Moses spoke to the people, saying:
“This day the LORD, your God,
commands you to observe these statutes and decrees.
Be careful, then,
to observe them with all your heart and with all your soul.
Today you are making this agreement with the LORD:
he is to be your God and you are to walk in his ways
and observe his statutes, commandments and decrees,
and to hearken to his voice.
And today the LORD is making this agreement with you:
you are to be a people peculiarly his own, as he promised you;
and provided you keep all his commandments,
he will then raise you high in praise and renown and glory
above all other nations he has made,
and you will be a people sacred to the LORD, your God,
as he promised.” (Deuteronomy 26:16-19)
This was the Old Testament Lesson for Saturday Mass among Roman Catholics in the USA. The New American Bible translation is used in this lectionary and it sometimes reads a bit different than the translations we are used to reading.
I especially like the verse: “And today the LORD is making this agreement with you: you are to be a people peculiarly his own, as he promised you…”
Other translations use the terms-”a treasured people” or “a special people.” I prefer the word “peculiar.”
I used to have the book on my shelves: “A Peculiar People” by Rodney Clapp. The premise was that when you become part of God’s family you have become a part of a peculiar people. When you become a follower of Jesus, your baptism makes you different from the rest of the world. You have a different idea of what a neighbor is. You relate differently with the poor and powerless. You have a different view of violence and exploitation (just to name a few).
I think it was Stanley Hauerwas that I first heard use the quote: “You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you strange.” What we are about as God’s people is truly a different enterprise than what is going on in much of the world. Maybe I spent too much time in seminary, and too much time in church, but I really don’t understand some of what is going on around me.
- I don’t understand companies that show multi-billion dollar losses on their books giving performance bonuses to their CEO’s of millions for doing such a great job.
- I don’t understand nations discussing peace and reconciliation spending billions of dollars on new weapons.
- I don’t understand how we can pay high school and college dropout millions of dollars to play sports, but so often pay their teachers laughable wages.
- I know that I don’t make lots of money and have few possessions compared to many of my peers, but I don’t understand it when 3 billion people in the world live on $2 dollars per day or less.