Loving God, you have borne us on eagles' wings and have made us your own treasured possession.  Make us aware this day of the love that you have for us, and empower us by your Spirit to treat others with that same love; through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

            We are going to be spending the next few weeks focusing on the Ten Commandments (or the ten words, as they are called in Hebrew – cf. Deut. 4:13).  Today, we didn’t actually hear any of the Ten Commandments in the readings.  What we heard instead is the basis for the Ten Commandments.  God begins, not by giving commandments, but by setting the people free and establishing a relationship with them.  This is also how God begins with us.  I invite you today to hear the words in Exodus not just as God’s message to the Israelites, but also as God’s message to us.

         One of the images that is used to describe God’s relationship with us is this: “I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself” (Ex. 19:4).  In thinking about actually being carried on eagles’ wings, most of the references that I have seen are to a mother eagle teaching her little ones how to fly.  In one description, the mother first demonstrates how to fly, then nudges one of the little ones out of the nest.  The little one most likely doesn’t manage to fly on the first try, and the mother swoops underneath and catches the baby eagle on her back.  Other descriptions include the mother eagle hovering either above or below the young one, ready to come to the rescue if needed. The equivalent with tiny humans would be teaching them how to walk.  At first the parents are right there, ready to catch them, until they are finally able to walk on their own.

         Just imagine, as children of God, that God is hovering just above us or just below us, ready to catch us if we fall, and teaching us to be the people that we were always intended to be. Just as eagles are made to fly and humans are made to walk and run, so all of us are created in the image of God and are made for love.  God does not start with commandments, but with this relationship.  It is a relationship that is not just with us as individuals, but with the whole community.

         As the passage in Exodus 19 continues, some different images are used to describe God’s relationship with the people of Israel and with us: a treasured possession, a priestly kingdom, and a holy nation (19:5-6).  We are reminded that the whole earth belongs to God, but God’s own people will be a treasured possession.  All people and all creatures belong to God, but those who are in a relationship with God – part of a covenant with God – are treasured above all others.  That covenant with God now is through Jesus Christ, and we sometimes refer to it as the baptismal covenant that God makes with us.

         As for the priestly kingdom and holy nation, listen to these words from 1 Peter in the New Testament: “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people” (2:9).  The same images that are used to describe the people of Israel in the Old Testament are now used to describe those who are part of the new covenant – those who believe in Jesus and have become part of the body of Christ.  We, too, are described as a priestly kingdom and a holy nation.  So what does that actually mean?

         When you are a priest, it means that you go to God on behalf of others and that you go to others on behalf of God.  Certainly, in the Lutheran understanding of things, all those who believe in Jesus Christ are priests (the priesthood of all believers).  In other words, any one of you can pray directly to God, can confess directly to God, and can pray for others.  In the same way, any of you can announce God’s blessing or God’s forgiveness to one another, or speak God’s word to one another.  We don’t need a specially consecrated go-between in order to approach God.

         As for being a holy nation, to be holy is to be set apart for God.  It is the Holy Spirit who does this, especially when we are baptized, and also at other times throughout our lives.  It is God who makes us holy.  It is not something that we can do ourselves.  It is also not something that happens after we have kept all the commandments!

         People seem to have this idea about the Ten Commandments that they are kind of like a stairway to heaven.  You keep all of the commandments, and that’s your ticket to get in.  However, that is not why the commandments were given.  And, if it were actually possible for us to just keep all of the commandments, that would make Jesus totally unnecessary.

         No.  The commandments were given as a reflection of the relationship that God has already initiated with us.  God has already set us free from sin and death.  God has already claimed us as God’s very own children.  God has already saved us through Jesus Christ and made us holy through the Holy Spirit.  And so, because we have this relationship with God, the commandments are given for the good of the community.  Some of them have to do with our relationship with God (which is usually called the first table), and some of them have to do with our relationship with our neighbours (usually referred to as the second table).

         And in Jesus’ case, he pointed to just two commandments that pretty much cover the first table and the second table.  Love God with all your heart and soul and mind, and love your neighbour as yourself. “On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets” (Mt. 22:40).  And if you heard Archbishop Michael Curry preaching at the royal wedding, you will have heard beyond the shadow of a doubt that it all comes down to love.  God has first loved us.  Therefore, let us live in love for one another.  Thanks be to God!  Amen.

Holy Trinity (NL summer)                                       Exodus 19:1-6; 20:1-2

May 27, 2018                                                           Matthew 22:34-40

St. Luke’s Zion Lutheran Church

Pastor Lynne Hutchison

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