Deuteronomy 10:10-22 (NRSV)
Moses urges the people to obey
I stayed on the mountain forty days and forty nights, as I had done the first time. And once again the Lord listened to me. The Lord was unwilling to destroy you. The Lord said to me, "Get up, go on your journey at the head of the people, that they may go in and occupy the land that I swore to their ancestors to give them."
So now, O Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you? Only to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to keep the commandments of the Lord your God and his decrees that I am commanding you today, for your own well being. Although heaven and the heaven of heavens belong to the Lord your God, the earth with all that is in it, yet the Lord set his heart in love on your ancestors alone and chose you, their descendants after them, out of all the peoples, as it is today. Circumcise, then, the foreskin of your heart, and do not be stubborn any longer. For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who is not partial and takes no bribe, who executes justice for the orphan and the widow, and who loves the strangers, providing them food and clothing. You shall also love the stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt. You shall fear the Lord your God; him alone you shall worship; to him you shall hold fast, and by his name you shall swear. He is your praise; he is your God, who has done for you these great and awesome things that your own eyes have seen. Your ancestors went down to Egypt seventy persons; and now the Lord your God has made you as numerous as the stars in heaven.
Reflection
God chose the Israelites as a special people. This God that created all the universes, all the stars, all the atoms and electrons and everything that exists; chose the Israelites to be a special people to him. What an honor! God chose Israel above all peoples. The one and only God.
God also gave the Israelites the law. One of which was for the Israelites to enter into a close relationship with the ones who wander or the sojourner. This is a reminder of God's love as Israel was captive to the Egyptians. Wanderers don't have a place or a land, some don't even have a family. Yet Israel was to love the alien.
God chose the Israelites and commanded them to love the alien. I am one of those aliens, loved by God. Loved enough to be included in the choosing. I am loved to be the neighbor to be loved. I likewise, because of this gracious act of God love my neighbor.
The greatest commandment...Love the Lord you God with all you mind, heart and soul and love your neighbor as yourself. Thanks be to God!
Prayer
Lord, may all your people look and listen to your priority in life that we love God and one another. Thanks for choosing all of us... today... tomorrow... and forever. --- amen
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