And Now What ... :: Deuteronomy 10:12-21
וְעַתָּה מָה ... This is our word of the day. ... וְעַתָּה מָה ... It means and now what. As in, and now what are you going to do? ... וְעַתָּה מָה ... To whom are you going to turn? ... וְעַתָּה מָה ... In whom are you going to believe? ... וְעַתָּה מָה ... And now what? Today, we have reached a pivotal moment when we need to ask ... וְעַתָּה מָה ... That’s because today is a pivotal day between yesterday and tomorrow. Normally, we say this at those big moments in life ... you know, like when we graduate, or get married, or get a new job offer, or get out of the Marine Corps, or have children, or affirm our faith in confirmation, or mourn the death of Mom or Dad. Pivotal moments always force us to cry out ... וְעַתָּה מָה ... So now what?
Today, this 18th Sunday after Trinity, is no different. ... וְעַתָּה מָה
6.
As our Old Testament reading opens, the children of Israel were standing at such a point. In their case, it was the First Day of the Eleventh Month of the 40th year after the First Passover ... a pivotal day. They were about to begin a new era of following the Lord. They were about to crossover from death to life, or I should say from the wilderness of death to the Promised Land of life. More than that, Moses was in the midst of his final sermon to them, a book we call Deuteronomy. He knew he was about to die. So Moses wrote ... וְעַתָּה מָה ... And now, Israel, what is YHWH your God asking of you (v. 12)?
The Israelites didn't know how to answer. For 40 years these stubborn people struggled to listen. They didn’t like the prescriptions God had given them. For 40 years, they struggled to rely on the hand of the Lord. They didn’t like his gifts. For 40 years they complained about eating heavenly food every time they met. For 40 years they forgot how good they had it. For 40 years their clothes and their sandals had not worn out. For 40 years, YHWH their God maintained his presence before them in a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. He protected them as promised. But the 40 years was about to end. A pivotal moment was coming ...
So Moses wrote ... וְעַתָּה מָה ... And now what.
5.
We here at Trinity have much in common with those sons of Israel. We break our vows to God. But God chose you any way. We were baptized ... many of you at this font. Israel was baptized too. Like our fathers before us, we have exiled ourselves into the bondage of sin. We have allowed ourselves to become slaves to this world, slaves to our flesh, slaves to our way of life. We refuse to confess our sins. We act like we’ve never had a single sin that troubled our hearts. We murmur and complain about the gifts God gives us ... a Word of life, bread from heaven, the cup of salvation. We grumble that we don’t have it good enough. We pinch and moan, saying ... וְעַתָּה מָה ... How are we going to get along ... never quite trusting. We moan that YHWH our God wants us to eat his bread of life every time we meet. And we think we can do better. ... וְעַתָּה מָה
The sons of Israel shared more than a heritage as sinners. Passover reminded them of years of slavery and their sudden freedom from Pharoah, who forced them to ask again ... וְעַתָּה מָה ... How are we going to escape his army? ... וְעַתָּה מָה ... How are we going to cross the sea? ... וְעַתָּה מָה ... How are we going to survive the desert? ... וְעַתָּה מָה ... How are we going to save ourselves?
This is our common heritage. We do it because we have little faith. We don’t like God’s Word. We always think the grass is greener in another pasture. We want to be free of a shepherd. We struggle to believe that God could forgive my sins, that he would set me free. We struggle to believe that if I actually confess my sin and look to that serpent that our Lord Jesus nailed to his cross, that God would announce into my ear that my sin is forgiven without question ... that eternal life is mine. We are tired of asking ... וְעַתָּה מָה ... We just want our sins to just go away. To be gone. To never be spoken of. ... If I don’t acknowledge it, it isn’t real, we tell ourselves.
But hanging on to those sins is a cancer of the heart.
4.
Brothers and sisters in Christ ... וְעַתָּה מָה ... So now what?
Hear the prescription of our Lord Jesus Christ … REPENT! He has given you the faith to do this. Recognize your sin. Confess your sin. And have faith in YHWH your God that your sin is forgiven on account of the life, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus.
