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\u201cIf you see your fellow Israelite\u2019s ox or sheep straying, do not ignore it but be sure to take it back to its owner. If they do not live near you or if you do not know who owns it, take it home with you and keep it until they come looking for it. Then give it back\u201d (Deuteronomy 22:1-2).

We are back in Deuteronomy. Some time ago, I started working through this book, reflecting on a small portion of each chapter. Thanksgiving weekend prompted us to do some different things, but now, let\u2019s return to finish what we started.

Last Monday, as Helena and I were taking our morning walk, a stranger stopped us asking if we had a cigarette. Having been informed that we did not, he asked which bus would give him and his bike a free ride down the mountain. We gave him some possibilities, uncertain of our information, never having needed this service. Later that same day, as I was walking down Mohawk Road, a lady came out of the bus stop shelter asking which bus would take her to a certain destination. Not understanding where she wanted to go, I declined to help her; graciously, I think.

As I walked on, I thought, \u2018two in one day\u2019: total strangers interrupting me to ask for things I didn\u2019t have: cigarettes and information. But then I began to wonder about the graciousness of my responses. My words may have been gracious, but my heart didn\u2019t feel very gracious. In fact, I felt both were interruptions. What right did they have to interrupt me? Its not that I had better things to do, but well, what right did these people have asking me for these things? But the Holy Spirit was testing the motives of my heart and found them wanting! If I had sat down for one minute with that lady in the bus stop shelter, I am sure that my phone would have found the answer she needed.

And today, we come to Deuteronomy 22: \u201cIf you see your fellow Israelite\u2019s ox or sheep straying, do not ignore it but be sure to take it back to its owner. If they do not live near you or if you do not know who owns it, take it home with you and keep it until they come looking for it. Then give it back.\u201d

This is an application of the second great commandment, \u201cLove your neighbour as yourself\u201d (Mark 12:31). My experiences may have been somewhat different, but close enough. My time is my own, why should I give it to others? That is the way I am wired. But Jesus wants to rewire me.

Reading this text, I remembered the old ditty from the school playground, Finders, Keepers, Losers, Weepers. A Google search revealed that the first written record of this idea dates all the way back to 200 BC by the Greek playwright Plautus. Could it be that Jesus and the apostles knew of this dictum and countered it? Consider what Paul wrote, \u201cTherefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ\u2026in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others\u201d (cf. Philippians 2:1-4).

I wonder if anyone challenged our school ground values. I do not remember. It seems that the school yard ditty still finds as much resonance in my heart as Jesus\u2019 counter move. The words of Psalm 19 lead us to better ways, \u201cKeep your servant also from willful sins; may they not rule over me...May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer\u201d (13-14).