My Ancestor was a Wandering Aramean...

1st Sunday in Lent

Year C

9 March 2025

Deuteronomy 26:1-11

Psalm 91:1-2, 9-16

Romans 10:8b-13

Luke 4:1-13

O Lord God, you led your people through the wilderness and brought them to the promised land. Guide us now, so that following your Son, we may walk safely through the wilderness of this world toward the life you alone can give, through Jesus Christ, our Saviour and Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.  Amen.

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Today’s passage from Deuteronomy isn’t unfamiliar to us, but I wonder if we’re fully versed in all that it says.

What really caught my attention was the proclamation before the altar of God, as the petitioner presented the first fruits of the harvest, the first produce of the garden, the first item crafted with their own hands to God.

Now at this point, I could go off on a tangent of what a life rooted in tithing looks like, and all of the benefits it’s able to bring to our lives through faith, but I also know that that’s the quickest way to observe a glazed expression looking back at me because we’re all aware of the efforts we make to stretch the finances in our care.

So, now that’s out of the way, let’s turn our attention to the declaration before God’s altar by the gifter, and in doing so, how easily we are able to relate to the story they recall with the gift of life’s bounty that they bring.

“4When the priest takes the basket from your hand and sets it down before the altar of the Lord your God, 5you shall make this response before the Lord your God: ‘A wandering Aramean was my ancestor; he went down into Egypt and lived there as an alien, few in number, and there he became a great nation, mighty and populous. 6When the Egyptians treated us harshly and afflicted us, by imposing hard labour on us, 7we cried to the Lord, the God of our ancestors; the Lord heard our voice and saw our affliction, our toil, and our oppression. 8The Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, with a terrifying display of power, and with signs and wonders; 9and he brought us into this place and gave us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey. 10So now I bring the first of the fruit of the ground that you, O Lord, have given me.’ You shall set it down before the Lord your God and bow down before the Lord your God.” (Deut 26:4-10)

And it occurred to me, as I read this passage, how many still today are able to tell similar stories of ancestral roots that because of war, natural disaster, or cultural migration pepper our own histories, or are the stories of those who are new to our community.

Today we could begin with those who come among us seeking a better life for themselves or their children. We can look to immigrants from Syria, from the Ukraine, or other nations where violence denies any chance at a normal regular life.

Or, what about our own ancestors who came to Canada, to Saskatchewan, to build a life here in this new land?

We have all come from someplace else and have made this place our home. So, in that sense, we are able to stand before God and God’s altar and state with confidence the litany of how, with God’s guidance, we have come to call this place home.

Deuteronomy reminds us that God is an active participant in such relocations, and the blessings of new life that follows: “5you shall make this response before the Lord your God: ‘A wandering Aramean was my ancestor; he went down into Egypt and lived there as an alien, few in number, and there he became a great nation, mighty and populous.” (Deut 26:5)

So, in that vein, what were the journeys of our ancestors that brought us to a new land? That caused them to build a new life where they put down roots, put up homes and find a way to provide better lives for their children?

I recall my mother telling me that although she was 4th generation Canadian, that German was still the language of choice in her grandmothers’ kitchen although English was spoken in the community.

I recall my father’s cousin tracking the three brothers who left Scotland for North America and how one of the three came to southern Ontario to settle down and raise his family.

I recall my own trek across provinces to follow where God leads so that I might live into the calling that God placed within my hands, and I recall conversations with those whose parents, on a promise of farmland, migrated from Europe to the prairies and how difficult it was to adapt to such a disparate climate, put down roots, and put up their first homes.

But for all of these stories of how those who came before us, how many of them leaned heavily on their faith and trust in God to find the strength to make the journey?

To establish their family home and raise a family?

And this brings us back to the “response before the Lord your God” that we see in the passage from Deuteronomy. (Deut 26:5b)

“8The Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, with a terrifying display of power, and with signs and wonders; 9and he brought us into this place and gave us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey.” (Deut 26:8-9)

And all of this is as a result of giving thanks to God for every blessing, every challenge, and every step of our lives of faith, as we stand before God’s altar with the benefits of that blessing in our hands.

Today’s readings all show us how, although the way hasn’t been easy nor the journey hasn’t been smooth, we remember that we haven’t, and that we don’t walk this path alone, but always with God’s guidance, and always with and eye toward a better life tomorrow than we experience today.

“6When the Egyptians treated us harshly and afflicted us, by imposing hard labour on us, 7we cried to the Lord, the God of our ancestors; the Lord heard our voice and saw our affliction, our toil, and our oppression.” (Deut 26:6-7)

So, what Deuteronomy is getting at is finding a way to thank God for all of the ways that God has blessed our lives and for all of the ways God continues to bless our lives.

In Deuteronomy thanks to God is expressed by giving the first fruits of the harvest to God.

Giving to God the first grains, fruits, vegetables, the extra, extra virgin olive oils, etc., because that was the currency of the day and because the Levites were the tribe tasked with all of the carrying out of worship and the maintenance of the worship spaces.

But for us, and for our lives, perhaps some of those first fruits are destined to become a seasonal delicacy. Saying this, however, there are other ways for us to emulate the declaration of the Hebrew people before the altar of God, to find ways that fit our context to express our thanks to God for all the ways that God blesses our lives.

On this point, Romans is quite clear.

Paul tells us: “8b ‘The word is near you, on your lips and in your heart’ (that is, the word of faith that we proclaim); 9because if you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” (Rom 10:8b-9)

He encourages us to live into our lives of faith, and to use our own declarations of faith in a similar way to the Hebrew before the altar of God, to encourage others to equally see how God has been paramount in our own stories.

We are encouraged to tell our stories through our own family’s tales of migration around the world and their efforts to not only make a better life for those of us who have come into the world afterward but also how through God’s participation in every generation, our own lives have blossomed and grown.

And we are able to return to the declaration in Deuteronomy: “6When the Egyptians treated us harshly … 7we cried to the Lord, the God of our ancestors; the Lord heard our voice and saw our affliction, our toil, and our oppression. 8The Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, … 9and he brought us into this place and gave us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey.” (Deut 26:6-9)

We are able to see how, although life has challenges, we are able to grow in the love of God and see where and how God continues to be a blessing in our lives.

“11Then you, together with the Levites and the aliens who reside among you, shall celebrate with all the bounty that the Lord your God has given to you and to your house.” (Deut 26:11)

So, then, how do we carry this gratitude away from the altar of God and out into the world?

Paul tells us: “10For one believes with the heart and so is justified, and one confesses with the mouth and so is saved. 11The scripture says, ‘No one who believes in him will be put to shame.’ 12For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; the same Lord is Lord of all and is generous to all who call on him. 13For, ‘Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.’” (Rom 10:10-13)

For our ancestors it was through our wholehearted participation in their communities, and in their church communities as well.

At the same time, in each of our lives we are able to carry this gratitude of all that God has given us out into the wider world.

So, perhaps, as well as standing before the altar of God, and declaring “A wandering Aramean was my ancestor, …” perhaps we do this in the world, to those who don’t see how our journey to make a life, to inspire those around us is only a couple of paces ahead of their own, and that together we are able to bring the Spirit of God, the will of God, to bear in the world making tomorrow better than today.

Amen.