The fifth commandment reads: “Honor your father and your mother that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.”[3] We often shorten that verse to “Honor your parents” or stress it as way to long life. The greatest benefit of honoring parents is that we continue in the land that the Lord our God is giving us. The sense of the command is more than “Be kind to your parents or they will take you out of their will.” The admonition is to honor your parents by working the land with them that has been given your family as a heritage. Stay connected to the land, your parents, and God. Our mobility makes it difficult for us to keep this commandment.
God created human
beings to tend and care for God’s creation that provides all that is needed to
sustain life. The fall of humankind
separated us from God and from the land. Within the “curse” on the land resulting
from Adam’s sin lies our path to redemption. God said that the ground without
man tilling it would bring forth thorns and thistles, but by tilling the soil,
man “shall eat the plants of the field.”[4]
God’s command is for us to work with the earth for our food, to reconnect
with the soil for our survival and growth.
Jesus lived close to nature and his parables invite us to observe and
learn from creation to see and enter the Kingdom of God.
Today, many layers of suburban and urban domestication insulate us from the soil. Hosting a farmers market in our church parking lot is a step toward reconnecting ourselves and our community with the soil and the people who draw their life and livelihood directly from it.
