HARVEST AND THE "HAVE'S" AND "HAVE NOTS"
"When you reap your harvest in your field and forget a sheaf in the field, you shall not go back to get it. It shall be for the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow, that the Lord your God may bless you in all the work of your hands. When you beat your olive trees, you shall not go over them again. It shall be for the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow. When you gather the grapes of your vineyard, you shall not strip it afterward. It shall be for the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow. You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt; therefore I command you to do this." Deuteronomy 24:19-22
Introduction
When asked what is their favourite book of the Bible very few people name the book of Deuteronomy as being at the top of their list. For us as 21st century Christians, Deuteronomy seems full of archaic, strange, and, irrelevant laws, designed for ancient Israel not our life in modern Europe. It's certainly true that the culture Deuteronomy was written for ended along time ago and is very different from our contemporary culture. Its also true that God's people today don't constitute a single nation as the Jews did in Israel thousands of years ago. Nevertheless, we'd be wrong to skip past Deuteronomy with it's detailed laws thinking it has no implications for us followers of Jesus in 2016.
Whilst the civil laws of the Old Testament such as those in Deuteronomy aren't binding on us as they were in ancient Israel we shouldn't ignore or dismiss them as irrelevant or unimportant because we can distill from them principles that have continuing implications for how we live our lives today as God's People.
Timothy Keller puts it like this
"We should be wary of simply saying, "These things don't apply any more," because the mosaic laws of social justice are grounded in God's character, and that never changes. God often tells the Israelites to lend to the poor without interest and to distribute goods to the needy and defend the fatherless, because "the LORD your God ... Defends the cause of the fatherless and widow, and loves the alien, giving him food and clothing" Deuteronomy 10:17-18. If this is true of God, we who believe in Him must always expressing it in our own practices, even if believers now live in a new stage in the history of God's redemption." Keller p22
So what implications might this ancient law about harvesting for us as people living thousands of years later and probably not involved in earning our living from farming? Chris Wright, an OT, expert says when trying to distill implications our aim should be "to preserve the objective while changing the context." In other words, we need to try and pinpoint the original intention of the law and then think about ways in which that original intention can be lived out by us as God's people now in our community and world.
It's clear as we read this passage that this law had implications for two groups of people in Ancient Israel.
THE HAVES
The first group were the land owners, those who owned fields, olive groves and vineyards. These were what we might call "The Haves" of Ancient Israel, families who, especially at harvest time, had more than enough. These were the people who, to greater or lesser extent, were financially stable or well off and didn't really have to worry about where their next meal was going to come from.
THE HAVE NOTS
The very opposite of these people were a group of people referred to three times in this short passage as, "sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow." The "sojourner" or "alien" was someone from another country living in Israel perhaps the word we would use to describe the same people in our culture would the "immigrant." When the OT refers to fatherless and widow it's doing more than describing people who have been bereaved. In the ancient world orphans and widows without fathers and husband were the people most likely to suffer injustice and economic hardship. So when the OT talks about "sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow." it's describing the "have nots" of that time, those at the bottom and on the margins of Israelite society. These were the people who lived close to the breadline who were most vulnerable to hunger and poverty.
THE HAVE'S AND HAVE NOTS
At first reading these few verses just seem to encourage inefficient agriculture, the land owners weren't to harvest everything in their field they were to leave food behind, they weren't to go back over olive trees and vines to make sure they hadn't missed anything. The portion of the harvest that was left behind wasn't to be left to rot, instead we are told, "It shall be for the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow."
At harvest time, those with plenty, the "haves" of ancient Israel had, according to Deuteronomy, a responsibility to the "have nots" those who had virtually nothing. Those blessed with wealth had a responsibility not just to maximise their profits and get every last penny from their fields and vineyards for themselves. They were to leave food for those in desperate need of it and so they were to provide a lifeline for those around them going through hard times. If we think back to Chris Wright's advice that to understand these laws we need to understand their intended purpose, we could say the purpose of this law here at the end of Chp 24 of Deuteronomy is to help those in greatest need, to provide a safety net for those facing the hardest of times. It was a reminder that when you are among the "haves" of this world and a member of God's people you have responsibility to the "have nots" around you. "You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt; therefore I command you to do this" Israel had been created out of a rag tag group of slaves who were very much the "have nots" of Egypt but God had treated them with generosity and compassion and now they were to reflect his character in their treatment of the "have nots" around them.
That idea didn't end in the fields of Ancient Israel. Jesus takes up this idea that those who are among the "haves" of the world have a responsibility to the "have nots" saying, “to whom much is given, much will be required” (Luke 12:48)? Paul in a similar vein tells the first churches in the Roman world that they have a responsibility to the "have nots" of the Jerusalem church who were facing real hardship.
SO WHAT? NOW WHAT?
A preaching professor I had said that no sermon should end without helping people to answer two questions, "so what?" and "now what?" What are the implications of what the Bible is saying and what are we going to do about it?
