Blessed

Scripture: Genesis 48:13-20

Video Link: https://youtu.be/a4dc1e1e3Rs

Audio Link: https://soundcloud.com/tawabaptist/sermon-23-june-2024-blessed

Structure:

• Introduction
• Words of blessing
• Hands of blessing
• Conclusion

Introduction:

Good morning everyone.

“A bell is no bell ‘til you ring it. A song is no song ‘til you sing it. And love in your heart wasn’t put there to stay. Love isn’t love ‘til you give it away.”

Who can tell me what stage musical that song line comes from? [Wait]

That’s right, The Sound of Music. ‘Love isn’t love ‘til you give it away.’

This morning we continue our series in the life of Joseph. Last week we heard how Jacob adopted Joseph’s sons. In today’s reading Jacob blesses Joseph and his sons, Ephraim and Manasseh. We could say, “A blessing isn’t a blessing ‘til you give it away.” From Genesis 48, verse 13, we read…

¹³ And Joseph took both of them, Ephraim on his right toward Israel’s left hand and Manasseh on his left toward Israel’s right hand, and brought them close to him. ¹⁴ But Israel reached out his right hand and put it on Ephraim’s head, though he was the younger, and crossing his arms, he put his left hand on Manasseh’s head, even though Manasseh was the firstborn.  ¹⁵ Then he blessed Joseph and said, “May the God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked faithfully, the God who has been my shepherd all my life to this day, ¹⁶ the Angel who has delivered me from all harm—may he bless these boys. May they be called by my name and the names of my fathers Abraham and Isaac, and may they increase greatly on the earth.” ¹⁷ When Joseph saw his father placing his right hand on Ephraim’s head he was displeased; so he took hold of his father’s hand to move it from Ephraim’s head to Manasseh’s head. ¹⁸ Joseph said to him, “No, my father, this one is the firstborn; put your right hand on his head.” ¹⁹ But his father refused and said, “I know, my son, I know. He too will become a people, and he too will become great. Nevertheless, his younger brother will be greater than he, and his descendants will become a group of nations.”  ²⁰ He blessed them that day and said, “In yourname will Israel pronounce this blessing: ‘May God make you like Ephraim and Manasseh.’” So he put Ephraim ahead of Manasseh.

May the Spirit of Jesus illuminate God’s word for us.

In these verses Jacob (also known as Israel) uses his words and his hands to bless Joseph’s sons. Let’s begin with Jacob’s words of blessing.

Words of blessing:

When I think of what it means to bless someone, I imagine some kind of tangible action which makes another person’s life better, or at least less difficult. For example, mowing their lawns or cooking them a meal or listening with understanding or doing some act of service to support them. In my mind, a blessing is a practical expression of love.

But this is not exactly the kind of blessing we find in Genesis 48. Jacob doesn’t do anything practical to make Ephraim and Manasseh’s life less difficult. Jacob simply speaks good words over their lives and places his hands on them. In this process though, something unseen yet powerful & lifegiving is communicated.

At the end of the service each week, someone (usually me) speaks a benediction (or a blessing) over the congregation. The word benediction has Latin origins. ‘Bene’ means well and ‘diction’ means speaking. So, a benediction is literally, ‘speaking well’ or ‘saying good things of someone’. [1] 

Our society today tends to discount words. We often use words carelessly or cheaply. But words have a certain power of their own, like seeds planted in our soul. We need to be sowing the seed of good words in people’s lives.  

Some years ago, when I was training for ministry, I spent a summer working as a chaplain at Greenlane Hospital, visiting patients. There was one man there, around my age, who was recovering from a stab wound.

He told me he was from Maketu, in the Bay of Plenty, not far from where I used to live. Sadly, he believed he was cursed. When he was young, an old woman pointed the bone at him and said some bad words over his life, the opposite of a benediction. Since then, he had been in and out of prison.

Words can be powerful things. What he needed was a blessing. What if that woman had spoken good words over his life, words of peace conveyed with warmth and love.

In verses 15 and 16 we read the words of blessing Jacob speaks over Joseph’s sons and, by extension, Joseph himself.

