Exodus 23:1-9: We are God’s Dwelling Place
Saturday, November 30, 2019
You shall not repeat a false report.
Do not join the wicked in putting your hand, as an unjust witness, to anyone. Neither shall you allege the example of the many for an excuse for doing wrong.
Nor shall you . . . side with the many in perverting justice.
When you come upon your enemy’s ox or ass going astray, see to it that it is returned to him.
When you notice the ass of one who hates you lying prostrate under its burden . . . help him to raise it.
You shall not deny one of your needy fellow-men his rights in a lawsuit.
You shall keep away from anything dishonest.
You shall not put the innocent or just to death . . . You shall not acquit a guilty man.
Never take a bribe. Bribes blind even the most clear-sighted and twist the words even of the just.
You shall not oppress an alien . . . since you were once aliens yourselves.
If we might only heed these oh so old words . . . there would be oh so much less strife among us!
Paul reminds us that Christ fulfills this old Mosaic Law, telling us that he even comes to supersede it. He also reminds us that we are significant members of God’s family.
You are no longer strangers and sojourners, but you are fellow citizens with the holy ones and members of the household of God, built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Jesus Christ as the capstone. Through him the whole structure is held together and grows into a temple sacred in the Lord; in him you are also being built together into a dwelling place of God in the Spirit. (Ephesians 2:19-22)
John of Patmos has a vision of the New Earth and the New Jerusalem in which he reports a loud voice from the throne saying: Behold, God’s dwelling is with the human race. He will dwell with them and they will be his people and God himself will always be with them [as their God]. (Revelation 21:3)
Jesus is not God’s Plan B. He does not arrive to live among us as an afterthought or as a fixative for something that has gone wrong. He has always been and will always be the thought and action of God among us . . . The Word. It was always intended that we live peaceably side by side, helping one another with our troubles, lifting one another to new levels of spiritual maturity, coaxing, exhorting and encouraging one another over the hurdles we encounter in our journey. Yet even as we are a collective, we also have the individual responsibility to see to our own growth, to gather around us friends who live by the Mosaic and Christian codes, to rebuke one another, to listen to one another, and to love one another. We might look back from our twenty-first century vantage point to see the pieces fall into place. We can see that from the earliest stages of our development as peoples, God was abiding with us. We can also see that he abides with us still. Let us praise God! Let us sweep the floors clean . . . renew the old and new rules . . . and welcome him into the dwelling place of our hearts.
Written on November 9, 2008 and posted today as a Favorite.
Image from: http://wau.org/resources/article/re_gods_dwelling_place/ and http://life-in-a-jiffy.blogspot.com/2011/06/nature-hearts.html
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