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| Emmeline the law giver around the time when she gave out her commandments! |
This sermon was preached on March 3, 2024 at the Episcopal Church of the Holy Apostles in Hoover, Alabama. The readings for this the Third Sunday in Lent are as follows:
©2024 The Rev. Seth Olson
Video of this sermon may be found here.
Holy God, let my words be your words and when my words are not your words, let your people be wise enough to know the same. Amen.
In addition to being the father of two little ones. I also am an uncle with multiple nieces and nephews. My eldest niece, Emmeline, is a ninth grader in Vestavia Hills. When she was about four years old, she came up with a series of rules that my family still occasionally shares to this day:
1. Don't flush anything but the toilet.
2. Never yell at your daughter—if you are a mama or a daddy.
3. At no time wear a two-parted dress—unless you are in a pageant.
4. Be careful where you step.
5. Light Rules: If the power goes out, so do the lights. Add on to the light rule: Don't go in the bathroom with the lights out. It's scary.
6. Bubble Bath: Don't use too much, it'll hurt your bottom.
7. Tall towel rack: Don't try to touch it till you are 15 or at least 11.
8. Fish: If a fish bites, your skin will grow back.
9. Mirror: If you look in a mirror and see Emmeline, it might not really be the real one.
10. Princesses: You don't ever, ever get near one when they are busy.
Those were ten rules from my niece, and they are important, worthwhile pieces of wisdom. In today’s lesson from Exodus, we also heard a set of ten (more well-known) rules that we remember as the Ten Commandments. As the People of Israel had escaped Egyptian captivity through the Red Sea, this was a set of laws, so that they could live well together in community.
The first three commandments prioritize our relationship with God. Here's how I interpret them:
1. There is one God and we are to put no other before God.
2. Do not put anything in the place of God.
3. Do not misrepresent God—either by using God’s name in vain (we often call that cursing) or more importantly telling other people something about God that is not true (i.e. that God hates a certain group of people).
The other seven commandments set about how we can be in relationship with one another:
4. We need rest. We are not able to work continuously. God took a sabbath and so should we!
5. Family is important, especially your elders. Treat your people with respect – we might expand that to mean all people (not just biological relationships).
6. Do no murder. Non-violence is the way! Root out violence in our lives.
7. Do not commit adultery. Treat covenantal relationships with respect. We might go so far as to root out lust.
8. Do not steal. Root out greed.
9. Do not bear false witness, aka lying. Tell the truth!
10. Do not covet. Practice gratitude for what you have.
Through the years these ten commandments made like bunny rabbits and grew and grew and grew. In total there exist 613 rules from the Hebrew (Old) Testament. I imagine it gets challenging to know all these rules let alone to follow every one of them. Even the 10 Commandments are difficult. By the time we get to over six hundred rules though it’s hard to keep up with them—enter Jesus.
When Jesus arrived, it was not as though these laws were to be abolished by the Advent of Christ. You may recall that Jesus came not to destroy the law, but to fulfill it. Still, living by a code of 613 laws had to be a bit paralyzing, like how walking down the cereal aisle is overwhelming with choices, this would be overwhelming with rules.
Often that was what those faithful Jewish people in Jesus’ day would have felt. If you’ve been in the Adult Formation Class on The Last Week by Borg and Crossan this story from today’s Gospel lesson will sound familiar. Except in Mark’s Gospel account, Jesus’ “temple tantrum” happened during the last week of Jesus’ life—what we call Holy Week.
Jesus was not mad at the Jewish people for being Jewish. That’s preposterous and something to push against! Dr. Amy-Jill Levine, a Scriptural Scholar at Vanderbilt University, a faithful Jewish woman, and an advisor to us in the Episcopal Church in how to eradicate antisemitism in our readings, warns of the violence that can occur if we think that Jesus, in this passage or others from John was set against fellow Jewish people. Jesus was a faithful Jewish man. He wasn’t against the practice of Judaism. He didn’t come to destroy the law; he came to fulfill it.
In this passage from John what we can discover is that Jesus was aiming to disturb what had been happening in the Temple. He was worried that rule-following and the worship of God had replaced justice and caring for God’s people. When worship replaces justice, we miss the point of our Faith. The Ten Commandments from Exodus (and elsewhere) are very much justice focused.
Still, rules as Jesus said about the Sabbath are made for people, not the other way around. We benefit from having rules, if and only if, they lead to a deepening of our relationships with self, neighbor, creation, and God. We benefit from rules if they lead to right relationship and putting love into action—another way of describing justice.
We all might be somewhat aware that Jesus summarized the Law (including the Ten Commandments) and the Prophets in a two-sided commandment. That is to say, when asked for the greatest commandment he gave a two-part answer—Love God with everything and love your neighbor as yourself.
How do we love God? Not just by worshipping him. Three parts really:
1. We love God by serving our neighbor—you’ve heard of the Golden Rule. Do you know the platinum rule? Love not as we want to be loved, but we are curious enough to wonder—how would you like to be loved?
2. Implicit in this is a love for ourselves. We love God by loving ourselves—treating ourselves with dignity.
3. We love God by loving Creation and treating it well enough that we will be proud to pass this earth along to the next generations.
If we replace justice (remember: love in action) with empty worship, we will find ourselves in much the same position that the moneychangers found themselves. Maybe Jesus won’t be fashioning a whip from our altar hangings, but the point is nonetheless the same. What we do in worship is meant to inspire and change us. It’s to point us towards what is worthwhile in this life! The rules God sets before us are to provide boundaries such that we more easily know how to live in community and love our neighbors.
As we move ever nearer to Holy Week, to Jesus’ death, to the Cross, may we see all the more clearly our path in following the Way of Christ. May we treat ourselves with respect and dignity, so that we can reach out to others in love. May we love all our neighbors as they want to be treated. May we bless this creation, so that it may be restored and healed and worth passing along to our children and our children’s children. May we love God by not only worshipping, but also by living just lives full of God’s self-giving, all-encompassing, and never-ending LOVE!
Beloveds, love—this is a rule worth always following! Amen.
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