Last week a CNBC reporter screamed on the Chicago trading floor that he did not want his money going to bail out irresponsible homeowners for their stupid mistakes. Speaking of the same situation, New York Times columnist David Brooks wrote, "The greedy idiots may be greedy idiots, but they are our countrymen. And at some level, we’re all in this together." (NY Times, Feb. 19, 2009) "I" versus "We." We always live with some tensions between the self and the group, but Americans often seem more enamored with the self than the group. We're rugged individualists, self-made men and women, the products of our choices and decisions. Even when we claim a "We," it is often an individual choice to belong to a group or movement.
The reading from Deuteronomy 6:16-25 speaks of a different sort of "We." The people of Israel are told to respond this way when their children ask questions about the commandments and statutes given by God in the wilderness. "We were Pharaoh's slaves in Egypt, but the LORD brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand." Jews still repeat these words today. "We were Pharaoh's slaves..."
"I" was never one of Pharaoh's slaves, and neither were any of those who continue to repeat these words, at least not in any literal sense. Yet identity as the people of God comes from claiming the "We" God gives to us.
Jesus says that if wish to be his followers, we must deny ourselves. (Mark 8:34) I wonder if this might be connected to becoming part of God's "We."
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