The Land of Living Stones

For Lent, the Church of the Good Shepherd, the Episcopal Church in which I was raised, asked me to write a devotional as part of their series on “God’s Abundance in the Midst of Scarcity”. I was given the task of writing for the scripture passage in Deuteronomy 6:1-9, which I strongly recommend you read first–it gives you an idea of the challenge I had reflecting on it.

Recently, I was standing amid the beautiful hills south of Hebron where shepherds have grazed their flocks for millennia, where Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebekah, and Jacob and Rachel were said to have lived and worked so long ago. The village I came to visit is one long inhabited by Palestinians, at least hundreds of years, and fresh from the winter rain one can see a lush, green vista dotted with ancient cave  dwellings and cisterns, alongside more recent concrete homes. Just adjacent sits a settlement where Israeli Jews have laid claim to this area of the West Bank, sometimes resorting to intimidating school children and shepherds who want to walk and work in the surrounding villages. This land that I live in is often called the “Occupied Territories” because it has been under various levels of military and civilian control by the state of Israel since 1967.

On another occasion not so long ago, some Jewish friends in West Jerusalem invited me to observe the Shabbat, or Sabbath, with them. Shabbat occurs from sundown Friday night to sundown Saturday and for these Orthodox Jews, it means that no work can be done according to the laws and regulations they adhere to. I was fortunate to attend a service at their synagogue where I noticed they spend a significant portion of time every week reciting the Shema, (Deut 6:4-5), “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and might.” Some Jewish people, including many in Israel, take commands from their Bible so seriously, and so literally, that they comply with the following verses (6-9) about binding the Shema on their hands, heads, and doorposts—a walk down the street in Jerusalem can be a vivid visual reminder of this Scripture.

Due to experiences such as these, I cannot help but think of the contemporary political and social situation in Israel/Palestine when I read the Bible, especially such a passage as Deuteronomy 6. Here, God’s people the Israelites are “about to cross over and occupy” on God’s orders and according to God’s plan a land where people were living and working already. Today people continue to fight with competing claims over this land that has been filled with Christians, Muslims, and Jews for centuries. I encourage you now to read verses 10-12. In the Holy Land (and elsewhere) you meet many individuals and groups who read scripture texts in a very literal manner, bringing them into their own context directly without considering completely their relevance and applicability for the present. While some verses seem harmless, like the ones to affix the word of God on your forehead, others can be potentially provocative and dangerous, such as verses where God gives the Jews this very territory including the cities they did not build, houses they did not fill, cisterns they did not hew, vineyards and olive groves they did not plant!

Abundance in the ‘land of milk and honey’ is not easy prosperity. Minimal rain and natural resources, the harsh desert environment, and its prime location for invasion have made life hard for the few who have managed to survive—we can see that the gifts of God require nurture, development, and long-term vision! Yet, the generosity of the people here is known to be limitless; out of their scarce supply they give and bless strangers with overflowing bounty, graciously offering food and fellowship to those who pass by. Thus, I often weep to see in this land people taking that for which they did not labor. Yet, I do not believe that this passage from Deuteronomy promises us or anyone ‘health and wealth’ as a cheap bargain: Step one, love God, step two, be blessed with whatever you want. (As we all know, physical comfort is not a guarantee for those whoare righteous and pious).

Elsewhere in the Old Testament and in the Gospels, it is clear that loving God is not sufficient, but that loving and caring for the poor, sick, needy, distressed, foreigner, imprisoned, neighbor and enemy is tantamount! Jesus declares that loving God and loving your neighbor as yourself are the foundation of the Scripture and the focus of his ministry (Matthew 22: 36-40). I urge you to see that Deuteronomy 6 is only the beginning of the story, that to be given plenty requires us to give plenty, and to bless others as God has blessed us. In the Holy Land I observe a zero-sum political game in which the lives of devout and precious people are manipulated—especially those whose experience I share in the Palestinian Territories—but in the midst of this, I am graced by the hospitality of countless Christians, Jews, and Muslims who are aware that for any to have peace, security, and abundance, all must be included.

Question: Where have you seen wealth acquired at the expense of justice?

Activity: Consider a situation in which people [your neighbors] do not have enough. Study it and ask why. Find a way to act for change using the gifts you have been given.

Prayer: Lord, give me the strength, wisdom, and compassion, to love you with all my heart, soul, and mind, and to love my neighbors as myself.