Tokonaki Ma’asi 25, 2023
Sticky
Fingers and Stolen Hearts
‘Oua na‘a ke kaiha‘a.
EXODUS 20:15
"YOU SHALL NOT STEAL."
‘EKISOTO 20:15
‘Oua na‘a ke kaiha‘a.
There's remarkable overlap between the many nuances of the English verb "steal" and the Hebrew ganav. As teenagers "steal [go sneakily] into the house" when they're out past curfew, so men shamefully ganav into the city like cowards fleeing a battle (2 Sam. 19:3). We say a man "stole a woman's heart," like Absalom "ganav the hearts of the men of Israel" (2 Sam. 15:6). And in both Hebrew and English, kidnapping is theft or ganav of a person (Exod. 21:16). The command not to ganav is to look on, and treat, what God has bestowed on another person as his gift to them, not our entitlement or potential possession.
It is a great irony that the authorities feared the early Christians would steal the body of Jesus, thus faking the resurrection (Matt. 27:64). This very Messiah had taught that "the thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly" (John 10:10). That abundant life he gives us in his resurrection. And that life bears the fruits of love in our actions. So Paul writes, "Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need" (Eph. 4:28).
O Holy Spirit, root out of our hearts the weeds of greed and sow in us the seeds of contentment.
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