Loving God, you make us your very own, calling us into relationship with you and showing us how to live in love.  Make your Holy Spirit active among us this day, filling us with your love and empowering us for life in you; through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

          We have heard today from Exodus nine verses and the first three commandments – the ones that have to do with our relationship with God.  As we think about these commandments, it is important to keep in mind what we heard last week.  God acts first in order to establish a relationship with us, and the commandments follow.  They are not a checklist, or a ladder that will eventually lead us to heaven, but a reflection of the relationship that we already have with God.  This is how children of God are to live - for the good of the community.

         The first commandment (but not the greatest, according to Jesus) is this: “You shall have no other gods before me” (Ex. 20:3).  In other words, there is one God who is Lord of heaven and earth, and who has saved and redeemed us, and who is the giver of life. There are other things that might pass for gods, or even people who pretend to be gods, but none of them even come close to the one true God.

         For some of us, we read the next few verses in Exodus and get thrown off track.  We hear about making idols and graven images and bowing down to them, and we figure that there’s not much chance of us doing that. And then we get to the part about God punishing children for the sins of their parents and we get stuck there, wondering why God would ever do such a thing.  However, we need to read all of it in order to understand.

         The context is worshiping other gods.  When parents turn away from the one true God in order to worship idols, their children do suffer because of it.  They suffer, not because God is stepping in and doling out punishment, but because their parents have not taught them the ways of the one, true, life-giving God.  There is also, of course, the second part of the equation, which we might say is just as unfair.  For those who love God and keep God’s commandments, God promises steadfast love to their children and to their children’s children even to the thousandth generation!  That is what God is like!

         For us, though, we have a slightly different selection of false gods to choose from than the people of Israel did.  Martin Luther’s explanation of the first commandment goes something like this: “We are to fear, love, and trust God above all things” (Small Catechism).  The basic question for us is what comes first in our lives.  Is it God?  Is it family? Is it the almighty dollar?  Is it sports?  Is it video games?  Is it social media?  Is it our prized possessions?  Is it something else?... What or whom do we revere and love and trust above all else?...

         As for misusing God’s name, surely this is connected to loving God above all else.  Our thoughts, I suspect, immediately turn to cursing and swearing.  However, the original meaning probably had more to do with swearing oaths.  And so, a person might invoke God’s name in order to swear that they are innocent or to swear that they didn’t do something.  If this is, in fact, a lie, this is an even greater misuse of God’s name.

         Once again, the explanation from Luther’s Small Catechism is helpful.

We are to fear and love God, so that we do not curse, swear, practice magic, lie, or deceive using God’s name, but instead use that very name in every time of need to call on, pray to, praise, and give thanks to God. (EvLW, p. 1160)

And so, cursing and swearing are there.  Lying and deceiving are there.  And, the good uses of God’s name are there, for part of our relationship with God is praying and praising and giving thanks.  God’s name is not a magic formula, but a way in which we may approach God in prayer and worship.

         As we come, then, to remembering the Sabbath, many discussions turn immediately to Sunday shopping or to sports on Sunday mornings.  While these things are certainly part of this discussion, that is not the whole story.  Throughout the Old Testament Law, we find references to the sabbath and to what is acceptable or unacceptable on the sabbath day.  Ultimately, the sabbath was given as a day for worship, rest and justice. We don’t usually think about the justice part, but some have referred to this commandment as the first fair labour law. Even those who were slaves were to be given the day off so that they could worship.  On the sabbath, it is people over profit.

         God gives the sabbath for the good of the people, yet you may have noticed that even the beasts of burden were to be given a day of rest.  In the sabbatical laws, which are simply an extension of the sabbath, every seventh year the land was also to be given a rest.  It was not to be cultivated or seeded or harvested.  Whatever grew of itself was to be left there for the poor so that they, too, would be cared for. This was also the year where the slaves were to be set free, and any debts were to be canceled.  Each of these things was intended for those who needed the most help.

         Interestingly enough, Martin Luther points to preaching and the word of God as the most important things to associate with the sabbath.  “We are to fear and love God,” he says, “so that we do not despise preaching or God’s word, but instead keep that word holy and gladly hear and learn it” (Small Catechism).  Now, while this is definitely related to worshiping together, there is also the whole matter of hearing and learning God’s word. This same word that Luther points to always teaches us about God’s justice, as we continue to learn and to grow in Christ.  And ultimately, in a community where everybody does not observe the same sabbath, it is up to each person to figure out how they will manage to have a day dedicated to worship, rest and justice (which is not easy these days!).  It is for our own good, and for the good of our relationship with God.

         Now, if you have trouble remembering 10 commandments, or even just the three that we focused on today, remember Jesus’ answer to the question of the greatest commandment:

“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 (Mt. 22:37-40).

Thanks be to God!  Amen.

Pentecost 2 (NL summer)                                      Exodus 20:3-11

June 3, 2018                                                            Matthew 22:34-40

St. Luke’s Zion Lutheran Church

Pastor Lynne Hutchison

© 2018 Lynne Hutchison  All Rights Reserved