Shema

To this day, Jewish families pray the Shema together (6:4)—those who entered the Promised Land obviously listened to God’s command to pass it on to the following generations. The call to hear, obey and love God was rooted in his deep desire for his people to know him. What does it look like today to be a people that hear, obey, love God and pass that on to those around them? We are living in strange days! It is amazing that something so small could arrest the normal routine of daily life for the most powerful human organizations that exist today. I want to first say hello to all the kids that are listening to us right now. You are as always the joy of our fellowship! What a time of adventure you have before! You have no school for weeks! Congratulations on your good fortune and I hope that what awaits you is fun, discovery and the better times with your families than even Christmas vacations or Summer vacation! I have something I would like you to do for me this morning though. I want you to see if you could use your parents phone to text something for me. I would like you to get some paper and coloring material and draw a picture of _________________ and when you are done text it to this number. It is a hard thing to live in fear for the safety of yourself, your family and all the ones you love. • To not know what dangers await • To hear rumors of things that are terrifying and not know if they are true • To feel unprepared and helpless to steer the course of events • To look at the people you love that are under your care and not know if you have the ability to protect them • To stare the future in the eyes and come away not having any idea what awaits either good or bad. This was the state of things for the next generation of Israelites in Deuteronomy. • They were about to enter enemy territory • And they knew that battles awaited them • And in and of themselves, they could not win • Their very survival and those of their families were what was at stake Deuteronomy 4:1–2 (NIV) 4 Now, Israel, hear the decrees and laws I am about to teach you. Follow them so that you may live and may go in and take possession of the land the Lord, the God of your ancestors, is giving you. 2 Do not add to what I command you and do not subtract from it, but keep the commands of the Lord your God that I give you. So what is the pep talk that Moses gives to the Israelites on the eve of battle, of war and of their struggle for victory? “Hear and Obey” To me this is perfect. It is not out of place and it rings with a resonance that would have brought me courage in times of fear and doubt. * When I got my first Kidney Biopsy • I was shaking I was so scared • At 16 years old I didn’t know what was wrong with my body • I hadn’t known real pain that I couldn’t explain • The process they were describing sounded terrifying to me And the doctor got down really close to me. • And he said something simple • “I need you to listen to my voice” • “And do exactly what I tell you to do” • “If you do that I can do my job as quickly and cleanly as possible” • “So just do everything I tell you.” In so many ways this is what Moses is telling the Next Generation. • Listen to what the Lord says • And obey what he is telling you • And you will be fine To me, this seems like very good advice for a time such this. • A time when people are scared • When we are facing something we’ve never faced before • When the future is so unknown Right now we can take solace in the simplicity of this directive “Hear” In the Hebrew this word for hear is one that is loaded with meaning. The word when translated is pronounced “Shema”. • And it was a word rich with history and culture for the Jews • It was the name they gave to perhaps their most famous prayer • The one the said each day and each night And the prayer is simple. It is recorded in Deuteronomy 6 Deuteronomy 6:4–9 (NIV) 4 Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 5 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. When Isaiah and Justus were little and shared a bunk together we used to have them recite the Schema every night before they went to sleep. • In that prayer is summed up much of the law • If you can “hear” and “obey” the Shema then you are loyal to God and he perceives that loyalty as love. • There is no seperate word for obey when you are a Jew, the word obey is a derivative of the word “hear” or schema. • To “listen” or to “shema” is always “to obey”. • So the idea of saying “He who has ears, let them hear” is the same thing as saying “if you have ears to hear God, then you ought to obey Him.” When I remember how fearful I was before I went into surgery I think about the second generation Israelites in the desert. • As the doctor leaned down and looked me in the eye and said “Just listen to what I say, and you will be alright.” • That is similar to what God is doing here before the Israelites leave the desert on the brink of war and battle: Deuteronomy 6:1–5 (NIV) 6 These are the commands, decrees and laws the Lord your God directed me to teach you to observe in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess, 2 so that you, your children and their children after them may fear the Lord your God as long as you live by keeping all his decrees and commands that I give you, and so that you may enjoy long life. 3 Hear, Israel, and be careful to obey so that it may go well with you and that you may increase greatly in a land flowing with milk and honey, just as the Lord, the God of your ancestors, promised you. 4 Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 5 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. If Israel is faithful- which in this context is the exact same as “to obey”- than God will be faithful- which in this context is the same is “to be loyal”. I find that most people intrinsically dislike the idea of God’s faithfulness being paired with out obedience. • Most people won’t say it this way, but in effect they want God to be faithful to them regardless of whether or not they are obedient or “hear” God. • I find this to be amusing • Especially given the context of this verse and what they were up against Imagine if I had told the doctor before my operation: “I expect you to have a successful surgery and fix me up because that is your job. And you need to do your job whether I listen to your instructions or not.” Only people who are incredibly rich and entitled would think that such expectations are normal. • We are faithful and loyal to God if we “hear” him and obey him But this is not the end of the discussion. • Because God is not only promising them safety and property for a season and then they are on their own • He is promising to be faithful/loyal to them for as long as they are faithful/loyal • All the way through each generation • Is is proving to be their one protector and Lord for all time • He is promising them a legacy of security • As long as they live out a legacy of faith/obedience 6 These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. 7 Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. 8 Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. 9 Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates. The Israelites need not worry for their children as all other peoples do given the brutality of the world during their day. • They are being given generations of safety • Something truly wondrous and unique in all the world As parents and grandparents and friends and family have their hearts race thinking about the uncertainty of their future. • As images of war and bloodshed pass through their minds • As they fear the capture of their families • As they fear their own death God leans in close and says, “Its going to be OK. Just listen to me and do as I say.” Today we are faced with our own uncertainties. • This Virus has affected our world in ways I have never seen • The outlandish behavior at grocery stores and big box retailers betrays the panic and fear that our people feel when faced with a threat we aren’t sure we can overcome on our own In our own attempts to act responsibly and in step with other organizations that have volunteered to curtail their profits and margins we have decided to shut down our own church calendar until April 5th. • And still we don’t know what good advice to give about meeting in small groups • The best we can say now is to use good judgement and also walk in step with what the city, state and federal government is asking of us. But we fear for our elderly parents. And we fear for those whose health is compromised already. As we fear the future, and as we ponder the unknown we can remember the echo of the SHEMA from Jesus as he teaches a people also living through times of unrest: Mark 12:28–31 (NIV) 28 One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, “Of all the commandments, which is the most important?” 29 “The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 30 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ 31 The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.” When we are afraid Jesus leans down and looks us in the eyes and says: “Just listen to me and do what I say.” And then adds something to this: “And don’t forget your neighbors. Go and take care of them as you would care for yourself” So as we sit in our homes and ready ourselves to take communion steel yourself during this time and keep your eyes on your Lord- hear what He says and be faithful to what he says. And in these strange days, our church must now more than ever care for our neighbors. All of God’s will is wrapped up in these simple albeit all consuming commands.

