Loving God of new paths and opportunities, may Your grace shine brightly upon the life and needs of this dear reader; in Christ Jesus I pray, amen.
Our text for today comes from Deuteronomy 18: 15 God, your God, is going to raise up a prophet for you. God will raise him up from among your kinsmen, a prophet like me. Listen obediently to him. 16 This is what you asked God, your God, for at Horeb on the day you were all gathered at the mountain and said, "We can't hear any more from God, our God; we can't stand seeing any more fire. We'll die!" 17 And God said to me, "They're right; they've spoken the truth. 18 I'll raise up for them a prophet like you from their kinsmen. I'll tell him what to say and he will pass on to them everything I command him. 19 And anyone who won't listen to my words spoken by him, I will personally hold responsible. 20 "But any prophet who fakes it, who claims to speak in my name something I haven't commanded him to say, or speaks in the name of other gods, that prophet must die." (The Message)
I remember hearing in seminary that the word prophet literally meant "mouthpiece." And from countless black and white gangster movies I had seen, I knew that the word mouthpiece had been used to describe lawyers. "Don't ask me, ask my mouthpiece!" God uses people to speak God's word to people. And it usually is not a message one could label "comfortable," it is usually a message calling us to repent and get right with God. In today's passage the message is clear that God will call another prophet to continue to share God's word with all the people. The people knew that Moses was getting old and that he might not be with them much longer, and they also were tiring of their time in the desert. God tells them that this new prophet will come out of not only their ranks, but from their relatives. This prophet will speak, like Moses, for God; so everyone must listen to what this prophet will say. God then stresses that anyone would "fakes" it, that is, that does not speak for God but for him/herself, must die.
This week's texts speak of both Jesus and you and me. The Gospel reading says that when Jesus taught, He was being God's prophet. The Epistle says that when we talk and how we live should speak prophetic words to our neighbor. And today's text underscores the seriousness with which God takes on the message we have received and should be passing on to others. Have you ever thought of yourself as God's mouthpiece? Have you ever lived as God's mouthpiece?
PRAYER: Loving God, I understand and accept the seriousness for which you have called me and called all of us. May my life reflect the seriousness with which I have taken the teachings of Jesus and the way that I live my life before You and Yours. May I serve to share Your words in a way that blesses You. I ask this in Christ Jesus' precious and powerful name, amen.
Have a great and blessed day in the Lord!
Eradio Valverde
