PENTECOST XXI 2017 (Proper 25)

Moses Sees the Promised Land from Afar -- James Tissot

• Deuteronomy 34:1-12 and Psalm 90:1-6, 13-17  • 
• Leviticus 19:1-2, 15-18 and Psalm 1  • 
• 1 Thessalonians 2:1-8  • 
• Matthew 22:34-46

"Never since has there arisen a prophet in Israel like Moses, whom the LORD knew face to face. He was unequaled for all the signs and wonders that the LORD sent him to perform . . . and for mighty deeds and terrifying displays of power in the sight of all Israel". So this week's reading from Deuteronomy declares, and yet the very same passage records the fact that, while God allowed Moses to see the Promised Land, he did not allow enter it. It is a very moving moment. Moses dies in sight of the land to which, for so long and in the face of so many difficulties, he has faithfully led God's chosen people.

A comparable fact is echoed in the Gospel exchange that Jesus has with the Pharisees. Asked to identify the most important rule of life , Jesus does not hesitate to recall and repeat ancient Jewish teaching about God and neighbor. But he then rejects the special status of David, that other iconic Jewish figure. Neither David nor his descendants can be the final Messiah because they are subservient to God's will and purpose no less than Moses. The message seems clear. Traditional Jewish teaching is right about love, God and neighbor, but wrong in supposing that the fullest realization of God's presence is to be found either in unrivaled prophetic power or in exemplary kingship.

To suppose that it is found in Jesus instead could be interpreted as simply a change of loyalties, a preference for a different prophet -- until we remember the Crucifixion. The charisma of Moses and the valor of David cannot be denied. They are relatively easy to believe in as exemplars of the sovereign power of the one true God. To hail Jesus sincerely as Messiah is to endorse a much harder alternative -- that, contrary to what we naturally suppose, it is on the Cross that the strange way in which divine love exhibits its power and secures its victory is finally revealed.