There's an old saying, "familiarity breeds contempt." It means that when we've seen or heard something too often, we don't pay any attention anymore. Some parts of the Bible are like that. They are so familiar to us, we don't even hear them any more - it's as if they've become cliches. Take the creation story, for example - we all know that story. We've heard it hundreds of times. And we are all absolutely sure that Eve was tempted by a ____________. Well, the story doesn't say a "snake," exactly, but that's what most of us think, because that's the image we have in our mind. Or take the story of Jonah, and how he was thrown out of a boat and lived for 3 days in the belly of a ______________. Again, the story doesn't say "whale". It just says a big fish. But the image that sticks with us is a whale, maybe because of some book we read or movie we saw. Or take today's reading from the Old Testament, when God gives Moses the Ten _______________. Commandments? Where does it call the Ten Commandments? The weren't called that in the lesson, at least not in the original Hebrew Bible. It just says, "Then God spoke all these words." But our mental image of this story comes from a 1956 movie created by Cecil B. DeMille called THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. Now DeMille was a good man; in fact, he was an Episcopalian. And although he wasn't a Bible scholar, he was a terrific movie maker. My guess is that he probably figured he wouldn't have sold as many tickets if he had called his movie, "The Covenant." Yet that's exactly what the Ten Commandments are. They are a covenant between God and his people.
Two weeks ago, we heard about God's covenant with Noah and all creation. God promised to never again destroy all life on the earth. Last week, we heard about God's covenant with Abraham and his descendants. God promised to make Abraham's descendants as numerous as the stars of heaven. In both of these covenants, God gives a life-sustaining promise to those who are faithful. Today, we hear about God's covenant with Moses and the slaves of Egypt. After God led them out out of bondage, he forms them into the nation of Israel. And the way God does that, is by giving them a set of principals to live by. What we might call them a rule of life.
Now a rule of life is very different from a set of laws. Laws tend to be very specific and work by coercion - if someone does this, then the punishment will be that. But God doesn't say that here; no consequences are ever spelled out. Instead, God makes a covenant with Israel which defines who they are and how they are to live. God gives the people a set of rules to live by which they are free to adopt, not because they are afraid of the consequences - they have already been set free - but because they lay out what it means to live in community with God, or what we might call the Kingdom of God.
We live in a society where the Ten Commandments have become part of the culture wars, where God's laws are seen in terms of how they can be used to divide people. We live in a society where our civil courts are asked to decide the proper role of religious laws. For some, the Commandments are held up as laws that were carved out of rock by God's finger, laws that promise death to anyone who breaks them. But that's the Hollywood version of the story. The Commandments are not prohibitions on our freedom so much as a gift from God, laying out the ethical commitments for what it means to live in any community. They are God's teachings on how to preserve life and promote the common good. They define the basic agreements we make in order to live together as a faithful community. Through these rules of life, God has defined a people - the people of Israel, the Kingdom of God - not on the basis of culture or ethnicity, but on the basis of common religious values.
As a result, the Kingdom of God isn't in some far off place at some future time. It's a present reality. When we adopt the Ten Commandments, we take on a way of living that looks very much like our baptismal vows - a rule of life which allows God's kingdom to be realized in the here and now. The commandments about worshipping only one God, not creating idols, and the sanctity of God's holy name mean that the Kingdom of God is present any time we put God first and we recognize that God alone is God. The commandment about Sabbath means that we are all called to take time to rest and and to let those who work for us also rest and worship. The commandments about honoring our parents, about adultery, and killing mean that God's kingdom is present wherever the elderly are taken care of, or marriage vows are upheld, or life is preserved. The commandments about stealing, bearing false witness and coveting mean that the Kingdom of God is present when our dealings with people are honest and truthful, and whenever we choose to live within our means.
Jesus summarized the law for us this way: "love God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength; and love your neighbor as yourself." For Jesus, the commandments of God are how we live in relationship both with God and with our fellow human beings. The psalm says the same thing more poetically:
The law of the LORD is perfect and revives the soul; *
the testimony of the LORD is sure and gives wisdom to the innocent.
The statutes of the LORD are just and rejoice the heart; *
the commandment of the LORD is clear and gives light to the eyes.
The fear of the LORD is clean and endures for ever; *
the judgments of the LORD are true and righteous altogether.
More to be desired are they than gold, more than much fine gold, *
sweeter far than honey, than honey in the comb.
By them also is your servant enlightened, *
and in keeping them there is great reward.
Thanks be to God.
LINK TO THIS ARTICLE - http://www.ecsssj.org/show_article.php?myid=57
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