What we notice with Jacob’s blessing is the way God is front and center throughout. Four times God is referred to in the space of two verses. Jacob does not try to bless Ephraim and Manasseh in his own strength. He calls upon God Almighty to bless them.

Sometimes we Christians carry a heavy burden. We may feel like the weight of responsibility for blessing others rests squarely on our shoulders. It doesn’t. Any blessing (whether in word or deed) is done by God’s grace and in his power. We are simply vessels for carrying and imparting God’s blessing.

If the blessing is the tea, then you are the tea pot. The pot does not make the tea.  The pot merely holds the blessing while it brews. God makes the tea (or the blessing) and pours it out at the right time. 

As Paul says in his letter to the Corinthians, we have this treasure in jars of clay to show this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.     

In verse 15, we notice how Jacob’s words about God are not an abstract theory with no grounding in life’s realities. Jacob’s blessing comes from his own experience of God and the experience of his fathers.

Jacob begins by saying, ‘May the God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked…’

This speaks of a God who transcends time and geography. The God who blesses people through Jacob was around a long time before Jacob came on the scene, and he will continue to be around long after Jacob has gone.

What’s more, God is not fixed in one place like a statue or a building.

God moves around with his people. He walks with them wherever they go.

When Jacob talks about his father and grandfather walking faithfully before God, he is probably alluding to God’s covenant with Abraham. God’s covenant called for loyalty and trust. Jacob wants Ephraim and Manasseh to understand that being blessed carries a responsibility to honour the covenant with God.  

In the next line Jacob gets personal saying, ‘…the God who has been my shepherd all my life to this day…’

Jacob, who made his living as a shepherd, talks about God being his shepherd.

I wonder if David took inspiration from Jacob when he wrote the 23^rd Psalm. ‘The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want…’

The image here is one of security. To be blessed by God means having God lead, feed and protect you, like a shepherd. This means, for the blessing to be effective, Joseph’s sons must trust God enough to follow where he leads.

In verse 16, Jacob talks about the angel who has delivered me from all harm.

Most commentators think the angel here is a poetic way of referring to God. The key word though is delivered. It can also be translated as redeemed.

As in the ‘kinsman redeemer’. The close relative who gets you out of trouble, who redeems your life from slavery and financial ruin. Boaz (in the story of Ruth) is the classic example of a kinsman redeemer.

Jacob knew God’s deliverance and redemption on more than one occasion. God delivered Jacob from Esau who wanted to kill him. God delivered Jacob from Laban, who wanted to cheat him. And God delivered Jacob from grief and despair by redeeming Joseph’s life.  

What we notice here is the way the God of Jacob closely resembles Jesus.

Jesus is the good shepherd who lays down his life for his sheep. Jesus is our kinsman redeemer.

Jacob frames God’s blessing of Ephraim and Manasseh in terms of great increase on the earth. This probably means having lots of descendants, which did happen over the centuries that followed.

The underlying principle at work in God’s blessing is abundant life. Abundant life may blossom in a whole variety of ways. Often ways that transcend the physical.   

When we think of Jesus, we note he died relatively young and had no biological children. Nevertheless, he has millions of spiritual descendants.

Jesus came that we may have life in all its fullness. Jesus was all for abundant life and fruitfulness. However, the path to life and blessing is not always smooth or pleasant. Jesus turns our understanding of blessing on its head.

Jesus described those who are poor in spirit as blessed because the kingdom of heaven belongs to them. Likewise, those who mourn are blessed because they will be comforted. And so on.

To be poor in spirit and to mourn is obviously not an ideal state of being.

But, as painful as it feels, being emptied by suffering and grief prepares us to receive God’s blessing. ‘A heart that is broken is a heart that is open.’ [2]

Okay, so those are Jacob’s words of blessing for Joseph’s sons. What about Jacob’s hands of blessing.

Hands of blessing:

Are you left or right-handed? Historically the left hand often carried negative connotations. The Latin word for ‘sinister’ means ‘on the left side’. And in English the word ‘left’ comes from the old Anglo-Saxon word for ‘weak’. In contrast, the right hand is associated with virtue and honour and being right.

