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10:30 am Worship

Wednesday, October 2, 2024

Hosea 4: 17-19

¹⁷ Ephraim is joined to idols— let him alone.
¹⁸ When their drinking is ended, they indulge in sexual orgies;
 they love lewdness more than their glory.
¹⁹ A wind has wrapped them in its wings,
 and they shall be ashamed because of their altars.

One of the difficulties in Christianity lies in its persistent effort to somehow present itself as superior to Judaism. There is the old way and the new way. The Old Testament and the New Testament. Very often, Christian preachers point to the conflicts Jesus faced in the gospels and argue Jesus stood for a new understanding. The law of love. As if the ancient fathers had never considered love essential under the command of God.

Mitsvah. Proverbs 10: 8 – “The wise in heart yikah mitsvah.”

We Christians translate the phrase in many ways. King James: “will receive commandments.” Moffat: “defers to authority.” American Translation: “obeys the laws.” New Revised Standard Version: “will heed commandments.” Abraham Heschel, the great 20^th Century rabbi, preferred a Jewish rendering, “will acquire mitsvah.”

He said it was difficult to translate the word mitsvah, which lay so close to the center of his faith.

“It denotes not only commandment, but also the law, man’s obligation to fulfill the law, and the act of fulfilling the obligation of the deed, particularly an act of benevolence or charity.

“Its meanings range from the acts performed by the high priest in the Temple to the most humble gesture of kindness to one’s fellow man, from acts of external performance to inner attitudes, in relation to others as well as in relation to oneself… It combines all levels of human and spiritual living. Every act done in agreement with the will of God is a mitsvah.” (God in Search of Man, [New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1955], 361.)

What is the Christian’s greatest duty?

Is it not to love God with all one’s heart, mind, and spirit and one’s neighbor as self? In other words, we are called to be kind to those who differ from us. The Jews said it first. Jesus was a Jew, and he lived out mitsvah.

Our songs capture meaning. I will surrender all to God. I will trust and obey God. I will experience God’s amazing grace. Here I am to worship. The law commands love, and obedience to the law lives out love. One cannot separate law from love, for both are mitsvah.

Ephraim, in the Hebrew scriptures, was a son of Joseph, one of the founding figures in the history of Israel. Thus, his name became attached to one of the 12 tribes, the tribe of Ephraim. That tribe eventually revolted and formed the Northern Kingdom, Israel, which stretched all the way from Judah to the Sea of Galilee. Assyria eventually swallowed it. The name, when used in Scripture, has become a cautionary tale, an example of those who rebel.

The prophets speak clearly about those who revolt against God, who reject mitsvah, who fail to perform the loving will of God. Those who worship self above all things. Such people set up obscene altars and worship false Gods. And the prophets speak clearly. Any society which rejects God has disturbed proper relationship and will crumble. We will become Ephraim.

Thomas Merton, the Cistercian monk, found himself called late in life to travel the world in search of relationship with humans who differed profoundly from himself. An act of mitsvah. His life ended in Southeast Asia as he searched and loved people who practiced a different faith.  

“Mere sitting at home and meditating on the divine presence is not enough for our time,” he wrote. (The Pocket Thomas Merton, 106.)

Things have changed since Merton’s time. The world has come to our door. The Internet. Artificial intelligence. Television and streaming. All we need do now to find one who differs radically from ourselves is press a button. Our enemies are right there before us. All around us. With us.

What is mitsvah in this moment? Help me, O God, to see it clearly. Not for me, Ephraim.

Hymn of the day: A New Commandment I Give Unto You. Online at Rossford UMC - Media.

Rev. Lawrence Keeler