The Big Ten
Exodus 20:1-17
John 2:13-22
Week 3 in Lent and we have another covenant! This one was mediated through Moses and is called the Sinai covenant. The Ten Commandments are the rules God gives humans that will help them be faithful to God – after all they are in a covenantal relationship with God – and one another as God’s people.
Before we look at the rules, let’s take a long hard look at the man, Moses.
Moses was the son of Amram who was a Levite and Jochebed his mother who was also a Levite. He had an older brother, Aaron and an older sister Mariam (Numbers 26:59). To save the baby his mother cleverly put him in a basket to float down the Nile River toward the mac-mansion where Pharaoh and his family lived. It just so happened that the daughter of Pharaoh and her ladies in waiting, including Marian (yes Moses’ sister) were at the river’s edge and saw the basket and the baby. The child was adopted into the royal household and as it happened a slave woman was brought in to feed and care for the child, who just happened to be Moses’ own mother. Some coincidence! As Moses grew up in the home of Pharaoh, he learned all the ways of the Egyptians, but there was something inside Moses that made him different. Perhaps it was the teaching he received from his mother! One day when the Egyptian overlords began to beat a Hebrew slave, Moses intervened, defended the man and killed the abuser. He had to flee because he would be in BIG trouble. You can run but you can’t hide from God.
Moses spent time working as a shepherd for Jethro, learning patience and trust (Numbers 12:3). Moses married Zipporah, Jethro’s daughter, and they had two sons. When Moses was settled, comfortable in his home, content with his family, he got a call from God in the form of a burning bush that was not turned to ash (Exodus 3:1-). God told Moses to get up and go back to Egypt to free the Israelites from slavery. Moses did not want to go as any reasonable person can understand, but he went because God has a persistent way that overcomes human excuses.
Moses went as directed and he had to argue and argue and pray and pray and endure the plaques of locusts and frogs sent to persuade Pharaoh to let the people go. Do you know how long the Hebrews had been slaves in Egypt? 430 years! Even though Moses was doing everything God told him nothing was happening: the people were still in slavery. Finally Pharaoh had enough and released the slaves to go with Moses but they hardly got out of the sound of Pharaoh’s voice when they heard the sound of chariot wheels and the hammering hoofs of horses as the soldiers pursued them. They ran to the water’s edge, a place called the Reed Sea. Right there the waters parted and they crossed to the other side. The pursuing army lost: the Hebrew people were on their way to a promised land! Moses’ leadership looked pretty good. Because they were saved from their slavery and the Egyptians were defeated, they believed the Lord and his servant Moses – for a while at least.
But then the desert wilderness experience got old, they were hungry and thirsty. God told Moses to strike a rock and out of it would flow water. Moses, being harassed by the people all the time about what they wanted and needed and so on, hit the rock (twice) and they had water. Then they wanted bread, and longed for the melons and leeks of Egypt. Can you even imagine saying you wanted to go back to slavery? They murmured against Moses; they lost faith in God. Moses prayed to God and manna and quail were abundant when they woke in the morning.
After 3 months of desert wandering, they arrived at Sinai and they camped at the foot of the mountain. Moses went up the mountain and the LORD called out to him with some instructions: Say to the house of Jacob: tell the children of Israel to be prepared for three days from now I the Lord will speak to my chosen people. Moses told the people and when they saw the smoke and fire on the mount, they were afraid and sent Moses: you go talk with the LORD for us.
The Lord said: I am the LORD thy God, which brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage: thou shalt have no other gods before me. Thou shalt not make any graven image or worship them. Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain. Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.
These four commandments tell them and us how to live in relationship with God. They remind us of our human vulnerability and fragility, of the greatness and omnipotence of God. No person, no thing shall be more important to you than God. You cannot capture God as God is in images, pictures, icons, or statues, so don’t try. You cannot manipulate events or control things by using God’s name for good or for evil. You have six days in which to work and that is enough. You are human beings whose bodies need rest; you are thinking things that need to relax and rest the mind, so take a day a week off: keep the Sabbath holy. Set aside time for God, for nothing other than love of God.
Knowing how much humans need relationships, community, God continued with six more commandments describing how people can live together well. These six commandments also acknowledge how much humans value freedom: someone called them God’s emancipation proclamation. The people of God had been in bondage to labor, toil, poverty, lacking freedom and were about to occupy the Promised Land. As recipients of God’s liberation they were to live in a certain way: by honoring parents, reframing from murder, adultery, thievery, lying and covetousness. In a positive framework, they honor life – all human life –honor family values – truth telling or honesty – respecting what others have because they are our neighbors. In short, God says: Trust ME: these things are good for you and will allow you to live good lives.
Our journey to this community may not have been as dramatic as the community Moses led out of Egypt but we all have our scars from falls along our spiritual path. We gather as a community in our sacred space, some of us are tired and worn, worried and hungry for spiritual nurture, for comfort, for hope. We are seeking something and we need something beyond our immediate household and professional ability to satisfy. We are here to be touched, to be accepted, to be warmed by fellowship, to be fed on word and sacrament. We transcend our difference and welcome all God brings because it is the Spirit of the Living God who gives grace to all of us.