Deuteronomy 30:15–20

¹⁵"See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil. ¹⁶If you obey the commandments of the LORD your God that I command you today, by loving the LORD your God, by walking in his ways, and by keeping his commandments and his statutes and his rules, then you shall live and multiply, and the LORD your God will bless you in the land that you are entering to take possession of it. ¹⁷But if your heart turns away, and you will not hear, but are drawn away to worship other gods and serve them, ¹⁸I declare to you today, that you shall surely perish. You shall not live long in the land that you are going over the Jordan to enter and possess. ¹⁹I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore choose life, that you and your offspring may live, ²⁰loving the LORD your God, obeying his voice and holding fast to him, for he is your life and length of days, that you may dwell in the land that the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them."

God gives his people a choice: life or death; good or evil. If you obey his commandments by loving the Lord your God, walking in his ways and keeping his statutes you shall live and multiply. God is your life and length of days. The Lord your God will bless you.

But if your heart turns away and you will not hear his word you will be drawn away to worship other gods and serve them. Then you shall surely perish! You shall not live long in the land! Heaven and earth will be called to witness against you in God's court. God says, "Today I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore choose life...for I am your life."

God is our life,... but we chose death. God declares to you today, "you shall surely perish." Indeed we are perishing! In the midst of life, we are in death. We have chosen not to walk in his ways and keep his commandments. God, who is life has become our adversary. When the very source of life becomes our adversary, we then are in death. And apart from the Word of God we are drawn away from God and separated from him. Like Eve when Satan told her, "Did God really say?" She doubted and did not listen to God's word. Therefore she lost her faith. So she fell into sin and was separated from God. Apart from his word, she was drawn away to worship other gods, namely herself, and God became her adversary.

Thus we too, when we do not listen to God's word we are drawn away to worship other gods, namely ourselves. And this disobedience separates us from God who is life and causes death, and God becomes our adversary. For the wages of sin is death. Now, as St. Paul tells us in Corinthians, "I cannot address you as spiritual people, but as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ. For you are still in the flesh. For while there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not of the flesh and behaving only in a human way?

Yes, indeed. We are behaving in a human way and are still in the flesh. We have chosen death, not life. We live in a culture of death. We live in a world of death. For we are dead in our trespasses and sin. We have followed the course of this world, the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience. We are by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. (Eph 2:1-3)

We have chosen death and death rules. All the misery of this life is the reign of death over us. All our sickness and disease is death in progress; death that has begun its rule and will one day come to its fulfillment when we are buried in the grave. All of our misery and suffering is because we chose death; we chose disobedience and turned away from God. Because we have chosen death by disobedience to God even nature is affected. Our suffering is not only because of what we have done, but also what is done to us. It may be on account of natural causes such as an earthquake or flood or just plain old age. We get older, our body falls apart, our organs stop working one-by-one, our pains increase until finally death has completed its work and we are in the grave.

We have chosen death and even made it our god. Death has become for us the solution to our problems. Unwanted pregnancy? Death to the unwanted child—problem solved! Mom or Dad are too old and sick and have become a burden on us? Pull the plug—problem solved! Instead of life and offspring, society has chosen sterility, don't get married, don't have children, allow people of the same sex to marry—all these are choices for death.

And so as death fills our world, our lives become more and more filled with sorrow, grief, loneliness, separation, jealousy, and strife. We find ourselves alone, hurting, anxious, depressed, diseased, and dying. We brought it upon ourselves by choosing death instead of life, evil instead of good. Who shall help us? Who shall deliver us from this curse of death?

Thanks be to God that Jesus Christ has come into our world to dwell with us. He came and he embraced us in his love. He lived and dwelt in this world of death and stood at our side. He put his arms around the poor, the sorrowful, the miserable. He healed the sick, gave water to the thirsty, shelter to the homeless, food to the hungry, life to the dead. Jesus has come into our world, but not just to stand at our side as we suffer, but to suffer himself. He has suffered all the misery and sorrow that we feel. He himself was subjected to all the pains, sorrows, and misery that we go through. He placed himself under the same curse of death and died on a cross. Where was God when my son was killed by a gang? God was right where he was when his son was killed by a gang of violent men? Where was God when they told me I had cancer and was going to die? He was dying too with the cancer of our sin.

But this God, Jesus Christ, did not just share our pain and place himself under our curse. He did something about it. He is not an impotent God who can't do anything about the sin and injustice in the world. He is a powerful God who can and did do something to take away our sorrow and overcome our death. God was our adversary because we chose the route of disobedience and death. But Jesus stood in our place and suffered death with and for us. Jesus became sin for us so God was his adversary. God abandoned him on the cross. Jesus took our punishment and died for our sins so that we could live. As he says: "If you are offering your gift at the altar and your brother has something against you, go, first be reconciled to your brother." Our adversary was God. But Jesus went in our place and reconciled God to us by dying himself. Jesus obeyed the commandment and became the fulfillment of the law, and by his death, he reconciled us to God.

So today Jesus dwells with us. He is here in our suffering, our affliction, our sorrow, our grief. He is suffering with us. For we are his body. When we hurt, he feels the pain, because it is his body that is hurting. When we sorrow, he sorrows. When we grieve, he grieves. Our pain his is his pain, because we are his body. He is with us literally, physically, in the sacrament. He is present in the flesh. His blood runs through our veins as we receive his true blood in the sacrament. He puts his arms around you and comforts you in your sorrow.

But he has done more. He has delivered you from death. He has won the victory. Oh, death, where is your sting. Oh, grave, where is your victory. He has overcome death. He has transferred us from the kingdom of death to the kingdom of life. By his death and resurrection he raises us to new life. Death is no longer the end. Death is no longer the victor. But Jesus Christ is the victor. He has conquered death so that we will rise on the last day. We shall be given new bodies that will never get old or sick or die. He has conquered all that oppresses us and he holds us in his hands. We who had chosen the path of death, have been given life in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Now, we are the body of Christ so that through us Christ embraces and comforts those who sorrow and mourn. We put our arms around those who are still caught in this world of death. We are the presence of God to comfort those who are still dying on account of their sins. Those who are caught in the world of abortion and death, love them and embrace them and bring them to Jesus who gives life. Those who are caught in the death of homosexuality, love them and embrace them in their death and show them the one who gives life. Those who are trapped in the death of addictions and drugs, love them and embrace them to bring them to the one who frees the prisoners. Those who are suffering the death of disease and aging, be at their side and comfort them with the love of Jesus who gives them eternal healing and life.

God gives you the choice. Choose life! For by his death and resurrection he has overcome death and gives you life. Amen.