Rebecca Sheridan
Sunday, October 7, 2018
Exodus 19:3-7, 20:1-17

This morning we have another opportunity to reflect on the Ten Commandments and their relevance for our lives today. It’s amazing to me how this simple set of rules, given to a completely different culture living thousands of years ago could still be used as a guide for life by us today, with relatively little need for translation! We had the opportunity to dig into the Ten Commandments more in-depth this summer, so today I want to look at them as a whole, thinking about when laws are helpful for our lives, and when they’re not so helpful.
Lutherans approach scripture looking at both what is law and gospel in the text. At first read, the Ten Commandments are simply laws, right? Follow these rules, and you’ll be good with God, we think. But there is actually good news in this passage from Exodus that we have before us today, too. First of all, we hear why God established these laws to live by in the first place: because God loves us. God wants to be in healthy relationship with us, and God wants us to be in healthy relationships with one another. Rules and laws are necessary for any healthy relationship, whether it be laws to govern a nation, bylaws for a standing committee or church council, promises we make to one another in a marriage with our wedding vows, an employee handbook at work, and so on. Rules are helpful for us to know what’s OK and what’s not OK in our relationships with one another. You can take a minute to think about which rules and laws in your own life help you be in better relationships with one another. There are probably also a few rules or laws you can think about that you find burdensome, or not so helpful, like speed limits when you’re in a rush, for example!
The other piece of good news in these chapters from Exodus is that God’s love far exceeds God’s anger when we break any of these commandments. Rabbis have interpreted the passage to mean that God’s love is 500 times stronger than God’s anger, because of God’s reference to anger on the third or fourth generation, but love for the 1000th generation. Similar to a loving relationship with our parents, God’s love and forgiveness is far greater than God’s punishment or consequences for breaking any one of the commandments.
At this point, it could be helpful to know how Lutherans understand the law in juxtaposition with gospel whenever we encounter laws in scripture and in our society today. The Formula of Concord was established in 1577 by Lutheran Reformers, after Martin Luther’s death, and it explains our understanding that the law has three uses. First, the law curbs our sin. Laws, whether legal laws or the ten commandments, serve as a deterrent when we fear punishment. It “stops the open outbreak of sin that will do even further damage.” So for example, the law functioning as a curb may be that I don’t want to commit adultery because I fear that subsequently my spouse will divorce me, in addition to fearing that God will be angry with me. Secondly, the law serves as a mirror. If there are times when we start to get a little too full of ourselves, thinking we’ve got this life thing pretty well figured out, and hey, I haven’t killed anybody or slept with anybody other than my spouse so, I’m good, the law says, “wait a second.” The law as a mirror reminds us of our sin, that we are in need of Christ’s forgiveness and grace because we cannot measure up. When we start to rely on our own efforts to save ourselves by thinking if we just check off those Ten Commandments we’ll be good with God, God holds up a mirror to show us that we still need God – apart from Christ we can do nothing.
And thirdly, the law serves as a guide, and this is probably my favorite understanding of the Ten Commandments, because this is where the law can be good news for us. Thank God we have this gift from God of ten ways we can live in better relationship with God and with one another. We don’t have to guess at what God wants for us. Empowered by the gospel of forgiveness and righteousness because of Christ, we can then strive to live by these rules with the freedom in Christ God gives us. When we mess up, we can rely on God’s forgiveness.
It’s probably easiest to understand how the law can work as a curb, mirror, and guide for us with an example, so here’s one for me personally. Recently, some of you know that I have taken on a new exercise routine. We are preparing to go skiing in Colorado in January, and I am in no shape to spend even a day on the snowy slopes at this point, so I started doing a daily routine to build up my muscle strength. My motivation also started with a curb: at my annual physical, I learned that my cholesterol levels were quite high. This is hereditary in my family, but I knew I could improve those levels by trying to eat better and exercise more regularly. I fear the effects of heart disease, so this got me motivated to get back into shape. I also literally looked in the mirror and thought after having two kids, I can do better than this. And finally, my commitment to these new rules to exercise daily is a guide – I enjoy having more energy and feeling stronger, I can look forward to skiing as a reward along the way, and I can see how regular exercise improves my life. Sometimes I miss a day or two: I break the rules, so to speak, but the grace I give to myself which I believe comes from God is that as long as I stick with my new routine in general, it’s OK if I sometimes miss a day.
The Ten Commandments are not unreasonable – they’re quite simple rules, really, but if you take time to reflect on each of them, the mirror you see of yourself helps you realize there have been times when you have not honored your mother and father, or kept the Sabbath day, or times when you have coveted your neighbor’s stuff. God loves you five hundred times more than he is angry with you for not living up to those rules. God sent his only son into the world to die and be raised for us so that we don’t have to live in constant fear and guilt for not being able to follow these rules. But God does still today encourage us to live in the freedom of the Ten Commandments as a guide for living, for the health and wellbeing of ourselves, our neighbors, and the world. Amen.