September 27, 2009 Psalm 19:1-10
I Cor. 13
Let’s Make a Deal
If you go digging through the Old Testament, you can find some pretty obscure and ridiculous laws. The laws are an expansion of the Ten Commandments and are part of the great covenant or deal made between God and God’s chosen people. Keep God’s laws and commandments and God will look favorably upon you. That’s the deal.
So here are just a few examples of some weird Old Testament laws:
In the book of Leviticus, clean and unclean animals are defined for the sake of dietary laws: “All winged insects that go upon all fours are an abomination to you. Yet among the winged insects that go on all fours you may eat those which have legs above their feet…” (Lev. 11:20-21)
“You shall not round off the hair of your temples or mar the edges of your beard.” (Lev. 19:27)
“When you off a sacrifice of peace offerings to the LORD, you shall offer it so that you may be accepted. It shall be eaten the same day you offer it, or on the morrow; and anything left over until the third day shall be burned with fire.” (Lev. 19:5-6)
Lest we be too hard on our Hebrew ancestors, I would contend that we ourselves have done a pretty good job of creating our own and obscure laws. Mind you, I didn’t have time to research all these and verify them, but one web site I found seems to be legitimate (“Weird Laws of the United States,” Anvari.org). Many of us know that in almost every town and city throughout the United States there are unusual laws that have never been removed from the books. Here are a few examples:
Vermont
A law makes it mandatory for everyone to take a bath every week on Saturday
night.
Rutland - it is illegal to allow your car to backfire.
It is illegal to whistle underwater. (Thanks Brian)
Memphis - it is illegal for a woman to drive a car unless there is a man
running or walking in front of it, waving a red flag to warn approaching
motorists and pedestrians.
It is illegal to put tomatoes in clam chowder.
It is against the law to cool one's feet by hanging it out the window.
Boston - it is illegal to have frog-jumping contests within the city
limits.
Boston - it is against the law to take more than 2 baths a month.
Fitchburg - it is illegal for barbers to carry combs in the back of their
ears.
Holyoke - it is against the law to water your lawn when it is raining.
West Virginia
Peewee - it is against the law to eat onions in the local cemetery.
Nicholas County - it is illegal for a preacher to tell jokes or humorous
stories from the pulpit.
Well, on that note, we better move on.
The word for today is covenant. “Covenant” is something we rarely talk about although the concept is very much a part of our lives. I think that outside of church circles, where I have had the greatest exposure to the word was in Green Valley, Arizona in which covenant was used in documents all the time. When developers came in to build a new sub-division, there was invariably a set of Codes, Covenants, and Restrictions attached to all the deeds, known as “CCand R’s.” The buyers were wise to take a close look at them before purchasing a property because they could be quite complicated covering many items such as how many guests could stay in your home at any given time, how many cars you could park and where you could park them, whether or not you could have an outdoor clothes line, you choice of options for exterior paint colors, and so on. I even knew of one subdivision that had very strict rules about exterior lights. It was not uncommon for property owners in Wisconsin for the summer, to get a call notifying them that their outside light was blown out or that the sensor wasn’t working.
Right here in Mashpee there are neighborhoods with their own set of rules. These are all matters to review before buying, because once the deal is complete, you are now living in covenant with your neighbors. You have an agreement with them, an understanding of the rules. More formally, there is a contract in effect.
The Bible, especially the Old Testament which we can also call the Old Covenant is full of stories about God’s agreement with humanity. The concept is introduced in the story of Noah and the flood. After the rains have stopped and the floods have receded, God says to Noah, “Behold, I establish my covenant with you and your descendants after you…” (Gen. 9:8)
Later, after Abraham pasts the test presented by God, God says, “By myself I have sworn, says the LORD, because you have done this, and have not withheld your son, your only son, I will indeed bless you, and I will multiply your descendents as the stars of heaven and as the sand which is on the seashore.” (Gen. 22:15-17)
God strikes up a deal with Jacob and renames him, “Israel.” (Gen. 35:10)
God makes a covenant with Joseph and provides his people with a place to live. (Gen. 45:10)
Job negotiates an agreement with God, a settlement if you will.
And this type of deal-making goes on and on.
Jesus offers his own covenant and in so many ways: “Come unto me all who are heavy laden and I will give you rest.”
“If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it; and whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it.” (Mk. 8:34-35)
Think about the beatitudes:
“Blessed are you poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.
Blessed are you that hunger now, for you shall be satisfied,
Blessed are you that weep now, for you shall laugh.”
Jesus calls us to enter into a covenant with him. In response to all that he has done and continues to do for us in the Holy Spirit, we are invited to live our lives in ways that honor him and as so beautifully articulated by the apostle Paul, at the very heart of our Christian ethic is love.
Behind the acknowledgement on the front of today’s bulletin of Ray and Bernice’s wedding anniversary is a celebration for all of us for the covenants each of us has honored. Whether in the form of marriage, commitment to a mission project in this church, a willingness to serve in an organization dedicated to helping people in need, involvement in a group that raises scholarship funds, bringing a meal to a neighbor who has been sick, or any of another thousand forms, we all live in covenant with one another and with God.
Being a member of this church means being in covenant with one another. This new congregation is in covenant with all our sister congregations not just on the Cape and Islands, not just in SE MA, not just in the Commonwealth, but with all our 4,000+ congregations throughout the country.
In the tradition of biblical covenant, we live not only in the freedom of Christ but with a deep sense of responsibility for one another.
Covenant. Agreement. Contract. Treaty. Promise. Pledge. They all speak to a God who loves us more than we can comprehend and a God who wishes for us to love one another.
Romans 8:28 A covenant doesn’t get any better than this, good friends: “We know that in everything God works for good with those who love him…” “With those who love him..” Now there’s a deal! Amen
