Deuteronomy 22:1 – 4 “If you see your brother’s ox or sheep straying, you must not ignore it (or hide yourself); be sure to return it to your brother. If your brother does not live near you, or if you do not know who he is, you are to take the animal home to remain with you until your brother comes seeking it; then you can return it to him. And you shall do the same for his donkey, his cloak, or anything your brother has lost and you have found. You must not ignore it. If you see your brother’s donkey or ox fallen on the road, you must not ignore it; you must help him lift it up.”
In those days, any kind of livestock was highly prized. A family might own only one or two donkeys or oxen or sheep. And animals are always straying. Sheep particularly can find more routes out of even a fenced pasture than one might believe. The cloak referred to here would be a heavy garment under which a man might sleep. If someone lost their cloak, they might die of exposure to the cold. And just to make things perfectly clear, God also adds a proviso that any lost object that is found must be kept in trust for the owner and not used or sold. Any animals found straying must be tended carefully until the owner appears.
APPLICATION: Things haven’t changed very much! There are many people in the world for whom a single piece of clothing or a single animal means the difference between survival and death. At Christmas, charitable groups such as the Heifer Project, Samaritan’s Purse, and others afford donors the opportunity to pay for animals that will then be given to those who need them most, ensuring the survival of entire families. But there is also a larger principal at work here.
God wants each of us to be concerned for those around us and not merely for our interests or the interests of our families alone. In Dickens’ great story A Christmas Carol, the ghost of Jacob Marley agonizes, “Business! Mankind was my business!” Now that it is too late, Marley has realized that he was to be his brother’s keeper and that he needed to be passionately involved with all those around him, particularly the poor.
Yesterday one of our friends preached a sermon in a local church regarding the hypocritical behavior of many Christians. Our friend cited the horrible example of widows who have entrusted their animals to their brothers for safe keeping, only for their allegedly Christian brothers to lie to them later, insisting that the animals have died when in fact the animals are alive or have been sold for a large profit.
Look around you! Do you see the poor? When you go to a store with an Angel Tree, do you try to help as many families as possible, or do you turn your head away, hoping you can soothe your conscience somehow? If you are in Africa, could you possibly donate an extra bag of rice and a cock or guinea fowl so that some poor family can enjoy meat for Christmas? Do you see children with so few clothes that they endanger themselves by huddling next to a fire to get warm?
This year, instead of blowing money on expensive gadgets or upgrades to an I-phone, why not share with those around you? Remember that your status can change in an instant. This last year we have watched as a 43 year old friend lost his job after he suffered a stroked from complications of COVID vaccine. That family will be struggling this Christmas.
“But I have very little money!” you might say. Fine. Ask God how you can help or encourage. Perhaps a family needs a reliable baby sitter. Perhaps someone simply needs a ride to the store. Perhaps an older person is incredibly lonely, and your visit might make all the difference. There are always things that we can do.
God cares about lost donkeys and oxen and cloaks and people. We should too. Dickens was right when he put those words in the mouth of his character Jacob Marley. “Mankind is our business.”
PRAYER: Father God, thank You for loving us and for caring for us. Lord, help us to see the needs around us and to meet the needs that You particularly put on our hearts. Thank You that You are a God of infinite variety and resourcefulness and that if You have burdened us with a need, You also have a solution. In the mighty and precious Name of King Jesus. Amen.
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