No Longer Cursed

Deuteronomy 21:22-23 -  "If someone has committed a crime worthy of death and is executed and then hanged on a tree, the body must never remain on the tree overnight. You must bury the body that same day, for anyone hanging on a tree is cursed of God. Do not defile the land the LORD your God is giving you as a special possession.

 

Moses had so many random instructions in this chapter…how to go about cleansing an entire town from the guilt of an unsolved murder….how to take a wife from a city they had captured…how to treat unruly children…and how long a body must be left exposed after dying on a cross. Moses wanted these people to know that there was a Godly way to handle every situation in their lives…and he would not be pleased with them if they went about their lives in any other way.

 

I admit…this chapter was very hard for me…it contains lots of rules that would be impossible for me to follow in the America I was born. I would be accused of animal cruelty if I broke the neck of a young cow…not to mention the difficulty I would probably have getting my preacher to come wash his hands over it to ask God to cleanse my town of any guilt from an unsolved murder. Bigamy is against the law here… no judge in our country would ever offer stoning as a possible punishment for a young person’s rebellious issues…and we just don’t use the cross for death sentences anymore.

 

And so I found myself meditating and praying for some extra wisdom on this chapter….for God wanted to reveal something of importance to us…even if the lesson is embedded in the rules for a culture long ago. I finally stumbled over a commentary that referred me to the wonderful passage that Paul wrote in Galatians 3:10-14… “ For all who rely on the works of the law are under a curse, as it is written: “Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law. Clearly no one who relies on the law is justified before God, because “the righteous will live by faith.” The law is not based on faith; on the contrary, it says, “The person who does these things will live by them.” Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a pole.” He redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, so that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit.

 

I just can’t imagine what it was like for Jesus that horrible day. He took on the curse of all men as he hung on that tree…and opened a door of faith to all who wanted to accept this act of love. I am no longer bound by the rules of a people chosen by God to inhabit a ‘Promised Land’….Jesus’ death and resurrection gave me the victory over all these petty rules…and gave me a new way to follow his 10 pure commands….a way based on the faith I have in the promises he made to all….to love us…and care for us…and give us guidance for a world he knew would corrupt itself again.

 

Sometimes I think having all those specific rules might have made it easier...but it probably was just as hard for them to follow a set of specific rules…as it is for me to pray about each thing I do…and ask in faith what is right.  Jesus’ present to all of us was an individual relationship with God the father…with the added benefit of having Jesus himself and the Holy Spirit as best friends. He still bases all of his directions to us on the concept of pure justice…tempered with a bit of mercy…so that all of us can have at least one second chance to get it right.

 

Father… I thank you for the present you gave me in your son.  Help me to never take for granted how he opened up a way for me to be one of your beloved children…and receive the full promises of your holy word.  Make it a priority in my life to always stop and ask you how to proceed in any situation….so that I can always model your great love that is fair…yet merciful to all. Increase the faith I have this morning…and help me use it to rely fully on you for everything I need.  Help me release the things of this world that might expose me to evil and water down the relationship I could have with you if I keep my thought pure and holy.  Amen.