In the Middle Ages lefties were, at times, thought to be cursed and in league with the devil, which resulted in burning at the stake.

The stigma and superstition of being left-handed carried over into the following centuries. King George the sixth, who was monarch of England from 1936 to 1952, was left-handed but his father (king George the fifth) forced him to write with his right hand.

Even today there is a certain negativity attributed to the left hand. For those who are familiar with the dating app, Tinder, you swipe right (so I’m told) if you like someone and you swipe left if you don’t. Right for accept’. Left for reject. Sounds quite brutal.  

Perhaps all this prejudice and superstition is because left-handed people are in the minority. It is thought that somewhere between 85-90 percent of people are right-handed, with only 10-15 percent being left-handed.

Now let me say, there is nothing wrong with being left-handed. You are not bad or cursed or anything else if you happen to be left-handed. Our handedness is simply a product of the way God makes us, like eye colour or being good with numbers or preferring savoury to sweet. God likes diversity.

In verse 13 we read how Joseph took great care to line his sons up correctly for Jacob. Joseph made sure his eldest son, Manasseh, was positioned to receive the right hand of blessing and Ephraim, the younger son, was positioned to receive Jacob’s left hand. Joseph believed (like most people of his time and culture) that the right hand of blessing was somehow better than the left hand.

But Jacob upset Joseph’s careful arrangement by crossing his hands over,

so the right hand of blessing went to Ephraim (the younger son) and the left hand of blessing went to Manasseh. Jumping ahead to verse 17, we read how Joseph was displeased by this.

The English translation is a bit soft here. The original Hebrew is stronger.

It says more literally that what Jacob did was evil in Joseph’s eyes. [3] 

It was like using the wrong name at a wedding.

Do you remember that episode from the TV show, Friends, when Ross is getting married to Emily but instead of using Emily’s name in his vows he uses Rachel’s name. (Rachel was one of Ross’ old girlfriends.) What Jacob did, in blessing the younger son with his right hand, was like that. A major faux pas. 

Joseph, who we know by now is very proper and righteous in all his ways, tries to correct his father, Jacob. Joseph tries to move Jacob’s right hand off Ephraim’s head and onto Manasseh’s head. Maybe Jacob is confused. Maybe his blindness has caused the mistake.

But the old man, Jacob, knows what he is doing. This is no mistake. Jacob says to Joseph, “I know, my son, I know. He too will become a people, and he too will become great. Nevertheless, his younger brother will be greater than he, and his descendants will become a group of nations.”

The text does not explain why Jacob crosses his hands. His actions are inexplicable just as God’s actions are often inscrutable. The hand of God is free to move and bless and shape history as he wishes.  God’s reasons do not bow to our cultural norms or traditions. God does not need to explain himself.

Jacob is not startled or angry with Joseph for interrupting him.

Jacob understands Joseph’s concern, without changing the decision.

The blessing is irreversible.

To his credit Joseph, now the ruler of Egypt, does not force Jacob’s hand.

In faith Joseph humbly accepts the father’s will, even if he cannot understand it. Note though that Ephraim and Manasseh both get the same words. Both brothers are blessed for the sake of Joseph. Only the younger is put first. 

In verse 19, Jacob talks about the younger brother (Ephraim) becoming greater than his older brother. What is greatness?

I’m reminded of the request of James and John, in Mark 10, to sit on Jesus’ left and right in his glory. It seems James and John had ambitions of greatness.

Jesus is not angry or impatient with them. Jesus graciously points out that they don’t know what they are asking. Then the Lord goes on to define greatness…

“…whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, ⁴⁴ and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all. ⁴⁵ For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

According to Jesus the greatest is not the most powerful or the most successful or the most popular. Rather the greatest is the servant of all.

Joseph was the Prime Minister of Egypt and yet that did not make him the greatest. Joseph was the greatest among his brothers because he was the servant of all. God blessed many thousands of people through Joseph.