There are no simple answers to those questions about the continuing implications of this OT law for us today. The "so what" question perhaps means for most of us church members realising that we belong to the "haves" of our communities and certainly of the world. We are like the landowners in Ancient Israel, generally we have more than we need to survive, while there are people around us who are struggling just to survive.
But who are today's "sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow?" who are the "have nots" around us? Who are the people around us who are at the margins of society who are barely making it or not making it all, who are struggling with hardship ? Every church, as people who have experienced God's generosity and compassion, needs to answer that question for their community. Perhaps the "have nots" of our day and country would include, the refugee? the immigrant? the single mum? some of the elderly around us and the homeless and those forced to live in bed and breakfast accommodation?
We need to realise that to live as God's people we have an individual and communal responsibility to the "have nots" in our town and community. The "now what" will be different for each of us, in Scotland it certainly won't mean not shaking the olive trees a second time to leave food for those in need, but there must be a "now what" if we really are the people of God, a God who always has had a special care for the "have nots."
But our "now what" goes beyond our home towns and country.
Someone did rough statistics and came up with these figures to help us better understand our world
"If we could reduce the world's population to a village of precisely 100 people, with all existing human ratios remaining the same, the demographics would look something like this:
IF THE WORLD WERE A VILLAGE OF 100
The village would have 61 Asians, 13 Africans, 12 Europeans, 9 Latin Americans, and 5 from the USA and Canada
50 would be male, 50 would be female
75 would be non-white; 25 white
67 would be non-Christian; 33 would be Christian
80 would live in substandard housing
16 would be unable to read or write
50 would be malnourished and 1 dying of starvation
33 would be without access to a safe water supply
39 would lack access to improved sanitation
24 would not have any electricity (And of the 76 that do have electricity, most would only use it for light at night.)
8 people would have access to the Internet
1 would have a college education
1 would have HIV
2 would be near birth; 1 near death
5 would control 32% of the entire world's wealth; all 5 would be US citizens
48 would live on less than US$ 2 a day
20 would live on less than US$ 1 a day"
Those figures are a very vivid reminder that a high percentage of people in our world are "have nots" and that we living in the UK, are very much among the "haves."
Some times the Church's mission is described as "glocal," that somewhat odd and awkward word, is meant to combine "global" and "local" and remind us that our mission as the church is both local and global at the same time. God's mission calls us to join Him in what He is doing across the street and across the world. It means that as "haves," in global terms, we have a responsibility to the "have nots" of the majority world.
Harvest was traditionally a time in the UK when Churches very much remembered their responsibility to help the "have nots" around them. Food and produce was gathered in the church on Harvest Sunday and then distributed to those in need in the community. This principle from Deuteronomy lived on through our Harvest traditions and harvest is a good time for us as Christians today to ensure it continues to live through our churches.
RESOURCES & IDEAS
EMMS International as a Christian organisation exists to help the "have nots" of our world. Our vision is, "A just world in which all people have access to good quality and dignified healthcare."
Through it's projects EMMS Int offer the opportunity for Christians and Churches to get involved in God's care for the "have nots" of our world. Listed below are a few of the ways in which we as the "haves" of our world can show care and compassion to vulnerable and marginalised in India, Malawi and Nepal.
MALAWI FOOD CRISIS APPEAL
As we celebrate harvest time in the UK millions of people in one of the worlds poorest nations are facing starvation
The people of Malawi are facing a food crisis. Extreme weather has wiped out crops. Devastating floods, followed by erratic rains and prolonged drought have crippled the country’s food supplies.
More than 6.5 million people are going hungry, many not even knowing when they will eat next. Desperate to feed their families, people are spending days travelling to markets and queuing for food. Yet they come home empty-handed because there just isn’t enough food to go around. When hunger strikes the poorest and most vulnerable are hit first and hardest.
It costs just £36 to feed a family of 6 for three months. Act now and your donation will be doubled by the Scottish Government. Your support would help the most vulnerable, particularly orphans, people living with disabilities or HIV, prisoners and the elderly.
175 FRIENDS SCHEME
EMMS International is celebrating 175 years of showing Christ-like care and compassion to those who are sick. This is only possible because of friends like you who have committed themselves to giving and praying. The 175 friends scheme is a way for individuals and churches to support the on going work of EMMS international among the world's "have nots."
The work isn’t finished. There are still people without hope, unable to get the healthcare they need and deserve, suffering in pain. Everyone deserves access to quality healthcare. By pledging to be a 175 Friend you are helping Christian healthcare workers to care for those who need them most. Your friendship upholds them in the face of desperate need. Your kindness encourages them as they work tirelessly and give their all.
A SMALL GROUP STUDY AND OTHER RESOURCES CONNECTED TO THIS SERMON CAN BE FOUND AT
http://www.emms.org/get-involved/fundraise-for-us/ideas-and-resources/harvest-supper-malawi-food-crisis/
