2017-02-12 Dt 30 15-20 Groundhogs' Days
Deuteronomy 30:15-20
30:15 See, I have set before you today life and prosperity, death and adversity.
30:16 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.
30:17 But if your heart turns away and you do not hear, but are led astray to bow down to other gods and serve them,
30:18 I declare to you today that you shall perish; you shall not live long in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess.
30:19 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,
30:20 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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"Every time you make a choice, you are turning the central part of you, the part that chooses, into something a little different from what it was before." - C. S. Lewis
Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow. So I guess we're going to get six more weeks of… whatever this is. So much money spent on Pinpoint Doppler Radar and still we choose to get our weather from a groundhog. Not all of us. But I'm sure there are some who willfully choose to let the irrational fears of a nervous rodent determine their beliefs.
When you get up in the morning, how do you decide? How do you decide if it's safe to get out and go? Or if you should crawl back into your hole? Does the fear of your own shadow make the choice for you? Is it the fear of someone else's shadow? How do you decide your belief about the future?
In his sermon in Deuteronomy, Moses puts the question to the Israelites. He calls heaven and earth as witnesses, to hear what he is saying. And to hear the people's answer. It's like a courtroom. In their courts, you had to have two witnesses as fact-checkers. So this was a big decision. This was a decision that involved all creation. Heaven and earth were there to witness. They, as well as the people, were part of the choice.
See, [he says] I have set before you today [ - over here:] life and prosperity, [and over here:] death and adversity.
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.
But if your heart turns away and you do not hear, but are led astray to bow down to other gods and serve them, I declare to you today that you shall perish; you shall not live long in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess.
God gives the power to the people to forecast their own fate. Will dark fears blow them back to slavery? Or will they choose the breath of life? Life with God? God, who delivered them from bondage? God, who points the way to a promised land?
Which would you choose? Which do you choose?
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Why did the squirrel cross the road? To get to – no, wait – to come back – no, to go – no, wait, maybe. Chickens are so much more decisive. And yet, they're the ones we call chicken. Chickens aren't the smartest creatures God built. Maybe they're too dumb to know they should be terrified of the road. Smartypants squirrels laugh at them. Then again, I've never seen a flat chicken on Maloney Road.
After 40 years of wandering in the wilderness, the Israelites finally, finally stood on the mountaintop. They could see the world. Their world.
One direction, behind them, was a past that had enslaved them. And then 40 years of aimlessness. The other direction, before them, was a Promised Land. A land of milk and honey. And other people. Strange people. Strange people with strange gods. Strange people who didn't take well to strangers wanting to take their land.
The Israelites weren't crossing the road. They were crossing the river, the river Jordan. Or not. Which would it be? Would irrational fears stop them in their tracks? Send them back to their holes?
What about rational fears? You don't just march into someone else's land without extremely vetting your options. What's the plan, Stan? Moses?
Would they be afraid of the shadows? Their own shadows? God's shadow? Or would they choose God's bias? How does Moses say it? Choose… life.
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This is the story of Moses and the Israelites. But we know it's more than that. It's the story of us. It's the story of all people struggling to make decisions of faith, in faith, about a future we can't see.
When Moses tells the people to "choose life" there is a sense in the language that the choice is yet to be made. If we take this as history, we say, "Yep, they chose (thousands of years ago) to cross over, they did, and there you go." But if we take this as our story, too – if we take it as the story of all faithful people trying our best to live as faithfully as we can, then it's no longer past history. It's now. It's today.
See, I have set before you -- TODAY -- life and prosperity, death and adversity.
Choose life….
Choose life – today.
This scripture isn't scripture of the past. This scripture isn't scripture about the future. This scripture is about today, today's choices, today's fears, today's faith.
This scripture is about faith that we choose – or not – every single time we awaken. Our souls awaken when we see the choice. Every day.
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Groundhog's Day, the movie, has become one of those cultural memes people just understand. Bill Murray plays a weatherman who gets stuck in the same day, Groundhog's Day. He lives the same day over and over again. And he has no idea why. What's the point?
More recently, there was another movie, Edge of Tomorrow, starring Tom Cruise, with much the same idea. "Live, die, repeat" was the tagline. It wasn't as good as Groundhog's Day, but you did get to see Tom Cruise get beaten up again and again. So it had that going for it. If Cruise woke up and chose life, he – and he alone – could save the entire human race from alien invasion.
The idea in both movies is that every day we wake up to the same choices. Pretty much the same choice Moses put forth. Does your spirit predict foul weather, or fair? Is it safe to go outside? Do the shadows of fear decide for us? Or is there a promised land, somewhere, always out of eyesight?
Martin Luther said that our baptism
"signifies that the old creature in us … is to be drowned and die through daily … repentance, and … that daily a new person is to come forth and arise up to live before God in righteousness and purity forever."
Daily.
The Israelites chose life, chose to follow God and God's commandments, but did they always do it? Lord, no. They were awful. They were whiny, disobedient, horrible excuses for human beings. Some days. But some days they weren't. Some days they chose life. Life for themselves, life for their nation, life for the heavens, and life for the earth. But more than that, when they couldn't or wouldn't make that choice, God made it for them.
We, the people, have choices, every day. Do we choose to live together? Do we choose life not only for ourselves, but also choose life just as abundant for our neighbor? For the heavens and the earth? What do you choose?
I don't want to be overly dramatic. It's not like the fate of the human race or the future of the planet rests on your shoulders, alone. You're not Tom Cruise. You're probably more like Bill Murray. We wonder, what's the point? Does what I do or don't do make a difference? Really? Or am I just some nervous groundhog of a creature, driven in and driven out by irrational fears and what passes for rational logic?
Lest we start feeling too self-important, or too depressed, let me let you off the hook. You are not the guardian of the gates of heaven or the linchpin to the gates of hell. On the other hand, your choices do have consequences. You might have good intentions. Or you might have diabolical plans. Jesus says, you reap what you sow. So, sow carefully. But wherever your choices lead you, God has a bias. The word of God to the Israelites is the word of God to you and to me. Don't just choose. "Choose life."
Choose life so that you and your descendants may live, loving the LORD your God, obeying him, and holding fast [(clinging)] 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.
God is biased. God wants us to choose life. God wants us to choose the life of loving God, obeying God, clinging to God. God wants us to choose this life – today. And choose it again tomorrow. And again the tomorrow after that. And if we can't or if we won't, God will make the choice for us. God makes the choice for us, for us, and for our life. Day after day after day.
This daily choosing is kind of an endless loop. But not a pointless one. The point is love. The point is love for God, love for neighbor, love with heaven and earth as witnesses. God says, Choose THAT life. That IS life. Promised life. And you can have it. If you choose. Today.
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For further reading
https://www.workingpreacher.
https://www.workingpreacher.
https://www.workingpreacher.
https://www.sermonwriter.com/
http://www.christianitytoday.