Conclusion:

Love in your heart wasn’t put there to stay. Love isn’t love ‘til you give it away.

On hearing that again we might focus on the giving it away part. But before we can give love away, we must first have it put there by someone. We must be open to receive love.

Jacob puts his love in Joseph’s heart by giving Ephraim and Manasseh his blessing. And, to their credit, they receive Jacob’s blessing in an attitude of quiet trust, just as they humbly accepted Jacob’s adoption of them.

It’s quite difficult in kiwi culture to properly receive words of love and blessing. When people speak good words to us, we often deflect or minimize their comments. Good words raise a red flag. Can I trust what they say or is this a sucker punch? Tall poppies get cut down in New Zealand.

As difficult as it may be, we need to learn to accept the blessing God wants to give. We cannot give to others something we have never experienced or received ourselves. We cannot conjure up blessings out of thin air.

If the tea pot refuses to let the tea and water in to brew, it will have nothing to pour out. Before you can bless others, you must be open to receiving God’s blessing. You must let God put his love in your heart.   

God’s blessing is often communicated by the power of his Spirit, through ordinary people. So, receiving God’s blessing means letting honest, trustworthy people speak good things into your life, into your soul.

May you be blessed this week with knowing and feeling God’s love and grace for you personally, deep in your heart. Amen. 

Questions for discussion or reflection:

1. What stands out for you in reading this Scripture and/or in listening to the sermon? Why do you think this stood out to you?
2. What do you think it means to bless someone? What does it mean to be blessed by God?
3. What difference have good words (or bad words) made in your life? What was said to you and how did that affect you?
4. What is Jesus’ take on blessing? With Jesus’ beatitudes in mind, are you on a path to blessing?
5. Are you left or right-handed? What difference does it make?
6. Why does Jacob cross his hands over when blessing Ephraim and Manasseh? What might this reveal about God’s ways? 
7. What is Jesus’ take on greatness? Why was Joseph great?   
8. Why is it important to receive the blessing God wants to give? How might we remain open to receive God’s blessing?

Outtakes

When Jacob says, in verse 16, ‘may they be called by my name’, he means may Ephraim and Manasseh be reckoned among the twelve tribes of Israel, with a share in God’s covenant promises to Abraham. This is an affirmation of Jacob’s adoption of Joseph’s sons, which we heard about last week.

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[1] Refer Henri Nouwen’s book, ‘Life of the Beloved’, page 56.

[2] This is a lyric from a U2 song, by Bono.

[3] Refer Bruce Waltke’s commentary on Genesis, page 600.

Time & Place

Scripture: Deuteronomy 1:1-8

Video Link: https://youtu.be/tL-huaR34VI

Structure:

• Introduction
• Time
• Place
• Word
• Conclusion

Introduction:

Good morning everyone.

In order to run a horse needs four legs. Cars are similar, they need four wheels to drive. And the human body functions best with four limbs, two legs and two arms.

The early church, during the first century, used the Old Testament for their Bible. The New Testament (as we know it today) was still a work in progress. Four Old Testament books in particular were favourites of the early Christians: Genesis, Psalms, Isaiah and Deuteronomy.

These four books were like the four legs of a horse or the four wheels of a car or the four limbs of the human body. Early Christians relied on them.

Modern Christians are different though. We quite like Genesis, the Psalms and Isaiah but we are not as keen on Deuteronomy. If we think of the Old Testament as a body, then it’s like we’ve got four limbs but we are only using three of them.  Certainly I have preached a lot from the Old Testament through the years but not much at all from Deuteronomy.

Deuteronomy is quoted over eighty times in the New Testament. It was a favourite book of Jesus, John & Paul, yet it is largely lost on us. So, with that in view, we are embarking on a new sermon series in the book of Deuteronomy. Let’s learn how to use this limb which has been sitting idle for so long.

