July 24, 2022
Exodus 20: 12-16
For the parents and grandparents among us, this might sound familiar…

You give your child some instructions aimed at keeping them out of trouble or protecting them from harm … like don’t climb that tree … or don’t run around the pool … and the response is simply “why?”

You try your best to flesh out the details … explaining why they need to do or not do something … and the response is again “why?”

Depending on your level of patience … you might get to the point where you finally say, “Because I said so.”

When it comes to rules, kids are like a lot of us … we want details … we want to know where the boundaries are … we want to know what the penalties are if we don’t listen … it’s part and parcel of being free. 

We’ve looked at the Book of Exodus during the past two weeks.

God had freed the people from bondage … protected them from violence as they journeyed out of Egypt … nourished them as they made their way through the wilderness and to the base of Mount Sinai.

The people have cleansed themselves and been consecrated. They have prepared themselves for what is to come.

On the third day after they arrive, the air is filled with thunder and lightning … smoke hides a upper reaches of the mountain … trumpet blasts from on high are deafening. The mountain trembles from the power of God.

God has the people’s attention and they are also trembling … anticipating what is to come. 

Moses answers God’s trumpet call and climbs the summit to receive instructions for what comes next for the people. 

God wanted Moses to tell the people what God had told him … when we think of the ten commandments we picture Moses lugging two tablets with the commandments etched into them by the finger of God down the mountain. 

But … so far … there is no mention of tablets … instead God wants the people to hear directly from Moses.

Last week, we heard of the commandments that are to guide the people’s relationship with God. Now, we look at commandments that focus on our place within community.

The commandments that appear in today’s passage are what is known as “the Second Table.”

These commandments are the ones that serve as guides for relationships in a covenantal community.

The instructions are intended to protect the people and creation and to serve as guideposts for enjoying loving relationships. These love-filled, respectful relationships would mark an abundant life in the priestly kingdom … a community formed by the people who are treasured by God.

If you look carefully … each one of the commandments protects a different aspect of a person’s life.

One thing to notice about God’s commandments to the people is that there isn’t a lot of details being offered. God simply says “do” or “don’t do” and that’s that. No more detail is needed.  Honour your parents … don’t steal … don’t commit adultery … don’t bear false witness.

The people aren’t told how to meet God’s call …the commandments are given in love and love serves as the framework and motivation for life in  this community. So, without the details the people are left to determine how best to love God and neighbour.

Keeping the commandments are about how a liberated … a freed … person should live. This morning’s text covers the people’s obligation to one another … both within their families and within the greater community.

It is the guide for how to share the love they have freely received from God.

The commandments do not mention any punishments or negative results if they are ignored or broken … the commandments aren’t a legal document … although they are considered law. The commandments are a moral code offered through God’s love for the people and as a means for people to share that love and respect with their neighbours.

For some, the commandments are a means to measure other’s shortcomings or our own righteousness. That seems to be a misuse of the commandments and misses the point of the lessons within the Book of Exodus.

At its core, the Book of Exodus is about belonging.

How a community is formed. What it means to belong to a community … what it means for you … what it means for others … and what are our responsibilities to others. It is about accepting God’s gracious invitation to be in relationship … and the sense of security and peace that is fostered within it.

It’s important to remember that when Moses shared God’s instructions, that he was speaking to specific group of people … the Israelites … who lived through a shared experience of displacement … suffering … and uncertainty. 

In that sense, the commandments can be viewed as exclusionary … that they are what would mark lives for those who had been freed and journeyed through the wilderness and no one else.

That changed later with Jesus’ appearance on the scene. 

The covenant that was struck between God and those freed from bondage came to include anyone who came through faith. Jesus moved the boundaries of the community.

We’re sharing the same gospel passage during July.

This has been done partly to stress the call to love … but also because Jesus’ response to the lawyer’s question lands on both tables in the commandments … love God is table one and love our neighbours is table two.

Throughout the gospels, Jesus breaks the rules … associating with those the community considers undesirable … healing on the sabbath … getting commercial interests out of the temple. Each act, is in keeping with the commandments … even if they went against the traditions and rules of the religious authorities or of Roman rulers.

Love God … love neighbours … that is the direction the Spirit moves us. That is the direction in which we are called.

This Spirit that has filled us since baptism frees our hearts … while at the same time … guides us in how we apply the commandments in our lives and how they shape our relationship with the world.

This spirit calls us to move the boundaries of the community, as well. It calls us to share God’s love and grace with those around us … regardless. Because through such acts … guided by the commandments that have been written on our hearts … others will know that they too are treasured … and that they too belong.

AMEN