God is altogether different than creation. God transcends
creation; God is holy! Today’s passage unfolds in a series of
paired verses, each of which begins with a command or law that
governs our relations with one another and then concludes with
a rationale for that command or law. In each case, the rationale is
the same. We are to live by these laws because we are not God.
The repetition of “I am the Lord” reminds us that God is the
source of all of creation. Therefore, we walk humbly and treat
our neighbor with loving-kindness. We take our place within
creation with humility and gratitude. The whole of creation is a
gift freely given; it need not have been.

Because we are not the source of creation, we constitute
our relationship to creation on freedom. Because we have freely
received the good gifts of creation, we share those gifts freely
with our neighbors. Thus we do not reap to the corners of our
fields or glean every grape from our vineyard. Rather, we leave
some of the harvest for the poor. Put simply, we do not hoard the
gifts of creation for ourselves.

While the command not to reap and glean to the corners of
the fields or vineyards seems to speak to an agrarian context,
the principle that it represents has broad application. All our
resources, including our money, time, homes, and food ultimately
come from God. Whatever we may have done to procure
our resources, we did not create them. Before they were our
possessions, they were gifts from God. When we forget this
fact, we run the risk of idolatry. By contrast, when we remember
and celebrate the sheer giftedness of creation by sharing
our resources with others, we are set free to enjoy that which
exceeds creation—the beauty and splendor of God’s holiness.