Deuteronomy 26:1-11

Deuteronomy is a bunch of laws written in the 6th century BC but attributed to Moses. Read to the end to find the chapters where it switches to talking about Moses' death. This is one of the things that caused the Biblical scholars of the 16th century to say, "hey, wait a minute…" That aside, what's it telling us? To do our sacrifices. Why? Because God gave us the land and we should reciprocate. You don't need to believe in a cosmic land grantor to see the symbolism of what we now call the social contract. We are all born into a world that was built by the sweat of millions of people before us. We may not like it, but we have choices; to participate in the continuing work of progress, or try to escape to the places left that are not part of it, or join those who want to tear it down.

The Christian tradition, which they continued on from Judaism, is that there is a goal, something that the cosmos is headed toward and God knows what that is so we should listen. But look at the full justification for what is being asked here. It talks about their ancestors who were aliens in Egypt, but became a great nation. They were oppressed but then found their own power. That power stems from remembering where they came from and from welcoming others who came from similar circumstances and from showing thanks for what they all have. Rituals unfortunately become nothing but the ritual and the reasons for them get forgotten.

Romans 10:8b-13

This is one of those contradictory passages in Romans. It specifically states that "Jew and Greek" are equal. It also states what you need to do to be saved. This sets up a divisiveness that continues to feed prejudice and affect how we choose our leadership despite all the reforms and laws to the contrary. Verse 12 is a very commonly quoted verse to show how Christianity is an inclusive religion. As this short passage shows, it is also one that is easy to demonstrate that it is being pulled out of context.

Luke 4:1-13

I find the views on Satan and hell too complicated to make any definitive statements about what the Luke author believed or didn't believe. I will say there is some belief here of a struggle of good and evil going on in some realm that we mere mortals don't normally witness. This is the Lenten story, the section of the Lectionary cycle we are entering. We have seen plenty of other passages where God or Jesus are tested and they pass, but anyone who has tried to argue with a Christian knows that they fall back on the conclusion of this passage, even if they don't quote it directly. Getting a believer to think about their faith, to put it to the test, is just one of those evil temptations as far as they are concerned.