Tuesday, March 6, 2018


The Thirteen Commandments (3/4/18)
 Lucas Cranach, The Ten Commandments

On Sunday, March 4th, we examined the Ten Commandments, as they appear in the Book of Exodus. This is one of those Bible stories that is so familiar, that sometimes we don't pay close enough attention to it. Even worse, we tend to view it as simply a checklist of behaviors that we have to follow, rather than understanding it as part of a larger covenant between God and humanity.
The Thirteen Commandments (3/4/18)


Sermon
          Good morning. Yesterday I went to a workshop on ethics and boundaries. It was for pastors and commissioned ruling elders. The workshop covered a lot of the same ground that my pastoral care classes covered, but there was some interesting material, and it’s always good to make connections with other pastors and CREs in the presbytery.
          The truth is, ministry can be very isolating, and pastors need to establish strong relationships with their colleagues in ministry, because there are lots of things that we can’t share with the members of our congregations. I should pause here and tell you that I’m not hiding something from you—this section of the sermon isn’t about you and it isn’t about me—though, as an only child, I’m tempted to see everything as it pertains to me.
          Certainly, I did wonder: Why do I have to do this? It was all covered in my pastoral care classes. And even worse, why do I have to do this now, at the busiest time of the church year? The answer is, it wasn’t about me, it was about all of us who are called to ministry, and making sure that we all function in a healthy way.
          Isolation is a dangerous thing. When pastors feel isolated, we tend to neglect things like self-care and we fail to observe healthy boundaries with the members of the congregations we serve. So, gatherings that bring groups of pastors together are good things. And workshops that call us to look within—even when we need to be finishing our sermons—are particularly appropriate during Lent.
          The workshop did not offer us 10 Easy Rules for Healthy Boundaries! There were no simple bullet points or commandments. Sometimes simple lists can give too much structure; sometimes simple lists stand in the place of careful contemplation. Simple lists like the Ten Commandments.
          The phrase The Ten Commandments doesn’t appear in the Hebrew text of Exodus. The text simply says: “Then God spoke all these words.” The Hebrew word davar can be translated as “word” or “thing,” and scholars often refer to the body of statements as the Decalogue, which is Greek for “ten words.”
          Language structures our thinking. The name, the Ten Commandments, causes us to look for ten discrete laws, which distorts the text:
[The division into ten units] most likely reflects a notion of ten as a number expressing perfection. Yet, the Decalogue comprises as many as thirteen separate statements:
1.    I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.
2.    You shall have no other gods before me.
3.    You shall not make for yourself an idol…
4.    You shall not bow down to them or worship them…
5.    You shall not make wrongful use of the name of the Lord your God…
6.    Remember the sabbath day and keep it holy.
7.    Honor your father and your mother…
8.    You shall not murder.
9.    You shall not commit adultery.
10. You shall not steal.
11. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
12. You shall not covet your neighbor’s house.
13. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife…[1]
The number thirteen isn’t as neat and clean as the number ten, so, like ancient editors before us, we squeeze these thirteen words into Ten Commandments, and from there, we turn it into a checklist of behaviors—things to do or not do, so that we can get into Heaven or remain in a right relationship with God. That’s an oversimplification of the text, and when we oversimplify it, we misuse it; we move away from God’s plan for us.
          As I was doing my research for this sermon, I came across a couple of pictures of monuments to the Ten Commandments. One was a monument that stands on the grounds of the state Capitol in Austin, Texas and the other was the monument that was built by Roy Moore, which sat, for a time, in the Alabama Supreme Court. I was struck by two things that I saw in those monuments.
          The first is that the monuments chose the language of the King James Version of the Bible, with all of its “Thou shalt nots.” Now, the monument in Austin was erected in 1961. I would guess that the text of the King James Version didn’t sound so strange in 1961, though nobody spoke that way outside of church. But the monument in Alabama was erected in this century, and it was erected at a moment in our cultural history when words like thee and thou sound increasingly foreign to our ears—even to those of us who go to church.
          This suggests a sort of nostalgia for the past—it conjures up a memory for a time when people were more moral, more righteous—as if there were ever a time when people didn’t commit murder, or didn’t steal, or didn’t commit adultery. The monument from Alabama celebrates a mythical past that never really existed.
          The other thing that I noticed about both monuments, and I think this is really important, is that both of them leave out some of the language of the Decalogue. For instance, the monument from Texas reads: “I am the Lord thy God. Thou shalt have no other gods before me.” It completely omits the part of the story in which God explains that He brought the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt. That is covenant language and it’s vital to understanding God’s call on our lives. But when we focus on the name, Ten Commandments, we tend to edit God’s words.
