Celebrating God's Work

“When you come into the land that the Lord your God is giving you for an inheritance and have taken possession of it and live in it, you shall take some of the first of all the fruit of the ground, which you harvest from your land that the Lord your God is giving you, and you shall put it in a basket, and you shall go to the place that the Lord your God will choose, to make his name to dwell there. And you shall go to the priest who is in office at that time and say to him, ‘I declare today to the Lord your God that I have come into the land that the Lord swore to our fathers to give us.’ Then the priest shall take the basket from your hand and set it down before the altar of the Lord your God. “And you shall make response before the Lord your God, ‘A wandering Aramean was my father. And he went down into Egypt and sojourned there, few in number, and there he became a nation, great, mighty, and populous. And the Egyptians treated us harshly and humiliated us and laid on us hard labor. Then we cried to the Lord, the God of our fathers, and the Lord heard our voice and saw our affliction, our toil, and our oppression. And the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, with great deeds of terror, with signs and wonders. And he brought us into this place and gave us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey. And behold, now I bring the first of the fruit of the ground, which you, O Lord, have given me.’ And you shall set it down before the Lord your God and worship before the Lord your God. And you shall rejoice in all the good that the Lord your God has given to you and to your house, you, and the Levite, and the sojourner who is among you.” (Deut 26:1-11).

This beautiful ceremony describes a one-time event in the life of each of the families that received land in Canaan. It was a ceremony of remembrance and celebration, in which they gave an offering, told the story of what God had done, and invited others into celebration in community.

The first means of remembering God's work was by giving. Now, God could simply demand offerings on the basis of his greatness and his power and his ownership of all things. But instead, he roots the command to give in the good work that he has done. Notice the verbs in the first verse: “When you have entered the land the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance and have taken possession of it and settled in it.” Moses repeats the thought three times that they are coming into their inheritance as God's children. It is on this basis – the generosity of God – that Israel is told to come with a gift. And then in the second verse, he repeats again, word for word, “the land the Lord your God is giving you.” This offering that they are to bring is not a tax collected by a divine despot – it's the child bringing back to his Father evidence that he is making good use of the gift his Father has given to him.

The second means of remembering God's work was by telling the story of God's work. The story begins by describing the worshiper’s ancestor as “a wandering Aramean”. These are very meaningful descriptors. That his father was “wandering” stands in stark contrast to the worshiper's settled condition. Jacob, the one who spoke to and wrestled with God, in a sense enjoyed fewer blessings than his descendents. He had not received the promise of God. That he is described as an Aramean is a reminder that the nation of Israel was called out from among other nations. At this point, Arameans are foreigners, a pagan nation that does not know God. To think of his ancestor as an Aramean is to remind the worshiper that he has come to this place only through the grace of God. It wasn't by some special holiness that Israel claimed the land, but because God is a god who fulfils his promises. The story that the worshiper tells makes it clear that there was in fact no merit on the part of Israel that caused God to choose them. They were enslaved, oppressed under the mighty hand of one of the greatest powers of the ancient world. Their prayers weren't even for the inheritance promised to their forefathers: it was simply for deliverance from slavery and suffering. God did so much more than end their suffering – he brought them out of Egypt, he entered into a covenant with them, and laid the foundation for them to be a nation in their own right. The worshiper stood before God having done nothing to earn his inheritance. He had simply followed obediently where God had led, and claimed God's good gift.

The third means of remembering God's work was by inviting others into celebration. In the last verse of this passage, we see that this offering and testimony were not a private affair, nor was this a solemn occasion. A part of the offering that was brought by the worshiper was returned to him so that he and his household could celebrate their inheritance in the presence of God while at the tabernacle. Elsewhere in Deuteronomy, the language of “you shall rejoice” means that the worshiper was to hold a holy and joyous celebration of the good works of God, centered around a meal that was eaten in the presence of the Lord. And this was not a private party, but the Levites and foreigners living in Israel were to join them. These in particular are chosen because they are the landless of the population. An foreigner could not inherit land, because the land was divided among the tribes. The Levites had no tribal territory and no farmland, but only a number of scattered cities and a little grazing land. At first glance, it may seem a bit cruel to bring along these perpetually landless individuals to a celebration of the inheritance of land. Imagine someone saying to their friend, “Hey, why don't you come with me to celebrate the good things God has given me that you can never have!” But I don't think it was that shallow. While it's true that Levites and foreigners would almost never have an inheritance of land, they are never looked upon in scripture as second-class citizens. Rather than having land, the Levites were supported by the Lord's portion, so that they could devote themselves to the work of ministry. And foreigners, along with widows and orphans, were among those who were to be cared for in Israel, for the very reason that Israel knew what it was to be in a land not their own. To invite the Levites and the foreigners along was to give them a place in the festivals by way of adoption, so that they too could celebrate the good work of God.

I see many ways that this passage applies to us as Christians today: things such as the reason why we gather for worship, and the meaning behind out giving. But perhaps the strongest application, and the most meaningful one to bring up on Easter weekend, is about the Lord's Supper. Each week we set aside time to recall the work of Jesus in our lives and celebrate what he has achieved for us. As Christians, we have received even greater blessings than the blessings that Israel was celebrating in Deuteronomy 26. While we have not received an ancestral homeland, we have been given the promise of a future home where the dwelling of God will truly be with his people. While we have not been brought out of slavery to a foreign power, we have been freed from our bondage to sin, and death no longer has any hold on us. We come together each week to meet God, and to thank him. We come to remember what God has done as we give, and celebrate, and hear the good story of salvation spoken once again.