The Third Sunday in Lent (B) — Exodus 20:1–17
Bethany and Faith Lutheran Churches, Reading, PA
This Lent, I’m preaching about living more like Jesus. We can learn what God is like, and while we’ll never be perfect, we can try to come closer to that ideal. We saw with Noah’s family at the flood, God can destroy, but chooses instead to create, because he loves creation. And last week, God promised a child to Sarah and Abraham, but God couldn’t keep it simple. God’s radical generosity overflows, giving gift after gift.
Today we encounter Israel in the desert. They’re escaping from Egypt and come to Sinai, God’s mountain. God tells Moses that he wants to make the Hebrews his greatest, most treasured possession. They wash and purify themselves to prepare for God’s arrival, and on the third day, God’s presence in smoke and fire appears.
Today’s reading only begins the law, which continues for the next 58 chapters. It will address things as diverse as what kinds of birds can be cooked for meals, what to do if your ox falls into a hole on your neighbor’s property, and how to compensate someone who has lost a body part because of your negligence. The Rabbis counted 613 laws covering every situation imaginable, and then studied those 613 laws to figure out 38 more volumes worth.
Christians tend to move in the other direction, condensing the Law rather than expanding it. We don’t pick through complicated rules about ancient farming culture. We trust TV lawyers to deal with injury compensation. We occasionally look at those old laws to try to control other people’s behavior, but picking and choosing our favorite laws violates the whole of God’s promise. Instead, we look at the Big Ten, trusting that if we follow their spirit, we’ll do well.
Originally, the Ten Commandments were very specific. We can ask: When God says, “Do not kill,” what does he mean? Is it just people? Are animals included? What if we swat a fly? What about war? Should we defend ourselves, even if it means having to kill? Most scholars today agree: Exodus means it simply. We should not murder. Do not kill other people needlessly.
Don’t take the Lord’s name in vain. Does that mean that all foul language is bad? Or can we say “Damn,” but not, “Oh God”? In Israel, this simply meant that they should not take an oath before God. Don’t say, “If I do not do this, may God strike me dead.” That is using God, and his name, without purpose.
In the Reformation, we came to understand these laws more expansively. Martin Luther’s Large Catechism, for example, says not only shouldn’t we use God’s name without purpose. The law really teaches us to keep God’s name always on our lips: Praising and thanking God, asking for help, offering our sins, lamenting with God when disaster strikes. The same with the law about killing; Luther says we should honor all life, which belongs to God. This is not good Bible interpretation, but it’s very good theology.
In the end, we tend to generalize all the laws by means of Jesus’ instruction. He tells us that the greatest commandment, from the book of Deuteronomy, is to love God with all your heart and all your mind and all your strength. And a close second is found in Leviticus: Love your neighbor as yourself. Everything else falls under these two.
And he’s right. As Lutherans count them, the first three laws are about how we love God: Don’t worship other gods; don’t use God’s name poorly; keep the sabbath. The other seven are about loving each other: honor parents; don’t murder; be sexually faithful; don’t steal; don’t lie in court; don’t covet homes or possessions. All designed to help us love.
I say, “As Lutherans count them.” Others number them differently. And not to keep talking about Judaism, but the Jewish people have the most interesting count. For them, the first commandment ends before our first one begins: “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.” That’s it. The first commandment is not an instruction; it does not tell us what to do. It tells us who God is, and what the laws are for. It’s about God’s relationship with us.
When I was a substitute teacher, I only signed up for junior and senior high. I like younger children, but when I first taught Sunday school years ago, eight first-graders ran all over me like a steamroller for an hour each week, so I decided it was a bad idea. My first try in Reading, I decided to try 7th grade music. The scheduler forgot to say the teacher was shared between junior high and elementary schools.
Which is how I found myself in the hallway, negotiating with a sobbing third-grader, trying to get him to come into the classroom at the start of class. As a pastor, my instinct is to pay close attention and care about each individual. But it’s very difficult to do that with twenty other people slowly spiraling out of control, also needing your attention.
But I believe young people understand as well if not better than adults, so I knelt down next to him, and explained: I want to listen to you. I want you to tell me what’s wrong, so maybe I can help. But first, I need you to come inside the classroom where I can be sure you are safe. And I need to get everyone else in your class started on the activity. After those things happen, then I will sit with you, and you can tell me everything.
And so he came in, and sat down. The class and I talked a little bit about the Nutcracker ballet, which they’d been watching, and I set them to work on their related project. Then, true to my word, I sat with him. When he knew someone had really heard him, and cared, the problem was over. I could not fix what was upsetting him. But I could honor the relationship, teacher and student, one who cares, and that was enough.
Relationships are the foundation of who we are. When God was working on creation, he immediately knew that the human being should not be alone. That is the purpose of the Law. It was never intended to make us guilty about our sin, our failure to keep the law. The point was to teach us how to be in relationship with each other. That’s what God wanted us to have, first and foremost.
And so, if we are to be godly, more like Jesus, we should insist that our religion and lives serve that purpose. So many times, we come to church and pray and do our religious stuff because we think we should. It’s an obligation. But that is not why God gave it to us in the first place. God loves us, and wants us to love him, and everyone and everything else he made. That is why we are here: To be loved, and to love. In our faith, and in our lives, we don’t need to follow the rules. We follow the love. Amen.