Out of the fullness [of Christ], we are receiving grace in the place of grace (Jn 1:16) so that we can begin circumcising our hearts, cutting out the disease of whatever sin we refuse to deal with, confessing that sin, and looking toward the return of our Lord who was cut for that sin.
3.
And now you can hear again the Gospel. YHWH your-God-with-you has brought us repentance. He has lived for you, suffered for you, died for you. He was buried for you and overcame death for you. He is cutting your sin. He rose for you and ascended to prepare a place for you. He has chosen you of all people. He has united himself with you in baptism to fulfill all righteousness ... to wash away your sin (Mt 3:15). He has declared your sins forgiven on account of the faith in Christ that he gave you (Hb 12:2). And more than that he has prepared a feast of forgiveness for you that will never end. The medicine of this meal awaits us. That's what this divine service is for. He has called the company of heaven to join us as we celebrate new life.
And so what shall I render to the Lord for all his benefits to me (Ps 116:12)? You can now [offer the sacrifice of thanksgiving to] YHWH your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, and to serve YHWH your God with all your heart and with all your being (v. 12). How awesome is that? You can now guard the commandments of YHWH and his prescriptions for [your life] (vv.12-13). How awesome is that? It is good and pleasing to YHWH, our God.
We act like the word of life that YHWH our God has provided us is some kind of onerous list. But in fact baptism, confession and absolution, and the Lord’s Supper ... the complete Divine Service ... were commanded by our Lord Jesus Christ. Why? It’s for our benefit! In them, we receive the forgiveness of sins, life and salvation.
Because of them we can now ask ... וְעַתָּה מָה ... knowing the answer.
2.
In these pivotal moments between yesterday and tomorrow, as the worries of life weigh upon us, we should remember that YHWH our God urges us to follow our shepherd’s voice ... to cling to the promises of YHWH (v. 20) .... to return to your baptism ... to hear his absolution, to receive the Supper he provides to nourish you into everlasting life.
Like the sons of Israel were baptized into Moses in the Red Sea (1 Cor 10:2), we have been baptized into the death and resurrection of Christ at the font. YHWH our God took care of our fathers, and he will take care of us. He has chosen each of us to receive the fruit of his spirit that we can share with every sojourner who crosses our path.
Like Moses mediated the Lord’s good will for his people ... giving them a Word that set them apart in society ... we have had the Word of that same Lord preached and taught to us ... a word of absolution that declares that while we were still being sinners crying out ... וְעַתָּה מָה ... Christ on behalf of us died (Rom 5:8), so that when we confess our sins, YHWH our God who is faithful and just will forgive you and cleanse you of all unrighteousness (1 Jn 1:9).
Like the sons of Israel who were passed over on account of the blood of the passover Lamb, our sins have been passed over in the Lord’s Supper, a feast of forgiveness that has no end. And now as Luther tells us in the Large Catechism: We who are baptized and received into the Christian Church should enjoy this ... sacrament in order that it may serve us and be useful to us. They all certainly help us to believe, love, pray, and fight against the devil (LC V 87).
1.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, we have come to a pivotal moment again today.
And our word gives us the answer to ... וְעַתָּה מָה ...
Behold, to YHWH your God belong the heavens and the heaven of heavens, the earth and all that is in it. ... Even when your fathers chose to ignore the covenant, YHWH your God, desired to love them [... and yes, even you of all people! That’s because] ... He is the God of gods, the Lord of lords, THE God, The Mighty One, The One being worshiped (and adored) ... He is the one who takes no bribes, who is doing justice for the fatherless and the widows, and who loves the sojourner ... He has raised us to believe in him, to trust in him, to have faith in him, confident that he will continue to provide food, drink, clothing, shoes, house, home, land, animals, money, goods, a devout husband or wife, devout children, devout workers, devout and faith rulers, good government, good weather, peace, health, self-control, good reputation, good friends, faithful neighbors and the like. So when he says ... וְעַתָּה מָה ...
LET US ALWAYS AND FOREVER THANK THE LORD AND SING HIS PRAISE.
He is your God who did for you these great and fearful things that your eyes have seen v.21) ... in Jesus’ name.