Sermon: The Ten Commandments
11 March 2012
Rev. Barry W. Szymanski, J.D.
Minister of Pastoral Care
First Congregational Church of Wauwatosa

COMMENTARY ON THE GOSPEL

Today’s Gospel reading begins with Jesus at the time of Passover. Passover is the commemoration of the exodus of the Jewish people from slavery to freedom. The Passover meal was a central part of the remembrance, and praying in the Temple was an important part of the observance, which is why many people traveled to Jerusalem to the Temple to pray.

What happened in the passage you will soon hear is there was a major confrontation between Jesus and the High Priests of the Temple. You will see why in just a minute. The Temple was a complex of courtyards, which surrounded the Most Holy Place in the Temple itself. These were the courtyards where people went to pray. There was a courtyard for women, a courtyard for lepers, a courtyard for non-Jews, that is, the Gentiles who believed in the one God, but were not Jews; there was the courtyard for Jewish men, which was the closest courtyard, and the Chamber for the Priests, and then, of course, the Most Holy Place, which was extremely limited in who could enter.

In order to make a sacrifice, every person had to buy cattle, sheep, or doves, depending on their income. But they could not use Roman coins. That would be to mix pagan money with the Temple. So moneychangers would exchange Roman coins for Temple currency. Then people could purchase the cattle, sheep, or doves, for sacrifice to God.

What Jesus was upset about was that since the City of Jerusalem was so crowded with people, the moneychangers moved their tables into the Temple courtyards. These were the courtyards that were to be used for prayer! But now, they were filled with money- changers! Jesus was, to say the least, extremely upset.

Picture the scene in the Gospel:

THE GOSPEL

John 2:13-22 [Jesus Cleanses the Temple]

“The Passover of the Jews was near, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In the temple he found people selling cattle, sheep, and doves, and the moneychangers seated at their tables. Making a whip of cords, [Jesus] drove all of them out of the temple, both the sheep and the cattle. [Jesus] also poured out the coins of the moneychangers and overturned their tables. He told those who were selling the doves, ‘Take these things out of here! Stop making my Father’s house a market-place!’ [Jesus’] disciples remembered that it was written, ‘Zeal for your house will consume me.’ The [Jewish authorities] then said to him, ‘What sign can you show us for doing this?’ Jesus answered them, ‘Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.’ [They] then said, ‘This temple has been under construction for forty-six years, and will you raise it up in three days?’ But [Jesus] was speaking of the temple of his body. After [Jesus] was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this; and they believed the scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken.”

Exodus 20:1-17 - The Ten Commandments

“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 worship 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. For six days you shall labour 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. Honour 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 neighbour. You shall not covet your neighbour’s house; you shall not covet your neighbour’s wife, or male or female slave, or ox, or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbour.”

SERMON

This morning we heard the Ten Commandments. There are many puns, such as the Ten Suggestions. We tend to look at the last seven as being do-nots. These ‘don’ts’ impact our lives. The Commandments were written as ‘don’ts’ for a people that needed high fences so they would clearly know when they crossed over the line.

If we try to live a good life, defined perhaps as a moral life, and live it according to the ‘golden rule,’ which is to ‘treat others as you want to be treated’ then the commandments really stand tall.

For example, there is the commandment that tells us that we are not to steal. Stealing is also a crime. But crimes are not Commandments. Commandments are Commandments. Can you imagine if the civil authorities could arrest you for coveting your neighbor’s wife or husband? Or for desiring the car in their driveway? Or wanting their boat? Or longing for their four-top outdoor gas grill with built-in oven? The thought-police would arrest everyone!

We all desire things. Images of sexy looking people help sell things. We stop and look. Advertisers take advantage of our weaknesses. We are desiring, longing, passion-filled coveting people! Therefore the Commandments tell us not to desire spouses who are married to other people, and not to yearn for stuff we do not own, and, even more direct, not to take stuff by stealing it and not to commit adultery.

