Third Sunday in Lent

Exodus 20:1-17

One religion writer condenses this morning’s chapter in Exodus to:
“G’s top ten list. No gods, idols or blasphemy. Keep the Sabbath holy & love Mom. Don’t kill, cheat, steal, or look at Xmas catalogs.”[i]

And while her description covers the information contained in the commandments, it remains incomplete. The commandments are more than a heavenly top ten list, “divine finger-wagging or moral hand-slapping.”[ii] The commandments illustrate the covenant relationship God establishes with us and “show us how we should live as people who have already been freely given God’s grace in Jesus Christ.”[iii]

God doesn’t give us the law and ask us to prove ourselves to earn our salvation or God’s love. There is no performance evaluation, standardized test or entrance exam. When Paul references “God’s foolishness”, this is what he’s talking about: there is no failing or flunking out.

God’s divine priority is to be in relationship with creation, and the commandments are the instruction or direction that God gives us so that relationship doesn’t fall apart.

When we choose other idols over God, when we choose the parts of Scripture that are convenient for us, or dismiss God’s Word as irrelevant, we put our selves and our ways ahead of God’s ways. When we deny others the opportunities for rest and health, rebel against authority and neglect our elders, we forget God’s commandments. When we act selfishly, harm our neighbors by our words or actions, or deceive others, we are not following God’s ways.

Halfway through our penitential and reflective season of Lent, the good news is that the commandments, and our failure to follow them, aren’t roadblocks to life with God. Instead of avoiding them like traps and obstacles – holy Gotchas – let’s look at how they teach us to embody God’s Word and adopt God’s life-giving ways.

Just as commandment-keeping is not a prerequisite for heaven, it isn’t some kind of sacred self-help guide either. The purpose of following God’s commandments is not to make a better “me” for my own sake, but for the world.

That is why when Jesus is tested by the Pharisees in Mark 12, and the scribe asks him which is the greatest commandment, Jesus answers with the words of the she-ma, saying "The first is, ‘Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one; you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’

And then, he adds Leviticus 19:8, and continues, ‘The second is this, 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’[iv]

The commandments help us remember that “One cannot love God without also loving one’s neighbor.”[v]

Many of us would be a lot happier being asked to follow the non-negotiable do’s and don’ts we thought we’d been given — what Father Richard Rohr describes as “never-broken, always-applicable rules and patterns that allow us to predict and control things.” [vi]

Instead, God stands before us and invites us into the presence of God and all the wonder and mystery that beholds.

In this morning’s gospel, John uses the temple scene to demonstrate to his audience, who have seen the temple destroyed, that God’s presence isn’t restricted to the temple anymore. Now, Jesus embodies God’s presence here on earth.

So, as Jesus’ followers, we first witness God’s presence in Jesus. and then God equips us and sends us into the world to bear witness to God,
to embody God’s Word
and be more trustworthy and more loving to our neighbor.

That means
we look at the person next to us with the eyes of God,
we listen to them with the ears of God, and
we love them with the heart of God.

It takes all of us loving God with all our hearts to open ourselves to loving each other and our neighbors and seeing the vision of a beloved community fulfilled. With the gift of the commandments, God calls us to abundant life,
lived in covenant relationship:
believing that God desires to be at the center in our lives and relationships;
believing the other person is loved by God and has value because they are created by a loving and holy God;
and, believing the other person can teach us, so instead of being jealous or callous, we celebrate the rich variety of gifts God gives us, and welcome everyone in.

Let us pray.
Holy and life-giving God,
Thank you for the gift of your commandments to order our lives and relationships, that we would live out of your abundant grace and mercy so freely given to us.
Teach us to follow your laws and write them on our hearts that the whole world would know your love.
We pray in the name of Jesus, our Lord and Savior.

[i] Jana Reiss. The Twible.
[ii] Feasting on the Word: Year B, Volume 2: Lent through Eastertide (Feasting on the Word: Year B volume) (Kindle Location 2837). Presbyterian Publishing Corporation. Kindle Edition.
[iii] Feasting on the Word: Year B, Volume 2: Lent through Eastertide (Feasting on the Word: Year B volume) (Kindle Locations 2807-2808). Presbyterian Publishing Corporation. Kindle Edition.
[iv] Mark 12:29-31
[v] Feasting on the Word: Year B, Volume 2: Lent through Eastertide (Feasting on the Word: Year B volume) (Kindle Locations 2798-2799). Presbyterian Publishing Corporation. Kindle Edition.
[vi] Fr. Richard Rohr, Falling Upward. 57.