We don’t ourselves have the same experience as Israel is pointed to here, but all of us have depended on others in the the past, even if just when we were infants. We have all been vulnerable in the past, like Israel, and like Israel as a faith communitand we are all called to demonstrate empathy for and actively advocate for the most vulnerable around us.
This passage comes just after the golden calf rebellion, when the people of Israel lost patience and created their own god target than waiting on the Lord. It comes as a piece of the covenant renewal, expanding the ritual purity into a broader doctrine of compassionate holiness, from ritual purity to justice and compassion. The response to divine mercy God asks for is ethical faithfulness.
This call to love the out group was radical in the ancient Near East, even more than in today’s society. The boundaries and borders of the world are real, but the first identity for them (and us) is as a child of God.
This message is a reminder that the ethnic identity – even for the chosen people of God – is a responsibility rather than a recognition of innate goodness. They literally just finished giving up their good jewelry to create a pagan idol. Likewise, if we today conflate our cultural, national or ethnic identity with our identity as children of God, we likewise make that mistake. When we see our political units and political players as anointed by God, we miss the point of what God truly cares about.
God shows us what He cares about when He orients Israel’s law to center on the dignity of marginalized.
Today, much of the church has lost this understanding. We have to make excuses to show compassion, we condemn empathy. We spend more time gatekeeping our communities and places of worship than welcoming in the stranger.
So as a community we are called to respond to God’s justice in the same way Israel was. We are called to welcome immigrants with radical, practical hospitality. We are called to support orphans, widows, and immigrants in their needs; to learn the stories of the marginalized; to use our places of privilege to advocate for justice in our communities; to build friendships across difference; to pray and worship with mercy in mind.
As a church we are a subversive community, living in the world, within particular political boundaries, but with a higher calling. Let us continually seek that calling and to live out the unconditional love God shows us.
— Sermon Notes, Dave Sim, Renew Church, Lynnwood WA, October 5, 2025