To this day, Jewish families pray the Shema together (6:4)—those who entered the Promised Land obviously listened to God’s command to pass it on to the following generations. The call to hear, obey and love God was rooted in his deep desire for his people to know him. What does it look like today to be a people that hear, obey, love God and pass that on to those around them?

We are living in strange days!

It is amazing that something so small could arrest the normal routine of daily life for the most powerful human organizations that exist today.

I want to first say hello to all the kids that are listening to us right now. You are as always the joy of our fellowship! What a time of adventure you have before! You have no school for weeks! Congratulations on your good fortune and I hope that what awaits you is fun, discovery and the better times with your families than even Christmas vacations or Summer vacation!

I have something I would like you to do for me this morning though. I want you to see if you could use your parents phone to text something for me.

I would like you to get some paper and coloring material and draw a picture of and when you are done text it to this number.

It is a hard thing to live in fear for the safety of yourself, your family and all the ones you love.

• To not know what dangers await

• To hear rumors of things that are terrifying and not know if they are true

• To feel unprepared and helpless to steer the course of events

• To look at the people you love that are under your care and not know if you have the ability to protect them

• To stare the future in the eyes and come away not having any idea what awaits either good or bad.

This was the state of things for the next generation of Israelites in Deuteronomy.

• They were about to enter enemy territory

• And they knew that battles awaited them

• And in and of themselves, they could not win

• Their very survival and those of their families were what was at stake

Deuteronomy 4:1–2 NIV

Now, Israel, hear the decrees and laws I am about to teach you. Follow them so that you may live and may go in and take possession of the land the Lord, the God of your ancestors, is giving you. Do not add to what I command you and do not subtract from it, but keep the commands of the Lord your God that I give you.

