Yet the LORD set his affection on your ancestors and loved them, and he chose you, their descendants, above all the nations—as it is today. – Deuteronomy 10:15

Today’s Scripture Reading (December 3, 2018): Deuteronomy 10

I love the Spiderman origin story. Peter Parker is a stereotypical genius. He is smart but physically weak and unable to defend himself from the bigger bullies on the block. Of course, all of that changes with the bite of a spider. The spider bite changes Peter, giving him strength and power that he had never known before. And Peter is essentially changed from being the one who is bullied, to being the one who is looking out for himself and is on the verge of becoming the biggest bully on the block.

There is a historical connection for the Peter Parker saga. And that connection is the early church. In the beginning, in the days after the execution of Jesus, the church existed as the ones who, at least periodically, would be persecuted and bullied. But we wore that as a badge of honor, after all, Jesus had been persecuted by those who existed in control of the power structures of the world. But almost 300 years after Jesus’s death, all that changed. Constantine came to power with a fantastic story that he had been told to conquer in the sign of Christ. At this moment, the church was bitten by a spider, and we gained a superpower. Christian historians question whether Constantine had really received a vision that told him to conquer in the name or sign of Christ. And partially we question the revelation given to Constantine because of what happened next to the Christian Church. The Christian Church became, well, decidedly unchristian.

Power went to our heads, and the persecuted became the persecutors, and the bullied became the bullies. Rather than forgiveness, revenge seemed to become the motto of the Christian Church. At least in the Peter Parker saga, Peter’s uncle Ben had a chance to change the path of his young nephew. As Ben laid dying in Peter’s arms, he spoke the words that would shape all that Spiderman would become; “With great power comes great responsibility.” Maybe someone should have spoken those words to us. Seventeen hundred years after the time of Constantine, sometimes the Christian Church is still the biggest bully on the block.

Moses reminds Israel that even though their God was God of everything, he had “set his affections” on Israel. God had chosen them. And with great power comes great responsibility. They had received a privilege, but that meant that they had a job to do in the world. They were to be an example set for the rest of the world. God was going to send them into the nations to speak his truth – and his love.

God continues to set his affection on Israel, but I believe that his affections are also set on the Christian Church. And his affection is not set on us so that we can become the bullies of the world. We are being sent with great power to show God’s love. This is our responsibility and our response to the God who has set his affections on us.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Deuteronomy 11