Bible Text: Exodus 20:1-4, 7-9, 12-20; Matthew 21:33-46 | Preacher: Rev. Jenn Geddes
While the late night tv host David Letterman has been retired since 2015, he was a mainstay in many homes for nearly 30 years before that. While I am sure many of you will remember his predecessor, Johnny Carson, I grew up with David Letterman. While I enjoyed the comedy routine and the interviews, every night we looked forward to the top 10 list. Often topical, often humorous, often a bit tongue in cheek, those top 10 lists could include anything from the political to the trivial and sometimes both. A little known fact is that the very first top ten list was introduced on Sept. 18th, 1985 and it was entitled, “The Top Ten Things that Almost Rhyme with Peas.” and re-watching that clip on you tube made me really question how a segment like that could take off. But night after night we looked forward to the witty humour of the top ten list. In reality this list was often a social commentary of the ridiculous and the serious events within American culture. These lists where symbols of what was affecting North America at the time. David Letterman’s top ten lists say a lot about the culture of the day. You can probably see where I am going with this, while not being funny or humorous or witty exactly, the ten commandments are essentially a top ten list for the Israelite people and they say a lot about who the Israelites were in that moment. They say even more about God.
Now before you think that my comparison of the ten commandments to the top ten lists of David Letterman is profane let’s have a look at the ten commandments. Like these top ten lists they act as commentary on the cultural values of the Israelites and they symbolize the covenant relationship between the divine and humanity. The danger with them is that they are so familiar for so many of us, even ingrained into our memories to the point that many can rhyme them off by heart, that we loose their meaning. We look at them and think, clearly they are a simple guide to living as God’s people. As long as you follow these top ten rules than you are living a life worthy of God. However, these laws are vastly different from the other 603 laws found within the Old Testament, they say a lot about the people of Israel and they symbolize much more than simple guidelines. In all the times we have heard or said the ten commandments we may not realize what makes them stand out from all the other laws. The form of the ten commandments does not lend itself to practical use. What I mean is these are not real laws. What makes them symbols more than laws is that there is no punishment attached to them. ALL other laws within the Old Testament, every other law listed in Exodus, Leviticus, and Deuteronomy, have a very clear formula in which it states if you do or don’t do X then Y will happen. Now, I’m not saying we should ignore them and go about coveting our neighbours’ livestock. One of the reasons that these laws are not followed by a list of consequences is because following them was not optional. This is what I mean when I say they are symbols rather than guidelines or a list rather than laws. Perhaps instead of seeing them as the ten commandments we should see them as, “The Top Ten Ways of maintaining a right relationship with God.”
Another name for the ten commandments is Decalogue. Which is what most scholars use when describing the ten commandments and that word says a lot about how the ten commandments are interpreted in academia. Decalogue is a combination of the Greek words deca, meaning ten, and logos, meaning word. These are ten words that symbolize the covenant relationship. A relationship for which we can truly be thankful! But in order for us to be thankful we must understand these commandments beyond memorization.
For the most part the Decalogue is about the covenant relationship between God and humanity, the first four commandments deal entirely with the identity of God and the Israelites’ identity within God’s identity. The very first verse of the ten commandments is, “I am the Lord your God who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.” The first four commandments highlight that God is a God of the past, present and future. That God is relational as well as historical and that God is tied to the people of Israel. The past anchors the present and future and knowledge of that history shapes the cultural identity as well as conduct.
The fifth commandment, honour you father and mother, act as an incredible link between the first four commandments which highlight the divine-human relationship with the remaining five commandments which highlight living in community. Clearly for the Israelites but even for modern Christians, the parental relationship is a metaphor for the divine-human relationship. Did you happen to also notice that the first four commandments are stated in the positive, meaning they say, “You shall” while the last five, which deal with human relationships, are stated in the negative, meaning they say, “You shall not.” Again the fifth commandment serves as a link because it is stated in the positive but it has to do with human relationships, which is of course what the last five commandments tackle.
Ethicist Callie Plenket-Brewton points out, “It is important to note that the structure of the Decalogue connects the laws that govern divine-human interactions with the laws that govern human relationships. Ethics thus find their grounding in the people’s religious experiences and vice versa. The form of the fifth commandment clearly links the two groups of laws and underscores the fact that ethical laws governing human relationships within the community have the same overall purpose as the cultic laws; shaping the people’s identity and character so that they correspond with the identity and character of God.”
How do these commandments link to Jesus’ parable and a more seasonal question is how do they link to Thanksgiving Sunday!? Within the parable Jesus describes a group of people who clearly do not follow the ten commandments, particularly those that have to do with human relationships. However, Jesus uses the parable to describe what is being done by the Scribes and Pharisees within the divine relationship. The parable states that proper care, proper compassion, proper oversight, and proper obedience of the people and things, of the land and harvest that are entrusted to us by God is essential; because the harvest, of people and land, do not belong to us rather it all belongs to Our Creator. A Creator who desires nothing more than to be in relationship with us and for us to be in relationship with others. A Creator who is willing to send his own Son into the negotiations even if it means death. A Creator who has given us a bounty of grace. A Creator who gave us ten clear words to live by. I want to close with a poem by Ontario poet Andrew King entitled The Ten Words. It was such a beautiful and appropriate poem for our scripture readings but also for thanksgiving. If you like it you can pick up a copy on the side table after the service.
THE TEN WORDS by Andrew King
(Exodus 20: 1-20)
This is a moment of new creation:
blast of a trumpet and fire and smoke
and the people gathered at the foot of a mountain,
Moses on the summit, receiving words:
words that are beacons, words that cast shadow,
words that are firesparks struck from stone,
words that are trumpet, calling to silence,
words that will echo through ages to come,
words that are the beating heart of a covenant,
words of requirement, words that are gift,
words that are bones in the body of a people,
words that are blood flowing into their veins,
words that are power, spoken to weakness,
words that are freedom because they are fence,
words that challenge us, words that summon us,
words that are song for a life-long dance,
words that are dwelling places, words of foundation,
words that are law, given in grace,
words that are signposts, words that are journey,
words that are a pathway pointing to peace.
This is a moment of new creation:
blast of a trumpet and fire and smoke
and we are the people at the foot of a mountain
and we have these words, our heart for their home.
Amen