2022-10-26 Vespers Homily - Blessings and Curses

 2022-10-26 Deuteronomy 28:1-22 “Blessings and Curses” 

In the name of the Father, +Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen. 

For those of you who follow the daily lectionary for your devotional reading, which is what we do here on most Mondays and Wednesdays, I dare tell you that you are not experiencing the full weight of chapter 28. By weight, I mean not only the chapter’s length, but also the fullness of the blessings and curses. There are 68 verses in chapter 28.  These 68 verses contain 14 blessings and 66 curses. This follows after chapter 27, where from verses 15-26, we encountered a liturgy that Moses is inspired to write.  He commanded that this liturgy be repeated when the people have crossed the Jordan River and entered the Promised Land.  

The liturgy begins, “Cursed be the man who takes a carved or cast metal image, an abomination to the Lord, a thing made by the hands of a craftsman, and sets it up in secret. And all the people shall answer and say, Amen.” 

There are 11 more curse statements in the rest of chapter 27.  

Thankfully, as we enter into chapter 28, Moses switches to a statement of 14 blessings before he moves into the 66 curses. As Moses explains, when the people choose to obey the Lord God, life will be full of abundance and joy and love.  I love how Moses describes these blessings.  “If you faithfully obey the voice of the LORD your God, being careful to do all his commandments.... all of these blessings will come upon you and overtake you.  There will be no hiding from the blessings of God.  It’s almost as if the flash flood waters come upon us and lift us off our feet and carry us downstream. So powerful and plentiful will these blessings be!

God clearly wants to bless Israel. He wants to bless them with a high and favored status among the nations.  He wants Israel to enjoy economic prosperity.  God wants to bless Israel so much with material prosperity that the nations will borrow from Israel and Israel will never have to borrow from another nation.  God wants Israel to not only be adored by the nations, but also be strong militarily.  They shall have strong and well guarded borders.  God wants the people to dwell, work and worship in safety. No matter whether they are in the city or in the country.  The Lord will make sure all are safe and accounted for.  God wants to bless the people, the agriculture, and the farm animals with good health. 

The blessings that God will bestow upon Israel in the Promised Land are contingent upon only one thing. Obedience. Simple, intentional, direct, obedience to the Command of the LORD God.  We observe that Moses makes rich use of the words, “IF and Then” to describe the covenental relationship. 

 In grace, God established the Sinai covenant with Israel.  The LORD God will be Israel’s God, but there shall be no other gods.  And, when one has faith in the LORD God, one also takes great care with God’s name and observes the Sabbath day.  Faith in the LORD God means that you will also take great care with the people around you.  That care begins in the home by honoring one’s parents and it continues all the way to how we properly relate to other people’s possessions. 

The LORD God anticipates, expects, and demands Israel’s obedience to his command.  When God’s command is followed, the people know the fullness of God’s blessing in everyday life.  Because God loves His people, he will engage in a disciplining of the disobedient with the intention of bringing people into repentance and seeking God’s and one another’s forgiveness.  And, we are told, that discipline process may not be gentle. 

Moses is trying to make his and God’s instructions to the people as clear as possible.  The initiation of the Sinai covenant with Israel is an act of grace on God’s part.  At the same time, God expects obedience. He expects complete allegiance   Blessings flow out of this obedience and allegiance.  Disobedience leads to something else entirely. Using the strongest and clearest language possible, Moses states what will happen when the people choose to disobey God.  The people will experience curse after curse after curse from God.  No protection, no safety, no well-being, no harvest, no rain. The list goes on. Ruin of every aspect of life. Even exile from the land will come.   

What Moses is doing here is presenting the three uses of the Law.  Article VI of the Formula of Concord explains that the Law is given to God’s people for three reasons: “(1) that by the Law outward discipline might be maintained against wild, disobedient people; (2) that people may be led to the knowledge of their sins by the Law; and (3) that after they are regenerate and the flesh still cleaves to them, they might on this account have a fixed rule according to which the are to regulate and direct their whole life.” (page 486, Concordia: the Lutheran Confessions: a Readers Edition of the Book of Concord, 2nd edition). 

In other words, as I learned it in the days of old: curb, mirror, and guide.  

The gift of the Sinai covenant did not take away people’s sinful nature.  So, Moses is doing his best to ensure that people understand fully God’s commands, how they shall then live according to God’s command, and what will happen if the people choose to act on their natural inclinations.  It should scare them into obedience. As Moses makes plain, nothing good will happen by following one’s heart and the old nature.  Good things will happen when the people follow God’s heart. Then, the true blessings will over take us. 

God’s blessings are conditional.  It depends upon where people choose to put their faith and who and what they choose to listen to.  

Well, we know how this story goes.  It ain’t pretty.  The gift of the Law quickly became a curse. As we read through the Old Testament, it’s almost like they couldn’t help themselves.  One commandment after another is broken. All the curses that Moses cited happened. 

The only true hope for Israel and for us comes from outside of our own behavior and decision making.  The only true hope for Israel and the rest of us lies in the coming Christ.  Christ Jesus was promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.  When Jesus comes, he dies on the cross so that we may be justified by faith in Christ, not by our own actions.  When Jesus comes, we place our faith in him and his cross. Through faith in Christ, God declares us righteous and forgiven. As the Apostle Paul explains to us in his letter to the Galatians.  “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us.  As it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs from a tree.” He redeemed us in order that the blessing of Abraham would come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, so that we would receive the promised Spirit through faith.” (Gal 3) 

We give thanks that God has blessed us with faith in Christ Jesus so that he may take our curse upon himself and bestow upon us his blessedness. Our faith leads to an abundance of joy, hope, and love. 

In the name of the Father, +Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.