Deuteronomy 4:1–2 NVI

»Ahora, israelitas, escuchen los preceptos y las normas que les enseñé, para que los pongan en práctica. Así vivirán y podrán entrar a la tierra que el Señor, el Dios de sus antepasados, les da en posesión. No añadan ni quiten palabra alguna a esto que yo les ordeno. Más bien, cumplan los mandamientos del Señor su Dios.

So what is the pep talk that Moses gives to the Israelites on the eve of battle, of war and of their struggle for victory?

4 Now, Israel, hear the decrees and laws I am about to teach you. Follow them so that you may live and may go in and take possession of the land the Lord, the God of your ancestors, is giving you. 2 Do not add to what I command you and do not subtract from it, but keep the commands of the Lord your God that I give you.

So what is the pep talk that Moses gives to the Israelites on the eve of battle, of war and of their struggle for victory?

“Hear and Obey”

To me this is perfect.

It is not out of place and it rings with a resonance that would have brought me courage in times of fear and doubt.

* When I got my first Kidney Biopsy

• I was shaking I was so scared

• At 16 years old I didn’t know what was wrong with my body

• I hadn’t known real pain that I couldn’t explain

• The process they were describing sounded terrifying to me And the doctor got down really close to me.

• And he said something simple

• “I need you to listen to my voice”

• “And do exactly what I tell you to do”

• “If you do that I can do my job as quickly and cleanly as possible”

• “So just do everything I tell you.”

In so many ways this is what Moses is telling the Next Generation.

• Listen to what the Lord says

• And obey what he is telling you

• And you will be fine

To me, this seems like very good advice for a time such this.

• A time when people are scared

• When we are facing something we’ve never faced before

• When the future is so unknown

Right now we can take solace in the simplicity of this directive “Hear”

In the Hebrew this word for hear is one that is loaded with meaning. The word when translated is pronounced “Shema”.

• And it was a word rich with history and culture for the Jews

• It was the name they gave to perhaps their most famous prayer

• The one the said each day and each night

And the prayer is simple. It is recorded in

Deuteronomy 6:4–9 NIV

Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.

Deuteronomy 6:4–9 NVI

»Escucha, Israel: El Señor nuestro Dios es el único Señor. Ama al Señor tu Dios con todo tu corazón y con toda tu alma y con todas tus fuerzas. Grábate en el corazón estas palabras que hoy te mando. Incúlcaselas continuamente a tus hijos. Háblales de ellas cuando estés en tu casa y cuando vayas por el camino, cuando te acuestes y cuando te levantes. Átalas a tus manos como un signo; llévalas en tu frente como una marca; escríbelas en los postes de tu casa y en los portones de tus ciudades.

When Isaiah and Justus were little and shared a bunk together we used to have them recite the Schema every night before they went to sleep.

4 Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 5 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.

When Isaiah and Justus were little and shared a bunk together we used to have them recite the Schema every night before they went to sleep.

• In that prayer is summed up much of the law

• If you can “hear” and “obey” the Shema then you are loyal to God and he perceives that loyalty as love.

• There is no seperate word for obey when you are a Jew, the word obey is a derivative of the word “hear” or schema.

• To “listen” or to “shema” is always “to obey”.

• So the idea of saying “He who has ears, let them hear” is the same thing as saying “if you have ears to hear God, then you ought to obey Him.”

When I remember how fearful I was before I went into surgery I think about the second generation Israelites in the desert.

• As the doctor leaned down and looked me in the eye and said “Just listen to what I say, and you will be alright.”

• That is similar to what God is doing here before the Israelites leave the desert on the brink of war and battle:

Deuteronomy 6:1–5 NIV

These are the commands, decrees and laws the Lord your God directed me to teach you to observe in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess, so that you, your children and their children after them may fear the Lord your God as long as you live by keeping all his decrees and commands that I give you, and so that you may enjoy long life. Hear, Israel, and be careful to obey so that it may go well with you and that you may increase greatly in a land flowing with milk and honey, just as the Lord, the God of your ancestors, promised you. Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.