Not sure how long it will take. Probably we will have to do it in parts, like we have with other larger books of the Bible. Hopefully we survive it together. Anyway, here goes. From Deuteronomy chapter 1, verses 1-8 we begin…

These are the words Moses spoke to all Israel in the wilderness east of the Jordan—that is, in the Arabah—opposite Suph, between Paran and Tophel, Laban, Hazeroth and Dizahab. ² (It takes eleven days to go from Horeb to Kadesh Barnea by the Mount Seir road.) ³ In the fortieth year, on the first day of the eleventh month, Moses proclaimed to the Israelites all that the Lord had commanded him concerning them. ⁴ This was after he had defeated Sihon king of the Amorites, who reigned in Heshbon, and at Edrei had defeated Og king of Bashan, who reigned in Ashtaroth. ⁵ East of the Jordan in the territory of Moab, Moses began to expound this law, saying: ⁶ The Lord our God said to us at Horeb, “You have stayed long enough at this mountain. ⁷ Break camp and advance into the hill country of the Amorites; go to all the neighbouring peoples in the Arabah, in the mountains, in the western foothills, in the Negev and along the coast, to the land of the Canaanites and to Lebanon, as far as the great river, the Euphrates. ⁸ See, I have given you this land. Go in and take possession of the land the Lord swore he would give to your fathers—to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob—and to their descendants after them.”

May the Spirit of Jesus illuminate God’s word for us.

Now, with an opening like that, it is little wonder that a modern audience is not inclined to read Deuteronomy. The first few verses seem quite dry. They don’t exactly start with a bang like a Hollywood movie. It mostly sounds like a list of names and places we haven’t heard of and that don’t mean much to us.

What we notice, on reflection though, is that these eight verses are talking about time, place and words. Specifically, the words of Moses. So, if we are going to understand Deuteronomy, then there’s something important we need to grasp about time, place and words. Let’s start with time.

Time:

Do you remember the story of Rip Van Winkle? It is a fictional story about lost time. Rip Van Winkle is walking in the mountains one day with his dog Wolf, when he comes across some shady characters who give him a strange substance to drink. Rip is quite happy to imbibe the ale but falls asleep soon after.

When he wakes up, his dog is gone, his beard has grown to his waist and his clothes are falling to pieces. Rip returns to the village to discover his children have grown into adulthood and the American Revolution has been and gone.

His walk in the woods, which should have taken no more than a day, has ended up taking 20 years. The world has moved on and changed without him. He has some adjustments to make. With the rate at which the world is so rapidly changing today, some of us may feel like Rip Van Winkle at times.

From verse 2 of Deuteronomy 1 we read…

² (It takes eleven days to go from Horeb to Kadesh Barnea by the Mount Seir road.) ³ In the fortieth year, on the first day of the eleventh month, Moses proclaimed to the Israelites all that the Lord had commanded him concerning them.

It seems that a journey which should have only taken a couple of weeks ended up taking 40 years. Like Rip Van Winkle the people of Israel lost quite a bit of time in the wilderness. Unlike Rip, the Israelites were not sleeping.

Moses lived around the 13^th Century BC. So that’s about 3,300 years ago, give or take. If we read the opening verses of Deuteronomy at face value, then Moses’ words were delivered at a time of transition for the Israelites. The nation was on the cusp of entering the Promised Land, with all the possibilities and problems that entailed.

When you dig a little deeper though, you find that Deuteronomy contains a timeless message. It wasn’t just helpful for Israel in the wilderness, preparing to take the land, it also had something to say to the people of Judah, around 600-700 BC, who were trying to hold their place in the land. Then later, after the people had been taken into exile, Deuteronomy spoke a word to those hoping to return to the land.

It seems Deuteronomy is particularly relevant for times of transition and change. This might be one of the reasons Deuteronomy struck a chord with the early church; because Jesus’ coming brought monumental change, both on a personal level but also at a wider societal level.

We, today, live at a time of unbelievable change and transition. What might Deuteronomy have to say to us?

Place goes hand in hand with time. You can’t have a time without a place.

Place:

In New Zealand culture, and in Maori culture especially, place is very important. When someone gives their Pepeha, when they introduce themselves in Maori, they refer to the place they come from. They talk about where their Marae is located as well as the name of their mountain and river.

When we talk about the place we come from and the people we are related to, we are essentially describing our home.

