Exodus 19:16-21:21; Matthew 23:13-39; Psalm 28:19; Proverbs 7:1-5
Pretty iconic stuff today, huh? Even people who have never
read the Bible are familiar with the Ten Commandments. The first movie my
76-year-old father ever saw in the theater was Charlton Heston's The Ten Commandments. Now days, it seems
unlikely they would make a movie about the Ten Commandments, but the subject
matter is still very familiar.
Still, I was struck afresh today as I read because for as
ancient as these commandments are, they are still so valuable and relevant to
today. Let’s look at a few –
“You shall have no other gods before me” (Exodus 20: 3), the
first and greatest commandment. God knew this would be a temptation for the
Israelites as they made it into the Promised Land and began to interact with
different cultures who had different gods. And it is still a huge temptation
for us today, one that we need to keep up a constant vigil against. Sure, we
may not be tempted toward Pantheism or Hinduism (though certainly Christians
have abandoned their faith to follow these ideas) but how easy is it to worship
our time? Or our money? Or treat our smart phone like it’s an idol we can’t
live without? I love this about God’s word – it is timeless.
Let’s look at another one. “Remember the Sabbath day, to
keep it holy. Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, but the seventh
day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work…” (20: 8-10).
As Christians, we have different views about the Sabbath than Orthodox views,
but the reason behind the commandment
is still as pertinent to us as to Moses’ original audience. In fact, I might
argue that the need for a Sabbath is even more important today, as constant
working has become so commonplace. A recent article by the Atlantic quoted a 2014 Gallup survey that showed that 80% of employees check emails at
home, including weekends. This is a staggering number. We are always “on” and
the pressure to produce, produce, produce is almost overwhelming. In the midst
of that, God calls us to rest. He calls us to trust him to provide. It really
is a matter of trust. We have to believe that God will take care of us, just as
he took care of the Israelites. This means we believe that God will help us to
gain favor with our boss, even if we take a day of the weekend to not check
emails. This means that if we’re a student, we trust that our studying has been
productive on the other 6 days of the week and we rest on the 7th. I
don’t believe it matters what day we rest; just that we rest. In that resting,
we proclaim to the world that God is enough.
One more, and I’ll try to be quicker. “You shall not covet
your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male
servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is
your neighbor’s” (20: 17). I don’t think I need to go into detail about the
importance of this commandment today. In the broken world in which we live, I’m
sure we’ve all see tragic examples of where envying leads – so much
overspending to keep up with your neighbors that you end up losing everything;
so much competing (in our own hearts) over whose kids are better are soccer
that we drive a wedge between our friends and cause our kids to hate the sport;
lust the leads to broken marriages. I know we’ve all seen examples of what
happens when we don’t follow God’s good and perfect commands.
This theme is even present in our New Testament reading
today, as Jesus calls out “Woe to you…” to the hypocrites, blind guides,
scribes and Pharisees. Jesus’ language to them is very strong, as it should be,
given that they are no longer following God’s commands, and are leading others
astray, all in the name of God. Thank goodness for the breath of fresh air in
the Psalms – “Blessed be the LORD! For he has heard the voice of my pleas for
mercy. The LORD is my strength and my shield; in him my heart trusts, and I am
helped; my heart exults, and with my song I give thanks to him” (Psalm 28:6-7).
Blessed be the LORD, indeed!
- Esther McCurry
How did God speak to you in Scripture today? Click here to share your reflections on God's word or read past posts. We'd love to hear from you.
No comments:
Post a Comment