3 Sun Lent B 12
Ex 20:1-17
A homily by Deacon Joe Stackhouse
March 11, 2012
A favorite topic among Sunday school teachers is the Ten Commandments. One Sunday school teacher was discussing the Ten Commandments with her five and six year olds. After explaining the commandment ‘Honor your father and your mother,’ she asked the class, 'Is there a commandment that teaches us how to treat our brothers and sisters?' Yes, said one little boy. 'Thou shall not kill.'
The story of how Moses received the Ten Commandments on Mt. Sinai is well known. Written by God on two stone tablets, this Divine code was given amid thunder, lightning and smoke on Mount Sinai, and became the cornerstone of the Mosaic Law. The fact that the Commandments were written in stone has a significance all its own. To be written in stone suggests reliability and permanence, something that can’t be changed. What is written in stone has meaning and value that will last forever.
Jesus drew on this aspect of the Ten Commandments when he applied them in new ways throughout his mission on earth. During the Sermon on the Mount, for example, Jesus declared that unnecessary oaths before God were as wrong as false oaths. He condemned hatred and anger as much as murder. He transformed common ideas of retaliation and vengeance into forgiveness and mercy--turn the other cheek, go the extra mile, do not refuse those in need. In this way, Jesus extended the principle of love embedded in the Ten Commandments to include love of enemies as well as love for God and neighbor.
There is an interesting psychology in the way the Commandments are stated. Only two are stated in positive terms—keep holy the Sabbath and honor father and mother. The others are stated in negative terms—thou shall not do so and so. In both cases, however, it’s as if God stated the Commandments in a way that pushes us away from doing things that are harmful to ourselves and to others.
As for what the negative commands push us away from, the first commandment is broad enough to show what all this involves. The first commandment seems simple enough to understand and fairly easy to apply. The ancient Hebrews would have been familiar with this commandment. For, the same message can be found in Psalm 81, which reads: “There shall be no foreign god among you; you shall not bow down to an alien god. I am the LORD your God, who brought you up from the land of Egypt.” In light of the many Roman and Greek gods that were available for the ancient Hebrews to choose from, the point of this first commandment seems fairly obvious.
But for Jesus, each Commandment has meaning and value that go beyond the obvious. With an eye to the first commandment, Jesus tells his disciples, “No servant can serve two masters. He will either hate one and love the other, or be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon” (Lk 16:13). The Pharisees who heard this ridiculed Jesus. Because they loved money, they rejected Jesus’ criticism of their lack of compassion for the poor (16:19-31).
The word “mammon” means more than just money, however. It refers to wealth in general and all the things of this world on which we rely. In this sense, Jesus is saying to his disciples, “Be on your guard with money and worldly wealth. It’s not as great as you think. It will fail you in the end. Thus, if you don’t learn to use it wisely, it may very well be your undoing.” Jesus delivered this message because he knows how we can turn anything into our god, especially material wealth.
For us, there remains a question of how to hear his message—how are we suppose to use our material wealth in a spiritually wise manner. Jesus is clear on this point as well. The whole life and mission of Jesus shows us that we must practice justice and mercy with our wealth. We are not to turn our backs on those in need by refusing to share the wealth that we have. All of our wealth—not just our money. And each of us knows what we count as wealth.
There is a passage in the first letter of Timothy that summarizes all of this in a very clear and powerful manner. Verses 17 through 19 in that letter read like this: “Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life (1 Tim 6:17-19). If we make friends with wealth in this way, we can be sure that when it ends, we will find welcome in the Father’s home.
So much for the breadth of the first Commandment. Jesus makes it clear that mercy, compassion, and love are the touchstones in each commandment. One example that illustrates this point is an encounter that Jesus had with the Pharisees in the synagogue, where there was a man who had a withered hand. The Pharisees asked Jesus whether it is it lawful to cure on the Sabbath. They wanted to accuse Jesus of disobeying the Law of Moses, which prohibited healing on the Sabbath. Jesus said to them, “Which one of you who has a sheep that falls into a pit on the Sabbath will not take hold of it and lift it out? How much more valuable a person is than a sheep. So it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath. Then he said to the man, ‘Stretch out your hand’” and the hand was restored as sound as the other (Mt 12:9-13).
Each Commandment lends itself to a similar reflection, interpretation, and application and Jesus knew that. For instance:
The Commandment says: Thou shall not kill; and Jesus says, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.”
The Commandment says, “Thou shall not commit adultery or covet thy neighbor’s spouse,” and Jesus says, “Blessed are the clean of heart, for they will see God.”
The Commandment says, “Thou shall not bear false witness against thy neighbor,” and Jesus says, “Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.”
The Commandment says, “Thou shall not steal,” and Jesus says, “Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be satisfied.”
Jesus summed up the meaning and value of the entire Ten Commandments in this way: Love God with your whole heart, your whole mind and your whole soul, and love your neighbor as yourself.
