000 Allen FMT (i-xxii) - The Presbyterian Leader

thanks to God’s grace, live lives conducive to peace and well-being. We
should allow God, not the worms, to have the final say as to how we live.
Today’s Gospel reading, Luke 10:1–11, equally makes clear that rejecting
the kingdom (reign) of God and its peace brings negative consequences.
Proper 10 [15]/Year C
Amos 7:7–17+ (Semicontinuous)
For comments on this passage, please see Proper 10/Year B.
Deuteronomy 30:9–14* (Paired)
Proper 10 [15]/Year C 251
As we point out on Proper 17/Year B, most interpreters think that
Deuteronomy addressed a community stinging from the exile, a circumstance
to which the Deuteronomic writer makes direct reference in 29:10–
29, especially in 22–27. The reading for today seeks to help the congregation
embrace God’s plan to restore the community and to persuade
community members to walk in God’s ways.
Deuteronomy 30:1 shifts the reader’s attention from the fact and pain
of exile (29:10–27) to the means for restoration. According to Deuteronomy
30:1–5, when the people are “among all the nations where the LORD
your God has driven you,” they are to “return to the LORD your God” and
to obey with heart, mind, and soul (a phrase so important to this chapter
that it recurs repeatedly; on it see Proper 26/Year B). The word “return”
translates the Hebrew shuv and refers to repentance, that is turning away
from idolatry, injustice, and other violations of God’s purposes and turning
toward walking in God’s ways.
For those who repent, God will “circumcise the heart” so they will love
God with heart and soul (Deut. 30:6–10). Circumcision is a classic sign of
Jewish covenantal identity indicating God’s promise to the community,
the community’s embrace of that promise, and commitment to walk in
God’s ways. To circumcise the heart is to implant these qualities in the
deepest reaches of self and community. The covenant and its instructions
are internalized. Obedience arises from identity. The community that
lives according to God’s ways of love and justice will prosper. As a corollary,
however, God will curse the enemies who “took advantage” of Israel.
God’s ways are “not too hard for you” nor are they “too far away” (Deut.
30:11–14). The commandment with its possibilities for life is not removed
from the community in heaven, as if someone needs to go and get it. Nor