Be Careful What You Sign

Saturday of the First Week of Lent
Readings

During night time road trips, I used to enjoy listening to Bruce Williams on talk radio. Bruce gave callers advice on investments, buying and selling real estates, building their careers, changing jobs, starting a business, travel, and a little bit of everything else. Once or twice a week someone would call who had gotten into a real jam. Someone had made a bad deal and wanted to get out of it. Someone was up to his eyeballs in debt and wanted to get out of it. Bruce would ask, "Did you sign anything?" The caller would say, "Yes, but blablablablablabla" and Bruce would ask "Did you sign anything? What did you sign? What did it say?" And the caller would say that he had signed something, but didn't read it first, or didn't notice that it said thus-and-so, or wasn't sure where the document was at the moment. Then Bruce would say, "You have fire in your fingertips! When you pick up a pen to sign something, you have power in your hand!"

Bruce was right, of course. Don;t sign up for something unless you read the fine print first. This is what Moses is telling the people in the First Reading.

Today you are making this agreement with the LORD: he is to be your God and you are to walk in his ways and observe his statues, commandments and decrees, and to hearken to his voice. 

This is what we signed up for at Baptism, when we became members of God's holy people:

and you will be a people sacred to the LORD.

Sacred -- meaning cut off, set apart, not the same as other nations.

Jesus, the new Moses, has the same message: if you signed up to be children of your heavenly Father, and you act just like the tax collectors and  pagans, something is wrong. You're not keeping your part of the covenant.

Remember what you signed up for.