From Law to Love, Exodus 20:1-17 & Matthew 22:34-40, 10/8/23
From Law to Love
Exodus 20:1-17 & Matthew 22:34-40
Rev. Dr. Rhonda Blevins
Then God spoke all these words, “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery; you shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself an idol, whether in the form of anything that is in heaven above or that is on the earth beneath or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, punishing children for the iniquity of parents to the third and the fourth generation of those who reject me but showing steadfast love to the thousandth generation of those who love me and keep my commandments. You shall not make wrongful use of the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not acquit anyone who misuses his name. Remember the Sabbath day and 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; you shall not do any work—you, your son or your daughter, your male or female slave, your livestock, or the alien resident in your towns. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but rested the seventh day; therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and consecrated it. Honor your father and your mother, so that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you. You shall not murder. You shall not commit adultery. You shall not steal. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, male or female slave, ox, donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.”
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When the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together, and one of them, an expert in the law, asked him a question to test him. “Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?” He said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.”
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Years ago, a colleague of mine had a poster on his wall entitled “All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten,” its wisdom based on a book by Robert Fulghum. Here’s what it said:
Share everything. Play fair. Don’t hit people. Put things back where you found them. Clean up your own mess. Don’t take things that are not yours. Say you’re sorry when you hurt somebody. Wash your hands before you eat. Flush. Warm cookies and cold milk are good for you. Live a balanced life—learn some and think some and draw and paint and sing and dance and play and work every day some. Take a nap every afternoon. When you go out into the world, watch out for traffic, hold hands, and stick together. Be aware of wonder. Remember the little seed in the Styrofoam cup . . . the roots go down and the plant goes up and nobody really knows how or why, but we are all like that. Goldfish and hamsters and white mice and even the little seed in the Styrofoam cup . . . they all die. So do we. And then remember the Dick-and-Jane books and the first word you learned—the biggest word of all—look.
“All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten.” That’s good wisdom, right? How old are most kids when they go to kindergarten and start interacting with the world beyond the family of origin? About five years old. Just old enough to learn some rules of engagement and some pro-social behavior. This set of classroom rules every kindergarten teacher has is a social contract—an ordering of life together so that the classroom doesn’t devolve into complete anarchy.
The children of Israel have been free from slavery in Egypt not five years, but roughly 50 days. Not only were they free from the bondage they had known for some 400 years, but they were completely free from any of Egypt’s governing laws as well. I wonder how long it took them to recognize that Egypt’s laws had no power over them? It is said, “If you take a fish out of its bowl and put it in the ocean, it will still swim in circles.” Were the Israelites like that? Slow to adapt to their newfound freedom? Still living under Egypt’s laws? Or were they starting to test the limits of their newfound freedom?
What would you do, if suddenly there was no law? Me? I’d turn left on the roundabout! Radical, I know.
I’m guessing the Israelites were beginning to test the boundaries of their newfound freedom 50 days into the desert. So it was time for God to extend the long arm of God’s law before the Israelites’ liberty devolved into lawlessness. Enter: the 10 Commandments.
Now, before we get into the how question—how that all played out—let’s consider the why question. Why would God issue a set of laws?
· Was it because God looked forward to punishing them when/if they couldn’t live up to these standards?
· Was it because God is a control freak and doesn’t want people to have any fun?
· Was it so that Charlton Heston could become famous for his role as Moses in the The Ten Commandments movie—the eighth most successful film of all time according to Guinness World Records?
No. None of the above.
Here’s the thing. God is doing a radical new thing with and for the Hebrew people. They started out as one couple, Abraham and Sarah. Then Isaac. Then Jacob. Jacob and his twelve sons end up in Egypt where they become slaves. Under the yoke of slavery, this one family grew in strength and numbers. Over 2.4 million by the time of the Exodus. They are no longer just one little family. And God is faithful to the promise God made to Abraham generations some 500 years prior. Do you remember that promise? It’s been a few weeks since we covered this (June 7 to be exact) . . .
Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. I will make of you a great nation.”
Genesis 12:1-2
God promised to make a “great nation” from Abraham and Sarah’s descendants. And now, some 500 years later, it’s finally happening.
In Exodus 19—right before we read about God issuing the 10 Commandments—God tells Moses to tell the people: “you shall be for me a priestly kingdom and a holy nation.” Does that sound familiar? God is finally fulfilling the promise! God is making legit nation out of Israel. By God’s mighty hand, this “nation building” dream is coming together brick by holy brick.
· Step 1: Have a whole lot of people? Check!
· Step 2: Independence from all other sovereign nations? Check!
· Step 3: Establish a government with laws to order life together?
That’s where the 10 Commandments come in. Let’s see if we can remember them . . .
1. You shall have . . . no other gods before me.
2. You shall not take . . . the name of the Lord your God in vain.
3. You shall remember . . . the Sabbath and keep it holy.
4. Honor your . . . father and mother.
5. You shall not . . . kill.
6. You shall not commit . . . adultery.
7. You shall not . . . steal.
8. You shall not . . . lie.
9. You shall not covet your neighbor’s . . . wife.
10. You shall not covet your neighbor’s . . . possessions.
11. Turn RIGHT on the roundabout. (OK, this is not actually part of the 10 commandments.)
These 10 Commandments are a great start if you’re going to create a brand-new nation! I couldn’t have done better myself. But as we will see, they are only a start. As the nation grows and evolves, more laws are added, the social contract expands. And by the time the Torah is complete (the first five books of the Hebrew canon), there are 613 laws.