A place to call home was very important to Israel as well. The people had just spent 40 years wandering the wilderness with no place to call home. Now they were about to take possession of a place God had promised them.

The first two verses of Deuteronomy 1 are peppered with place names. For example: The Arabah opposite Suph, between Paran and Tophel, Laban, Hazeroth and Dizahab.

We also come across a place called Horeb. Horeb, is another name for Mount Sinai. Kadesh Barnea comes up a few times too.

It is verse 7 though, where Moses quotes the Lord in describing the boundaries of the land…

…go to all the neighbouring peoples in the Arabah, in the mountains, in the western foothills, in the Negev and along the coast, to the land of the Canaanites and to Lebanon, as far as the great river, the Euphrates. ⁸ See, I have given you this land. 

A place is more than just an empty space. For a space to become a place, it needs boundaries. There was a lot of empty space in the wilderness of Sinai but the wilderness was not Israel’s place.

The boundaries of the land, given in verse 7, define Israel’s place. Deuteronomy is a book which defines boundaries. Not just physical and geographical boundaries but moral and ethical boundaries as well.

Without boundaries, space becomes terrifying and dangerous. Boundaries provide security and freedom; they make a place safe and functional.

The boundaries God gives are generous and wise. They are tailored to fit his people.        

Patrick Miller makes the observation that Israel’s land (their place to call home) is promised, given and taken.

God promised the land to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. The people of Israel have not arrived in this place by accident. They are there by God’s design.

The Promised Land is given by God. It is not deserved or earned. It is offered.

At the same time though, the land needs to be taken by Israel. Israel needs to act if they are going to take possession of the land. Divine gift and human action are two parts of the same whole.

The Promised Land is for us a symbol of God’s Kingdom, our salvation. God’s kingdom is both given by God and, at the same time, taken by us. God’s offer of salvation requires an active response from us, if we are to realise it.    

For us, Israel’s place in the Middle East is associated with a long history of conflict. I don’t really understand the politics of it and I don’t think it would helpful to try and unpick that history too much.

We are followers of Jesus, the Christ. Jesus was never that interested in geopolitical conflicts. Jesus is interested in place though. In John 14, the night before his crucifixion and death, Jesus said to his disciples…

“Do not be worried and upset. Believein God and believe also in me. ² There are many rooms in my Father’s house, and I am going to prepare a place for you. I would not tell you this if it were not so. ³ And after I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to myself, so that you will be where I am. ⁴ You know the way that leads to the place where I am going.”

The place Jesus was talking about here is a place with God; a room in God’s home. This place is eternal and secure.

If we think of this life as a journey through the wilderness, then crossing the Jordan River to enter the Promised Land is like passing through death to eternal life to be with God our Father.  

John 14 often gets read at funerals and that is appropriate but it also speaks to us in this life, when we feel out of place, like we don’t fit or don’t belong.

God is our home and Jesus is the way home. 

We have been talking about time and place. Deuteronomy is a book that is relevant for all time, especially times of transition and change. At the same time, Deuteronomy is a book about place. It defines the boundaries which give a particular place security and freedom.

Deuteronomy is also a book of words; the words of Moses. Moses’ words give meaning, purpose and identity to Israel’s place, their home. Moses’ words remind Israel of who they are and why they are.

Words:

We live in an age of information overload, an age of advertising, marketing and hype. True silence (inner silence) is a rare and precious thing.

Ironically, the effect of this inflation of information is that words seem cheap to us. Words appear to have lost most of their value. But appearances can be deceiving. Words are still very powerful.

The right words, spoken in the right place at the right time are like seeds planted in the soil of our mind. Good words have the potential to grow and bear fruit in our lives.

There are three references to Moses’ words in the opening five verses of Deuteronomy chapter 1.

The book of Deuteronomy starts like this: These are the words Moses spoke to all Israel…  

Then, in verse 3 we read: Moses proclaimed to the Israelites all that the Lord had commanded him concerning them.

