It is fairly common knowledge that a great deal of the history recorded in the first several books of the Old Testament (at least up to First Samuel); . . . a great deal of early Old Testament history was preserved orally before it was written down.  That is to say, a great deal of early Old Testament history existed as stories and formal recitations before they existed as a written record on scrolls and clay tablets.  . . . One of these oral recitations that contained the early history of the Jewish people (I am told by the Jewish scholar Moshe Weinfeld [The Anchor Bible, vol. 5]); . . . one of those oral recitations that contained the early history of the Jewish people is the liturgy of the synagogue.  The rabbis learned to recite, from memory, portions of history as part of the synagogue liturgy which reminded the people of their identity and the identity of their God.  . . . Eventually these liturgical recitations were written down and preserved in the Books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy . . . so that sections could be read as part of the synagogue liturgy.  . . . And so, the portion of the Book of Deuteronomy you have heard this morning originated as a liturgical text that preceded the recitation of the Ten Commandments (which are recorded in the very next chapter of Deuteronomy:  Chapter 5).

    And so, the worshipping Jewish Community is reminded, in Deuteronomy, Chapter 4, verses 32 to 40; . . . the worshipping Jewish Community is reminded that the Revelation made to them by the Lord God Almighty is unique (verse 33:  “Did any people ever hear the voice of a god . . . as you have heard?”).  Moreover, this unique Revelation was for the purpose of Israel’s Redemption (verse 34:  “Or has any god ever attempted to go and take a nation for himself from the midst of another nation . . . according to all that the Lord your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes?”).  The purpose of this Revelation to the people of Israel, and their Redemption, was so that they might know the truth about the Lord God Almighty:  . . . that He is One (verse 35:  “To you it was shown, that you might know that the Lord is God; there is no other besides him”).  All of this happened in order that the children of Israel might know that they are loved by God (verse 37:  “And because he loved your fathers and chose their descendants after them . . . know therefore this day, and lay it to your heart, that the Lord is God . . . there is no other”).  . . . Keeping the Commandments of God; . . . being Obedient to Him, then, allows the Jewish people to participate in God’s Unity and Love (verse 40:  “Therefore you shall keep his statutes and his commandments . . . that it may go well with you, and with your children after you”).

    So, the Book of Deuteronomy preserves the reasons for learning and keeping the Commandments of God:  the people of Israel are God’s elect to whom He Revealed His Unity and Redeemed them from worldly ignorance out of Love for them . . . so that by their Obedience, the children of Israel might show their love for God and be united to Him . . . so that it might be well with them.  . . . And, as any of the twelve brave souls who have been studying the Revelation to Saint John the Divine for the past fourteen weeks can tell you, . . . the Johannine Community (the Christian Community that formed around the Apostle John); . . . the Johannine Community had great reverence for the continuity between Judaism and the Way of Christ.  And so, in the Revelation to John, for instance, . . . John is shown a vision of the people of the Twelve Tribes of Israel receiving the Redemption of God’s Lamb so that they might stand before the throne of God as first among the Redeemed; . . . and in John’s final vision, he beholds the Church Triumphant not only founded upon the teachings of the Twelve Apostles and resplendent with the glory of Christ, . . . but John also sees the Church surrounded and protected by God’s covenant with the Twelve Tribes of Israel; . . . surrounded and protected by God’s statutes and commandments to the children of Jacob.

    And so, it is no surprise to read, in the First Epistle of John, the very same reason for the Church to learn and keep God’s Commandments as we find for Israel in the Book of Deuteronomy.  . . . Saint John declares that the Church’s share . . . our share in God; . . . our share in God depends upon the first self-giving of God to Israel . . . sealed by the self-giving of Christ.  . . . And so, we read in verse 14 of the Third Chapter of Saint John’s First Epistle that the Revelation of our inheritance of eternal life is sealed by our participation in Christ’s Love (“We know [John writes]; . . . we know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brethren”).  Moreover, we have access to this life-giving divine Love by means of the Redemption which Christ effected for us upon the Cross (verse 16:  “By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us”).  . . . Our Obedience, then, to the Commandments of God and to the Commandment of Jesus to love one another as he loved us; . . . our Obedience brings us into Unity with the Triune God (verse 24:  “All who keep his commandments abide in him, and he in them”).

    All of this was taught to us by Jesus, John says.  Not only do we have the Jewish liturgical Tradition of remembering God’s Love and election of Israel by Revelation and Redemption so that they might learn the Commandments and Obey them and so be in Unity with God’s Love and one another; . . . not only do we have this liturgical Tradition preserved in the Book of Deuteronomy, . . . but we have been reminded of this truth about God by Jesus Himself.  Saint John tells us about it in his Gospel.  Jesus says (as you have heard this morning); . . . Jesus says,

He who has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me; and he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.

In His farewell discourse with His Apostles before His arrest, . . . Jesus tells us that His Passion, Death, and Resurrection shall be the completion of the Revelation and Redemption begun when God first spoke to Abraham.  . . . It is a Revelation and Redemption that began with the Hebrew People . . . and is now, in Christ, extended to the entire world.  All that is necessary is to keep the Commandments . . . not out of duty . . . but out of love and respect for Jesus; . . . not because we might want to keep the Commandments (because sometimes we don’t), . . . but because Jesus says it will be good for us if we do, . . . like the advice we get from our doctors to eat less red meat and walk more.  . . . The good of keeping the Commandments out of love for Jesus . . . is that it Unites us with the Triune God . . . and makes Jesus accessible to us.  And by this, Jesus is not referring only to His bodily appearance, which most of us have not seen because Christ is Ascended; . . . Jesus is not referring chiefly to the brief time of His bodily appearance; . . . Jesus tells us today that out of His love for us who keep His Commandments for love of Him; . . . out of His love for us, Jesus promises to manifest Himself to each of us.  . . . The Jesuit Priest and scholar, Raymond Brown, commenting on this saying of Jesus; . . . Raymond Brown writes, “the presence of Jesus is promised, not to an ascetical elite, but to Christians in general” (The Anchor Bible, vol. 29A, p. 646).  . . . Because He is Risen and Ascended, the living Jesus can manifest Himself to you anywhere and anytime.  . . . He can manifest Himself to you as you kneel at the Altar for Communion; . . . He might manifest Himself to you at Coffee Hour.  The Risen and Ascended Jesus might manifest Himself to you at work . . . or while you are at school.  . . . The Risen and Ascended Jesus redeemed your life upon the Cross, not for some snooty religious zealot; . . . not for “an ascetical elite” as Raymond Brown puts it.  . . . The Risen and Ascended Jesus redeemed your life upon the Cross for you; . . . for every ordinary Christian trying to make some sense and order out of the life God has given them.  . . . All that is necessary for Christ’s help in that . . . is to keep the Commandments out of love and respect for Jesus.