5 March 2019 — Tuesday after the Transfiguration (Ninth Tuesday after Epiphany)

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Sometimes the greatest evidence that we are doing well is those that oppose us. Another way of perhaps saying that is that the measure of one's success is the quality of one's enemies. Some scholars have claimed that part of the reason why David had so many power struggles was the jealousy of others that we don't read about. Whether it was counselors of Saul or (later) David's son Absalom, some scholars believe that there must have been more than Saul and Absalom in the picture. Many times there are those that we are no looking at that are truly the ones guiding things…the power behind the throne, so to speak. We could think of such people positively, as there were and are many counselors who believe their greatest success is the successful leader. On the other hand, there are those who hide behind the leader, using the leader as a distraction from themselves, so as to hide their deeds in the shadows.

Sometimes the greatest legacy we leave is the little things we do. Where we were not shown love, we show love to others. Where people did not build up, we build up. We may never see any of these little steps, but if we are faithful to follow God, letting him guide us, a Godly legacy comes naturally. When it becomes a Godly habit, we don't have to ponder long to answer questions of why we do things.

These last ones are in the same spirit as those about whom David laments. David has cared for them. Lamented for them. Prayed for them. How did they repay the care? By piling on when David was down. Not only did they mock him, they also made it worse by saying bad things about him. They celebrated his misery and misfortune, they who had benefitted from his love and care. As David looked forward, he relied on God to see him through it all. David's legacy was at stake, and his response was to turn to God. David, like all people, wanted personal success, yet understood that his true legacy relied upon the faithfulness of God.

In Deuteronomy, we really are reading the legacy that Moses seeks to pass on, not just to his children, or his immediate tribe, but to the entire people called Israel. Imagine having such a potential legacy. The self-imposed pressure would be huge. Yet, the purpose of a legacy is not to bear the entirety of the burden yourself, but to share it. It is shared with the leaders with whom you work, it also is shouldered by the ones to whom it is passed.

Moses wants to make sure that it is not just the leaders or priests that bear the burden. The next generation (and the generations that follow) is the goal of passing on a legacy. Moses wants the parents to understand their place in passing on the legacy of God. The parents, leaders, and priests all have their place in passing on the legacy that they have received. It is not just passing it on, however, that makes it successful. Just passing on information is just that. It is living out what was passed on that makes the legacy successful. Just as with the Psalm, there is a result that comes with the successful passing, God's preservation and looking out for them.

Moses understood that everything relied upon God. While in the desert, God called upon the Israelites to give to something greater than themselves. Through Moses, God called upon the Israelites to give from their hearts so as to make a temple to their God, a symbolic reminder that their God was among them. If you've ever read the list of items required to make the tabernacle, it's easy to see how monumental that list was. It also speaks to where the hearts of the Israelites were at that moment. They had escaped slavery with much of the Egyptian wealth. For the most part (there are always exceptions) they freely gave of this newfound wealth to the creation of this temple, rather than hoarding it. Instead of holding on to what would make them individually rich, they gave to something that made them collectively richer than material goods. Yet, if they had just piled all of that stuff at Moses' feet, nothing would have happened. Instead, people of skill (particular skills of varying types) were required. God just so happened to have blessed some people with those very skills. Out of the collective goodwill, in addition to skills of certain people, and through the faithful leadership of Moses, something greater than they could have imagined came into being. How could a bunch of slaves tasked only to make bricks make something as intricate and amazing as the tabernacle? Through God.

This amazing event that helped to define a people for generations also captured the hearts of the people, and not in a good way. They had become so ingrained with the outward appearance that when God did a new thing, they were still blind. People important to the seemingly insignificant were so blinded by the wrong legacy that they could not see the truth that was never hidden by God. It had been wrapped so tightly and so much by human will and tradition, that God's love could not be seen through it all. When Peter had his vision, he too was still captured by the traditions passed down. It was not that God's law was wrong or ever invalid it was just that the deeper (and Truer) truth could not be seen. God is love. Peter had to have an experience that challenged the legacy he had been handed that God was a God of (rigid) Law. Peter had to have an experience that showed God meant what he said to Abraham, "you will be a father to the nations."

Right and True information and living is the expression of a fulfilled legacy. The author of Hebrews, even after such a short time of Christianity, is already concerned in his writing that the Right and True information is being lost. The author of Hebrews would be already well aware of the memory loss that Israel experienced after escaping Egypt. The author reinforces the importance of the right information being passed along. Often this gets confused, too. People often turn to "right" action without "right" belief (and vice-versa). When the "right" action is done it loses its long-term effectiveness and purposed when divorced from the why. Doing "good" things, for example, doesn't earn one's way to Heaven.

1) Legacy is important and must be part of how we frame our lives. However, we must be careful to hand off a good legacy. How can we work to make sure we leave a good legacy?

1) What "right" thing(s) have you done without knowing the "right" reason(s)?

2) With whom do you work (or have worked) to make sure that you pass on a legacy worth having?

2) What makes a legacy good or bad? What makes a legacy live-giving or not?

3) What are your thoughts about what legacy you will leave behind?

3) Why is it good for us to remember what legacy we are passing on and why?

FD) What family traditions were (or are being) passed down to you?

FD) Why is important to know why we do things?