Sunday, April 26 — The Words On Your Doorpost
Here we are. Six days of readings have walked us up to the front door of today's lesson. Now the scripture opens that door and shows us what is supposed to be happening inside the house — morning, noon, and night. Come on in. We saved you a seat.
Deuteronomy 6:3-9 — KJV 3 Hear therefore, O Israel, and observe to do it; that it may be well with thee, and that ye may increase mightily, as the LORD God of thy fathers hath promised thee, in the land that floweth with milk and honey. 4 Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD: 5 And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. 6 And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: 7 And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. 8 And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes. 9 And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates.
Deuteronomy 6:3-9 — WEB 3 Hear therefore, Israel, and be careful to do it; that it may be well with you, and that you may increase mightily, as Yahweh, the God of your fathers, has promised to you, in a land flowing with milk and honey. 4 Hear, Israel: Yahweh is our God. Yahweh is one. 5 You shall love Yahweh your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your might. 6 These words, which I command you today, shall be on your heart, 7 and you shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise up. 8 You shall bind them for a sign on your hand, and they shall be for frontlets between your eyes. 9 You shall write them on the door posts of your house and on your gates.
Explanation
This passage is so important it has its own name. Jewish people call it the Shema, from the first Hebrew word: Hear.For thousands of years, faithful Jews have recited these words twice a day. Jesus himself grew up saying them. When a scribe asked him which commandment was greatest, he quoted right from this passage. "Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God is one Lord. And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might." Everything — every other command, every other law, every other act of devotion — hangs off that single, enormous sentence. Everything else is commentary.
Moses is speaking to Israel on the plains of Moab, right before they enter the Promised Land. A new generation is about to step into a new country, and he knows how easily prosperity can erase the memory of faithfulness. So he tells them how to keep God central once they have houses and fields and full pantries: put these words on your heart first, and then pour them into every corner of ordinary life. "Teach them diligently unto thy children." Not outsource them. Not delegate them. You teach them. And not just in formal religious settings — "when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up." Sitting. Walking. Lying down. Rising up. That's every hour of the day. That's the whole life of the home.
Then come the images — bind them on your hand, wear them between your eyes, write them on your doorposts and gates. Some of our Jewish friends still do this literally, with phylacteries and mezuzahs. The point for all of us is the same. Faith in a Christian home is not a Sunday event. It is a woven thing. It shows up in what the family talks about in the car on the way to school. It shows up in the prayer said over a grilled cheese. It shows up in the question a child asks at bedtime and the honest answer a parent gives. It shows up in the way a grandparent speaks about Jesus when they think nobody is listening. It shows up on the doorposts — in the small, visible, daily reminders that this house belongs to the Lord.
This week we walked together toward this lesson. On Monday we learned that a house is built through wisdom. On Tuesday we watched Jesus grow up inside a real family. On Wednesday we saw marriage shaped by Christlike, self-giving love. On Thursday Joshua stood up and said, "As for me and my house." On Friday he set up a stone so nobody would forget. On Saturday Jesus reminded us that marriage is covenant, not contract. And today, on Sunday, Moses hands us the master key: teach these things to your children, in every ordinary moment, so that the love of God is the air your home breathes.
The Christian home in a modern world doesn't look exactly like it did in 1960 or 1860 or 60 A.D. Your family may have one parent, two parents, grandparents raising grandchildren, blended children, adult children long moved out, or no children at all. The shape of the household has always varied. The calling has not. Love the Lord with everything you are. Write his words on the doorposts of wherever you live. Talk about him when you sit down and when you stand up. Be the adult in your corner of the world who keeps telling the next generation who God is and what he has done. And when you're weary of doing it — and you will be — come to Sunday school. Come to worship. Come home to the church that has been doing this faithfully for centuries, through slavery and freedom, through hard times and harvest, through every modern world that thought it was the last one.
We saved you a seat.
Thought for the Day: Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one. Love him with everything you have — and write it on the doorposts of wherever you live.
Reflection: What is one word of faith you will speak — or one act of faith you will do — inside your own home today, so that the people who live there, or visit there, know who this house serves?
Prayer: Lord our God, you are one. We love you with all our heart, with all our soul, with all our strength. Forgive us for the weeks we let the Shema slip out of our houses. Put your words back on our hearts, and through our hearts, onto our lips, and through our lips, into the ears of our children, our grandchildren, our neighbors, our friends. Make this house yours. Make every house in this congregation yours. And thank you for saving a seat for each of us at the table of your people. In the strong name of Jesus, amen.
Today is Sunday school. We save you a seat.