Tuesday after the Thirteenth Sunday after Trinity Sunday
Posted on August 31, 2021 by under
Scripture: Deuteronomy 15:7-15 (NKJV)
15:7 “If there is among you a poor man of your brethren, within any of the gates in your land which the Lord your God is giving you, you shall not harden your heart nor shut your hand from your poor brother, 8 but you shall open your hand wide to him and willingly lend him sufficient for his need, whatever he needs. 9 Beware lest there be a wicked thought in your heart, saying, ‘The seventh year, the year of release, is at hand,’ and your eye be evil against your poor brother and you give him nothing, and he cry out to the Lord against you, and it become sin among you. 10 You shall surely give to him, and your heart should not be grieved when you give to him, because for this thing the Lord your God will bless you in all your works and in all to which you put your hand. 11 For the poor will never cease from the land; therefore I command you, saying, ‘You shall open your hand wide to your brother, to your poor and your needy, in your land.’
12 “If your brother, a Hebrew man, or a Hebrew woman, is sold to you and serves you six years, then in the seventh year you shall let him go free from you. 13 And when you send him away free from you, you shall not let him go away empty-handed; 14 you shall supply him liberally from your flock, from your threshing floor, and from your winepress. From what the Lord has blessed you with, you shall give to him. 15 You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God redeemed you; therefore I command you this thing today
Devotion
The Lord understands the fallen reality in which we live. He warns us not to harden our hearts, reasoning about our neighbor how we might get the most out of him, “lest it become sin among you,” and His laws governing unfortunate circumstances be taken as legitimizing exploitation. He teaches concerning what should never be and never would have been if we had remained sinless in Eden. Against such, we are to “help and befriend our neighbor in every bodily need” and to help him protect and improve his possessions and income, to retain his inheritance, spouse, and workers, not to betray or slander him, but protect his reputation, and so on, as the Small Catechism says.
Jesus repeats what verse 11 says, that the poor will always be with us. Whether it is a political dreamer constructing social policies to “end poverty forever” by oppressing businesses or over-taxing workers, or his opponent who cries, “just make them work!” and “capitalism will prevail!,” we must beware of such utopian claims. God has said, “poverty will always continue” on this earth. Instead of dreaming of ending it, He tells us to open our hands and not let our hearts grieve, to do what will lead our neighbor into the most good, whether he loves or despises us for it. Countrymen-slaves are to be treated as those also paid for when you were, even if not yet brethren. Therefore, your fellow ‘atoned-for,’ not just your brethren through faith, are due such treatment as accords with the grace you have received.
Prayer: Almighty and Everlasting God, give unto us the increase of faith, hope, and charity; and that we may obtain that which Thou dost promise, make us to love that which Thou dost command; through Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, ever One God, world without end. Amen.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