Some of the laws are kind of weird, like some about clothing:
· Don’t wear clothes made from blended fabrics (Leviticus 19:19).
· You must have tassels on the four corners of the cloak you wear (Deuteronomy 22:12).
(Side note: there are lots of “biblical literalists” out there walking around in cotton/poly blends without four tassels. Just sayin’.)
Some of the laws are uncomfortable, like the law about Levirate marriage, which requires a man to marry his deceased brother’s widow. (Deuteronomy 25:5-10)
Some of the laws are difficult. For instance, there’s a whole chapter in Numbers that commands the Hebrews to sacrifice a cow if they touch a human corpse. And not just any old cow—a not-previously-yoked RED HEIFFER. (Numbers 19)
Then there are all the kosher laws: no barbequed pulled pork, no she-crab soup! I could go on.
10 Commandments. 613 laws.
It seems that the Hebrew people traded one oppression for another: once they were enslaved by Pharoah, eventually they became enslaved by their own laws—none more so than the Pharisees—the keepers of the law in Jesus’ day.
So it comes as no surprise that a Pharisee—an expert in the law—approaches Jesus one day to try to trap him with a question: “Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?” You see, this was likely a hot topic of the day, a popular debate among those learned in Jewish law. This question would surely trap Jesus—make him pick sides—align him with some while alienating him from others. But Jesus will not be trapped! Listen again to his wisdom: “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.”
Boom! Microphone drop!
According to Jesus, all of the 613 laws, all of the 10 commandments—they can all be boiled down to two simple rules of life: love God and love neighbor. In fact, it’s really one commandment directed two ways because it’s one and the same action verb: love.
Some of you know that our church recently received a grant from the Eli Lilly Foundation via Columbia Theological Seminary in Atlanta. The grant will enable us to work toward refining our mission statement, our vision, our values. This is very important work at a critical time in our life together. You see, as an interdenominational, non-doctrinal church, we don’t have a set of creeds or doctrines—a bullet-point list of beliefs someone must hold in order to be a member of this church. So sometimes, I’ll get a question about this, usually by someone from a tradition in which a set of beliefs is what unifies the church. These traditions orient their collective life around a particular “orthodoxy”—“ortho” meaning right or correct, “doxy” meaning belief or opinion.
There’s absolutely nothing wrong with orienting church life around a certain set of beliefs or “orthodoxy,” though there is a distinct drawback to “orthodoxy” as a central, unifying vision—orthodoxy is a recipe for division. This may be why there are over 30,000 different branches or “denominations” of the Christian tree (to “denominate” means to “divide.”) All of this division is far cry from Jesus’ prayer “that they might be one” from John 17. Certainly, we could establish a long, bullet-point list of beliefs that we’ll all adhere to. But whose beliefs? Well, mine obviously! (Let’s play with this scenario a little further, shall we?) “You don’t agree with my beliefs? That’s fine. Go start your own church!” Where would that leave me eventually? With a church of one!
Once upon a time a ship sailed past a desert island. The captain spotted a man who had been stranded there for years. The captain went ashore to rescue the man and he spotted three huts, so he asked the man, “What’s the first hut for?” “That’s my house,” replied the castaway. The captain then asked, “What’s the second hut for?” The castaway replied proudly, “That’s my church!” “And the third hut?” asked the captain. The castaway sneered and said, “Oh, that’s the church I used to go to.”
Even in a church of one, it's difficult to maintain unity when life is organized around beliefs or opinions or orthodoxy. Let’s face it, half the time, most of us are divided even within ourselves!
How then, might we organize our life together? Jesus gives us the recipe. And it’s not difficult. It’s not 613 laws about heifer blood and shrimp cocktail. It’s not even 10 commandments that spell out basic human decency. It IS the impetus behind all the law and the prophets. Two commandments with one and the same action verb. What is that verb?
Love.
Love God. Love neighbor. It’s really that simple. By simple, I don’t mean trite. Nor do I mean it’s always easy. What I mean is that Jesus made his will for us, his demand of us, crystal clear. It’s not ambiguous at all.
Love God. Love neighbor. It’s not about right belief . . . “orthodoxy” . . . “Thou shalt believe all the right things.” No, for Jesus, it’s all about right practice . . . “orthopraxy.” And that “praxy”—that practice or “doing”—begins and ends with one verb: love.
Jesus shifted the needle from law to love. And since our founding as a church in 1949, Chapel by the Sea has been continuing the work that Jesus started: shifting the needle from law to love. May we, on our watch, shift the needle even further as we orient our life together in the way Jesus: not around law, but around love.
Let us continue this good work, dear friends—this work toward the fulfillment of Jesus’ prayer, “That they might be one.” Let it be, dear Lord, let it be!