There is an old saying that I came to understand fully in seminary that goes, "the devil is in the details." Seems to me after studying the lessons for this Sunday that God is certainly into details as well.
God in his well known role as the LORD has a plan for getting his chosen people out of Egypt, but it requires some pretty specific things.
Tell the whole congregation of Israel that on the 1 tenth of this month they are to take 2 a lamb for each family, 3 a lamb for each household. 4 If a household is too small for a whole lamb, it shall join its 5 closest neighbor in obtaining one; 6 the lamb shall be divided in proportion to the number of people who eat of it. 7 Your lamb shall be without blemish, 8 a year-old male; 9 you may take it from the sheep or from the goats. 10 You shall keep it until the fourteenth day of this month; 11 then the whole assembled congregation of Israel shall slaughter it 12 at twilight. 13 They shall take some of the blood and put it on the 14 two doorposts and 15 the lintel of the houses in which they eat it. 16 They shall eat the lamb that same night; 17 they shall eat it roasted over the fire with 18 unleavened bread and 19 bitter herbs. 20 Do not eat any of it raw or 21 boiled in water, 17.1 but roasted over the fire, 22 with its head, legs, and inner organs. 23 You shall let none of it remain until the morning; 24 anything that remains until the morning you shall burn. This is how you shall eat it: 25 your loins girded, 26 your sandals on your feet, and 27 your staff in your hand; 28 and you shall eat it hurriedly.
In the lesson from Romans, Paul (having been inspired by the Holy Spirit) offers some details in how a Christian community might live together.
1 Owe no one anything, except to love one another; for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. The commandments, "You shall not commit adultery; You shall not murder; You shall not steal; You shall not covet"; and any other commandment, are summed up in this word, 2 "Love your neighbor as yourself." 3 Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore, love is the fulfilling of the law... 4 Let us then lay aside the works of darkness and 5 put on the armor of light; 6 let us live honorably as in the day, 7 not in reveling and drunkenness, 8 not in debauchery and licentiousness, 9 not in quarreling and jealousy. Instead, 10 put on the Lord Jesus Christ, 11 and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.
Finally, Jesus, God the Son, offers a detailed program for how we might deal with the inevitable, one who sins against you.
"If another member of the church sins against you, 1 go and point out the fault when the two of you are alone. If the member listens to you, you have regained that one. But if you are not listened to, 2 take one or two others along with you, so that every word may be confirmed by the evidence of two or three witnesses. If the member refuses to listen to them, 3 tell it to the church; and if the offender refuses to listen even to the church, 4 let such a one be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector.
Seems as though God is, on some level, in the details. I have come a long way from my upbringing in Paulianity - where the rules are what save us, but I can't help but thinking that maybe there is something in following the rules (or should I say the will) of our Father in heaven. Maybe our response to the great gift of salvation through Jesus Christ should be paying attention to the details; the rules, yes, but even more so the details of God's good Creation. Seeing the great care with which God created the heavens and the earth. Seeing the goodness which he bestowed upon all of humanity by creating us in his image. Realizing that our best effort given to the glory of God is, no matter the task, holy.
The devil, my friends, can be removed from the details.
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