Exodus 20:1-4, 7-9, 12-20
Then God spoke all these words:
I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery; you shall have no other gods before me.
You shall not make for yourself an idol, whether in the form of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.
You shall not make wrongful use of the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not acquit anyone who misuses his name.
Remember the sabbath day, and keep it holy. For six days you shall labour and do all your work.
Honor your father and your mother, so that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.
You shall not murder.
You shall not commit adultery.
You shall not steal.
You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or male or female slave, or ox, or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.
When all the people witnessed the thunder and lightning, the sound of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking, they were afraid and trembled and stood at a distance, and said to Moses, “You speak to us, and we will listen; but do not let God speak to us, or we will die.” Moses said to the people, “Do not be afraid; for God has come only to test you and to put the fear of him upon you so that you do not sin.”
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This sermon was originally preached on October 4, 2020 at Redeemer Episcopal Church. The Spirit had a lot more to say than I was able to write here, so I recommend listening from our YouTube page if you want a better sermon. But as usual, you can read it here.
When I was 12 or 13 years old, I went through catechism class with some of my peers in my Lutheran church. In the Lutheran Church, I imagine that it’s pretty similar to the Episcopal Church’s curriculum… we learn about sacraments, the Apostle’s Creed, the Lord’s Prayer, we have a large overview of the whole Bible and— this part was very important to my pastor— we learned and memorized the Ten Commandments.
Catechism class in that church lasted two years and I remember being taught over those years that the Ten Commandments, which we revisited regularly, were given to God’s people because they were horrible sinners and could not be trusted to be in community with one another without some sort of threat for good behavior.
I didn’t think too much of it then— after all, the commandments did kind of sound like the annoying and difficult rules that my parents impressed upon my brother and me when we misbehaved. No dessert, no television, no hanging out with our friends. And we knew that the reasons for these punishments were because as children we just couldn’t be trusted to make good choices.
This whole scene we read this morning seems to lend to this reading of the commandments, right?
When all the people witnessed the thunder and lightning, the sound of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking, they were afraid and trembled and stood at a distance, and said to Moses, “You speak to us, and we will listen; but do not let God speak to us, or we will die.” Moses said to the people, “Do not be afraid; for God has come only to test you and to put the fear of him upon you so that you do not sin.”
The Ten Commandments sound like something frightening, something threatening, and something to fear. So you might imagine my surprise when I went to a seminary class about ten years later and learned something very different.
“The Ten Commandments are proof that God has given us many gifts,” my professor announced as we made our way through the book of Exodus.
This didn’t compute in my mind, recalling what I had been taught ten years ago and looking down at the text, which said “You shall NOT” over and over again. “These are restrictions, not a confirmation of gifts,” I thought.
So I want to share with you this morning what I learned in that class several years ago so that you too might understand the gift of the Ten Commandments. Especially as we move into an even more contentious time in our nation, when living among one another seems more difficult and more strained. I hope that you might see the profound goodness in these guidelines for living and cling to them as I have.
The first three commandments are about the uniqueness of the God of Israel.
I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery; you shall have no other gods before me.
You shall not make for yourself an idol.
And you shall not make wrongful use of the name of the Lord your God.
The God we worship is unique, the one true God is the one that led God’s people out of slavery and into new life. Of course the Hebrews wouldn’t want any other God than this incredible, merciful God. And we don’t either. We want the God who redeems us, protects us, and reconciles us to one another and all of creation. To make an image of our God is to limit God, which is something that we are completely incapable of doing. We worship a limitless, grace-filled God. Why would we worship any other God?
Our God gives us images of the divine in one another— we don’t need any other images. This is truly a gift, to be reminded in the absence of idols that we are made in the image of God.
We have been given the gift of God’s name: I am who I am. And what a gift that is! And then in Christ, we are given a deeper relationship with God, and we address God as our Father, the one who cares deeply for us and redeems us.
The rest of the commandments are gifted to us as guides for how to live in right relationship with one another and with creation. They all revolve around other people, which is probably why they seem most difficult to manage in our daily life. But God has not only given us the gifts of rest, parents, life, relationships, possessions, and truth, but God has given us he guides in the Ten Commandments of how to keep them and treasure them.
These gifts are not something we are given in vain— God has a purpose for them and a purpose for us. We are given these gifts to be stewards of them, to care for them as God has cared for God’s creation. Each commandment assumes these gifts have already been given to humanity and serve as a guide to protect the gifts so that we might live up to our ultimate potential in the Kingdom of God.
This is what makes Jesus’ parable so jarring this morning. Because the tenants do the very opposite of what God has commanded. When given gifts and responsibilities to be good stewards of God’s creation and God’s people, the tenants squander it and abuse it.
All that we have been given, has been given by the grace of God. Everything. It is when we forget this, that is when things begin to go sideways in the world. It has been so easy to forget that all things are God’s gift for us… as a country we have been distracted by the idea that all that we have, we have earned by our own virtues, instead of them being loaned to us as tools for the furthering of the Kingdom.
This is the gift that we recognize in the waters of baptism and in the holy meal. The gift of water and the Holy Spirit allows God, through our community, to bring more people into the family God. The gift of the bread and wine at this table reminds us that God sustains us and nourishes us for the work of the Kingdom. It reminds us that God has given us the gift of grace in Christ Jesus and gives us the opportunity to extend this gift to others by welcoming here to the table. All that we are given, are given to us in order to give away, in order to steward it for the good of all people— not just ourselves. This is the gift of the Ten Commandments— they gives us guidelines for good stewardship of God’s creation and our relationships.
If we do anything in the next several weeks and months, it would be good for us as a Christian community to examine again these Ten Commandments and our responsibility to steward God’s gifts to us, so that we might use them according to God’s glory as God intends for us. Amen.
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