I can remember when I had to memorize the Ten Commandments as a fourth grader in Sunday School. We had to be able to say these ten laws in order even though we didn’t really know what they meant. No one would explain to us what “Thou shalt not commit adultery” meant. Did it mean that we were supposed always remain children and not become adults? If so, then our parents, teachers, and other adults were in big trouble. Did it have something to do with sex? But what was sex?
When I got to be an adult and knew what adultery meant, there was that adult Sunday School class that decided to study the Ten Commandments and vote on which ones were still relevant and should still be kept. They were still mainly a list of things I wasn’t supposed to do with little other meaning.
Then I decided to preach a series of sermons on them. As I began to study them and their meaning for the ancient Hebrews, I realized that they were a set of living commandments that still spoke to us about God’s faithfulness to us and what it means to be in covenant with God. God’s grace had already been offered to the Hebrews and these commandments set the stage for how the Hebrews were to live in relationship with God.
Today the Ten Commandments are a hot topic. Should they be posted in our courthouses? They are the basis of our law codes. We are a Christian nation. The debate goes on.
But for now we are in the middle of Lent and reflecting on God’s covenants with humanity. How do they speak to us in that context? Are they to plunge us deeper into our remorse and repentance or are they to lift us up to see that God’s promises are true and that God is faithful? What is their story for us today?
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
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