Deuteronomy 6:1–5 NVI

»Éstos son los mandamientos, preceptos y normas que el Señor tu Dios mandó que yo te enseñara, para que los pongas en práctica en la tierra de la que vas a tomar posesión, para que durante toda tu vida tú y tus hijos y tus nietos honren al Señor tu Dios cumpliendo todos los preceptos y mandamientos que te doy, y para que disfrutes de larga vida. Escucha, Israel, y esfuérzate en obedecer. Así te irá bien y serás un pueblo muy numeroso en la tierra donde abundan la leche y la miel, tal como te lo prometió el Señor, el Dios de tus antepasados. »Escucha, Israel: El Señor nuestro Dios es el único Señor. Ama al Señor tu Dios con todo tu corazón y con toda tu alma y con todas tus fuerzas.

If Israel is faithful- which in this context is the exact same as “to obey”- than God will be faithful- which in this context is the same is “to be loyal”.

4 Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 5 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.

4 Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 5 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.

If Israel is faithful- which in this context is the exact same as “to obey”- than God will be faithful- which in this context is the same is “to be loyal”.

I find that most people intrinsically dislike the idea of God’s faithfulness being paired with out obedience.

• Most people won’t say it this way, but in effect they want God to be faithful to them regardless of whether or not they are obedient or “hear” God.

• I find this to be amusing

• Especially given the context of this verse and what they were up against Imagine if I had told the doctor before my operation:

“I expect you to have a successful surgery and fix me up because that is your job. And you need to do your job whether I listen to your instructions or not.”

Only people who are incredibly rich and entitled would think that such expectations are normal.

• We are faithful and loyal to God if we “hear” him and obey him

But this is not the end of the discussion.

• Because God is not only promising them safety and property for a season and then they are on their own

• He is promising to be faithful/loyal to them for as long as they are faithful/loyal

• All the way through each generation

• Is is proving to be their one protector and Lord for all time

• He is promising them a legacy of security

• As long as they live out a legacy of faith/obedience

6 These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts.

7 Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. 8 Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your

foreheads. 9 Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.

The Israelites need not worry for their children as all other peoples do given the brutality of the world during their day.

• They are being given generations of safety

• Something truly wondrous and unique in all the world

As parents and grandparents and friends and family have their hearts race thinking about the uncertainty of their future.

• As images of war and bloodshed pass through their minds

• As they fear the capture of their families

• As they fear their own death

God leans in close and says, “Its going to be OK. Just listen to me and do as I say.”

Today we are faced with our own uncertainties.

• This Virus has affected our world in ways I have never seen

• The outlandish behavior at grocery stores and big box retailers betrays the panic and fear that our people feel when faced with a threat we aren’t sure we can overcome on our own

In our own attempts to act responsibly and in step with other organizations that have volunteered to curtail their profits and margins we have decided to shut down our own church calendar until April 5th.

• And still we don’t know what good advice to give about meeting in small groups

• The best we can say now is to use good judgement and also walk in step with what the city, state and federal government is asking of us.

But we fear for our elderly parents.

And we fear for those whose health is compromised already.

As we fear the future, and as we ponder the unknown we can remember the echo of the SHEMA from Jesus as he teaches a people also living through times of unrest:

Mark 12:28–31 NIV

One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, “Of all the commandments, which is the most important?” “The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.”

Mark 12:28–31 NVI

Uno de los maestros de la ley se acercó y los oyó discutiendo. Al ver lo bien que Jesús les había contestado, le preguntó: —De todos los mandamientos, ¿cuál es el más importante? —El más importante es: “Oye, Israel. El Señor nuestro Dios es el único Señor—contestó Jesús—. Ama al Señor tu Dios con todo tu corazón, con toda tu alma, con toda tu mente y con todas tus fuerzas.” El segundo es: “Ama a tu prójimo como a ti mismo.” No hay otro mandamiento más importante que éstos.

28 One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating.

Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, “Of all the commandments, which is the most important?”

29 “The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 30 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ 31 The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.”

When we are afraid Jesus leans down and looks us in the eyes and says: “Just listen to me and do what I say.”

And then adds something to this:

“And don’t forget your neighbors. Go and take care of them as you would care for yourself”

So as we sit in our homes and ready ourselves to take communion steel yourself during this time and keep your eyes on your Lord- hear what He says and be faithful to what he says.

And in these strange days, our church must now more than ever care for our neighbors.

All of God’s will is wrapped up in these simple albeit all consuming commands.