the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery, 15 who led you through the great and terrible wilderness, an arid wasteland with poisonous snakes and scorpions. He made water flow for you from flint rock, 16 and fed you in the wilderness with manna that your ancestors did not know, to humble you and to test you, and in the end to do you good. 17 Do not say to yourself, “My power and the might of my own hand have gotten me this wealth.” 18 But remember the LORD your God, for it is he who gives you power to get wealth, so that he may confirm his covenant that he swore to your ancestors, as he is doing today.

The Israelites have been told about the land they are going to. They have been told what they will have to do there. But how do they prepare?

The Law

Have any of you been to England? Or Australia? Or New Zealand? What is one of the most important things to know before you go? Well, if you’re planning on driving or even crossing the street, a useful thing to know is that they drive on the left side of the road there. It’s useful to know that in Canada, the speed limit is written in kilometers, not miles and that you’re not supposed to be driving 100 miles an hour. It is useful to know that in New York City there is no right on red. Anywhere. Knowing the laws of the land to which you are going is important.

This text in Deuteronomy is near the beginning of Moses’ repetition of the Law. The Israelites received the law at Sinai near the beginning of their wanderings in the desert. Now, forty years later, Moses restates the law to them before they enter the Promised Land. That’s what ‘Deuteronomy’ means–”second law.” Moses lets them know the laws of the land that they are being led into.

Law as response

They are being given the law before they enter into the Promised Land. Now, it is important to note that they are not being given the law in order to enter the Promised Land. God is already leading them there. The Law becomes the way they respond to the grace God has given them. The law becomes the way they say ‘thank you.’

THE GOOD LAND (MATTHEW)

But what does this have to do with us? I mean, other than good travel advice that you might just as easily have gotten from the AAA?

Entering the Kingdom

What is the good land that God is bringing us into? To that we turn to Matthew. Throughout the Gospel of Matthew, we have been given descriptions of the Kingdom of God. A pearl of great price, a sower sowing seeds, a treasure buried in a field. In the latter chapters we have been given advice as to how to prepare for the coming of the Kingdom: be ready, keep awake.

But what is the kingdom like? We heard in Deuteronomy a moving description of the Promised Land. What does the land look like into which God is bringing us?

Well, on some level, it’s a little silly asking about the topography of the Kingdom of God. But on another level, the Prophets have long used exactly that kind of imagery to tell us. Listen to these words from Isaiah:

Is. 40:4 Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low; the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain.Isaiah 2:2. In days to come the mountain of the LORD’s house shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and shall be raised above the hills; all the nations shall stream to it.

“The mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established as the highest of the mountains…” Mount Zion isn’t even the highest mountain in Jerusalem. The idea that it should be the highest of the mountains is nothing less than a claim that God is going to decisively act in transforming the world. It is a place not like anything we know.

This is important to remember, because we often talk about doing the work of building the kingdom. And such work is important. And sometimes we even get lulled into thinking that perhaps the Church is the kingdom of God. And this can tempt us into following human leaders who promise heavenly glory, and supporting political systems that claim to be holy, and we can be tricked into thinking that these human agencies and human powers are the kingdom.

But the kingdom is a radically different thing. When Isaiah writes of mountains being made low and valleys being exalted, he is not really talking about geography and topography. He is talking about the radically transformed nature of our reality when God comes and dwells among us.

Christ the King

For it is not the geography or the administrative landscape of the Kingdom that differentiates it for us: it’s the King. Matthew provides for us one of the most compelling sketches of the king that we have in the entire Gospel. Listen again to some of those words:

31 ¶ “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory. 32 All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, 33 and he will put the sheep at his right hand and the goats at the left.34 Then the king will say to those at his right hand, ‘Come, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world;

35 for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, 36 I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.’ 37 Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink? 38 And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing? 39 And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?’ 40 And the king will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.’

The king of this good land is not like human rulers. The king does not rule in force or fear. Not by might or arms. But rather in humility and in identification with “the least of these.” The Kingdom is not a Kingdom of Strength, but a kingdom of Mercy and Justice.

THE PLANNING

God is bringing us into a good land. A land transformed by God’s grace and love. How do we prepare?

Well, it helps to know what kind of land you’re going to when it comes time to prepare. It helps to know that the weather in Leningrad in December is miserably cold so that you’ll bring a proper hat. It helps to know that the Promised Land is a land of peace, of justice, of compassion, and mercy, that we may bring the clothing of righteousness with us. We pack appropriately–we dress appropriately, clothing ourselves with the clothes of justice, mercy, compassion, faithfulness, and forgiveness. Recognizing ourselves as ones who are entering a land where the valleys are exalted and ‘least of these’ are identified with the very king of glory.

The Law of the Land is a Law of Mercy, a law of Grace. We prepare ourselves for arrival in that good land by living out its laws now.

The Resurrection of Christ was considered by the early church–and still is–an apocalyptic event. It was a sign that God was at long last putting things right. A sign that God’s reign was breaking into our world in a way never before conceived. Based against the backdrop of human suffering and injustice, the Resurrection could appear as nothing less. The resurrection is for us no different than Moses’ statement to the Children of Israel: “The Lord your God is bringing you into a good land…”

SONGS OF THANKSGIVING

Today is Christ the King Sunday. It is also Thanksgiving Sunday. A time we give thanks for the good that we have received. Like the Israelites we have been led into a good land in the here and now. And for all that we have received as a people and as a community and as individuals, today is the day when remind ourselves to give thanks for what we have received.

There’s an old traditional prayer of grace that is said before meals: “For the gifts which we are about to receive….” A lot of our thanksgivings are like that. We give thanks for what we have received, the bounty of our lives and the gracious act of our salvation through the resurrection of Christ. And we give thanks for what we are about to receive–the blessings of the Kingdom of God, the fulfillment of God’s promises to us.

CONCLUSION

God is bringing us “into a good land.” Through Christ’s resurrection, we have been pointed in the direction of that good land and have been assured of our arrival in it. We shall eat our fill, and bless the Lord our God for the good land that he has given us, singing songs of Thanksgiving:

Let all things now living a song of Thanksgiving
to God the Creator triumphantly raise
Who fashioned and made us, protected and stayed us,
who guides us and leads to the end of our days.
We, too should be voicing our love and rejoicing
with glad adoration a song let us raise,
Till all things now living unite in thanksgiving:
To God in the highest, hosanna and praise!