And in verse 5: Moses began to expound this law…

We could think of Deuteronomy as Moses’ last and perhaps greatest sermon series to the nation of Israel. The book is presented as three or four speeches by Moses. But these sermons are not just Moses’ ideas. Moses is proclaiming and explaining God’s word so the people can understand it and know how to apply it.

Simply put, Moses is the mediator of God’s word.

If God’s word is like a seed, then Moses is like the gardener who plants the seed and waters it and protects it.

Or if God’s word is like information being sent through a fibre cable, then Moses is the technician who connects the cable to your house.

Or if God’s word is like a foreign language that we don’t understand, then Moses is the interpreter making the meaning clear to the people.

Or if God’s word is like electricity, then Moses is the electrician who installs the wiring and switches so we can turn the lights on and see.

Or if God’s word is like flour and water, yeast and salt, then Moses is the baker who kneads the dough and bakes the bread so the people can eat.

Or if God’s word is like an aeroplane, then Moses is the pilot and navigator flying the passengers to the airport of a new and different country.     

Moses is the mediator of God’s word.

The gospel of John, in the New Testament, opens like this…

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ² He was with God in the beginning. ³ Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. ⁴ In him was life, and that life was the light of all humankind.

The Word that John was writing about here is Jesus, the Christ.

While Moses was the mediator of God’s Word, Jesus actually is God’s Word.

Therefore, Moses’ words in Deuteronomy were pointing to Jesus.

A few verses later, John makes a connection between Moses and Jesus saying…

¹⁶ Out of his fullness we have all received grace in place of grace already given. ¹⁷ For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.

Do you see what John is saying here? The law of Moses is grace already given. We might be inclined to read into these verses a disconnect between Moses and Jesus, as if the law that came through Moses was somehow different from or in opposition to the grace that comes through Jesus.

But the law of Moses and the grace of Jesus are not two separate things. They are not divorced from each other or opposed. The Law of Moses and the grace & truth of Jesus are an organic whole. They go together. They are in continuity with each other. Jesus fulfils the law of Moses. 

If we think of Deuteronomy like the roots of a tree, then the gospel of Jesus is the fruit of that same tree. Deuteronomy is the gospel according to Moses.

The difference here is not between law and grace. The law of Moses is an expression of God’s grace. The difference between Moses and Jesus is that Moses was the mediator of God’s word, whereas Jesus actually is God’s word incarnate, in the flesh, in human form.

To put it another way, if we think of God’s word as light, then Jesus is like the sun (the source of light) and Moses is like the moon, which merely reflects the sun’s light.

Conclusion:

Time, place and words. In Deuteronomy, Moses is sowing the right words at the right time and in the right place. The seeds of his words were given by God to grow into a home for Israel and for all God’s people. 

If you are homeless, adrift in the world, living on the edge of possibility, somewhere between hope and despair, then I believe Deuteronomy contains God’s word for you.

Or if your security is threatened, if your family are under pressure and you are struggling to keep your home together, then I believe Deuteronomy contains God’s word for you too.

Or if you have lost your home, had it ripped out from under you so that you no longer feel like you fit. If you long to return home, then I believe Deuteronomy contains God’s word for you also.

Let us pray…  

Father God, you are our home. Lord Jesus, you are the way home. Holy Spirit, you are our guide. Help us at this time and in this place with the words of life we need to bring others with us, as we make our way home to the Father. Through Jesus we pray. Amen.      

Questions for discussion or reflection:

What stands out for you in reading this Scripture and/or in listening to the sermon? Why do you think this stood out to you?

• Which are your favourite books in the Old Testament and why? Have you spent much time reading Deuteronomy? Why or why not? Why was Deuteronomy a favourite book for the early church?

• What societal changes have you noticed in your lifetime? What transitions are we (in NZ) currently going through? What do you think our country needs at this time?

• Why are boundaries important?

• Have you ever felt out of place? What was that like? Discuss / reflect on John 14:1-4. What do these verses tell us about our place (our home) and how to get there? 

• Can you think of a time in your own life when you received the right word at the right time and in the right place? What happened and what was the effect?

• What is the relationship between Moses and Jesus?