          We have to pay attention to all of the words, all of the parts of all of the commandments, because they all function together. Too often, we hear the Ten Commandments as personal instructions and nothing more than personal instructions. To be sure, we are to keep these Commandments; we are supposed to keep the Sabbath holy; we are supposed honor our parents; we are NOT supposed to kill, steal, or tell lies in court. But the Commandments are NOT just about us as individuals:
While the [form of] address is individual, the concern is not some private welfare. The focus is on protecting the health of the community, to which the individual plays such an important role. [The] primary concern is not to create the human community but to protect it from behaviors that have the potential of destroying it.[2]
Think about it. God creates us. God creates community. And then God gives us a set of Commandments to protect that community, to protect us from ourselves.
          It’s also worth noting that the “Commandments are given by the Lord directly to the people, and this is the only time such direct speech to the whole people takes place.”[3] Everywhere else in the Old Testament, God speaks through intermediaries. God gives the rest of the Law to the people of Israel through Moses. God sends visions to some of the prophets. This is the only time that God speaks to the entire community, all of Israel. That’s how important this is to the entire community. And that’s why it’s important to include all of the words that God spoke.
          The Commandments provide an ethical framework for the people of Israel to remain in a right relationship with God. “The ethic of the Commandments is as much an ethic of gratitude and response as it is an ethic of obligation and duty.”[4] Yes, it is the duty of every individual to follow these Commandments. At the same time, it’s clear that a community who is grateful for its freedom from slavery will gladly embrace the Commandments as a response to an unimaginable gift.
          We live in a culture that doesn’t fully comprehend our message. To those who are outside of the Church, Christians can come off as preachy and self-righteous. Using the Ten Commandments as a checklist of behaviors only feeds that false impression of who we are. And that’s especially true if we use these commandments to condemn our neighbors or to proclaim our moral superiority.
          We also live in a culture where we are increasingly isolated from one another. Remember, the commandments are given to a community, for the purpose of preserving that community. If we are not actively engaged in practicing community with everyone, then we are not fully living into the covenant, either. And we may not be doing as good of a job at observing the Ten Commandments as we think.
          The other day I was talking to a buddy of mine at the cigar shop. He told me a story about a trip that he took to the grocery store. He said he was standing in line and the woman ahead of him had this huge order. She was wearing expensive clothes and shoes and she carried a fancy purse—and then she pulled out an Access card to pay for the groceries.
          My friend was incensed. He went on and on about how this woman had no business getting benefits, considering all the nice things she had. I’m sure you’ve seen this, too. He was upset that she was spending the money that he payed in taxes, when she clearly didn’t need the money because, well, look at her shoes!
          I know the feeling. I also know that it’s the wrong reaction!
          I asked my friend if he had spoken to the woman. He hadn’t. I asked him if he knew when the woman bought her clothes or her shoes or her purse. He didn’t know. I asked him if he knew the woman’s marital status. He didn’t know. His anger was based on his assumptions about this woman’s life.
          Now it’s entirely possible that the woman had been married and her husband ran off with another woman. Maybe the husband was fighting the divorce. Maybe the husband still had control of the finances. And maybe, just maybe, all of the fancy clothes and accessories were purchased before her husband left, before she applied for that Access card. At the time, I didn’t even think to call my friend out for violating the Tenth Commandment. In truth, he was coveting her possessions!
          Of course, all of that is unknowable. The point is that we often overlook our own violations of the commandments; we compartmentalize and we only see the sins of others, not our own shortcomings. That’s why the context of community is so important to understanding the Ten Commandments.
          Remember, too, that when Jesus was asked which commandment was greatest, he didn’t list any of the Ten Commandments as they are stated in Exodus. Jesus said the most important commandment is to love God, and the next most important commandment is to love your neighbor as you love yourself. When we focus on the Ten Commandments as simply a list of rules, then we fail to live into the spirit of those rules. So, let us not look to the rules, but instead, focus on the risen Christ, who embodies God’s covenants with humanity, and let us follow his call to reach out to all of God’s beloved children. Thanks be to God. Amen!

Benediction
          Now, beloved, as you depart from this place, remember that we are called to be the Church, the body of Christ in the world today. We are called to go forth and be instruments of God’s love and peace and love and reconciliation. This is how we live into God’s covenants. Do not return evil for evil to any person, but know that we are all loved by God, and that we are called to reflect that love to everyone we meet. Go forth and be the salt of the earth and the light of the world. In the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord, let all God’s children say, Amen!


[1] Marc Zvi Brettler. How to Read the Bible. Philadelphia: The Jewish Publication Society (2005), p. 64.
[2] Terence E. Fretheim. Exodus. Louisville: John Knox Press (1991), 221.
[3] Patrick D. Miller. The Ten Commandments. Louisville: John Knox Press (2009), 3.
[4] Miller, 16

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