What is all this built on? It is constructed on our basic humanity. The Ten Commandments are rules of life based upon the golden rule. By the way, the golden rule is not “He who has the most gold rules.” The golden rule stated by Jesus is recorded in the Gospel of Matthew at 7:12a: “In everything do to others as you would have them do to you.” We don’t want other people taking our stuff. We would like to trust people. We don’t want other people making a play for our spouses. We would like to trust people. We don’t want other people walking into our houses and planning their next burglary when we are not home.

Picture someone coming into your house and seeing expensive artwork or your brand new garden tractor in your garage, and commenting on how terrific it is, and then immediately asking what hours you work, or when you are going on your next vacation. Might you be a bit nervous when you are gone from your house? Might you be a bit nervous if your grown children ask if they can purchase a four-million dollar life insurance policy on your life --- and tell you it is because they love you and will miss you when you are gone?

The Ten Commandments are based on real life. One of the Commandments tells children to ‘Honor father and mother’. The Commandment continues by stating that you should do so “so that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.” In other words, this Commandment is the golden rule for parents and children! ‘You, children, are to honor your parents, so that your days, when you are a parent, may be long . . .’ That last phrase, “. . . in the land that the Lord your God is giving you” relates to the covenant which God made with Moses and God’s people.

The Ten Commandments are based upon our covenant with God. We must ask what God wants of us who enter into covenant with Him? The answer is stated in the first three Commandments: In the first of these three God commands that we “. . . shall have no other gods before [Him]”. What gods do we place before God himself? What gods do we have?

That Commandment, the first of the three, continues when God explains this further: “You shall not make for yourself an idol, whether in the form of anything . . .” Is illegal use of a prescription drug a god? Is illicit sex a god? Is embezzlement a god? Is control over others a god? Is power grabbing a god? Is hiding from reality a god? Is ______ a god?? In other words, what are our idols? What do we idolize? What is idolatry?

The second of these three commandments is this: “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.” When we were in early Sunday school we were taught that if we hit our finger with a hammer we were not to utter the name of Jesus or God. Now we are adults. We still are not to utter the name of Jesus or God if we hit our finger with a hammer. But we are also not to persecute anyone by declaring that we are acting ‘in the name of the Lord God’.

We are not to judge people by pretending that we are judging ‘in the name of the Lord God’. We are not to penalize individuals by creating a fiction that we are serving ‘in the name of the Lord God’. We are not to maltreat groups of people, whether by gender, orientation, occupation, country of origin, age, or background by presuming that we are stand-in’s for God and doing so ‘in the name of the Lord God’.

The Lord God tells us what the punishment is for wrongfully using the name of the Lord God: “. . . for the Lord will not acquit anyone who misuses his name.” The third of these three Commandments is of great benefit to us. Yet we horribly ignore it.

I will read this Commandment:

“Remember the Sabbath day, and keep it holy. For six days you shall. . . work. But the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God; you shall not do any work . . . the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and consecrated it.” Statistics tell us that well more than half of the people in the U.S. do not attend church on Sundays. And we don’t need statistics to tell us that almost all of us work at something on Sundays. Working on Sundays is part of our culture. Yet we should ask if we have lost something because of our ‘culture’.

Often children cannot attend Sunday School because of soccer and baseball games routinely scheduled on Sunday mornings. Store clerks must report to malls early on Sunday mornings to open stores for us to shop. I am not saying that we should close all stores and athletic games. But I am reminding myself that there is Sabbath time.

The Commandment states that God wants Sabbath time to be holy – a blessed and consecrated time! There should be time set aside just for God – our jealous God wants time from us! The Jewish people were singular for thousands of years in not working one day a week. Non-Jews were perplexed. However, because of this third Commandment the six-day workweek became standard. Eventually it became a five-day workweek. But Sabbath became lost.

Even the concept of ‘sabbatical leaves’ is lost in schools for professors and for ministers in most churches. I leave to you as to how you continue to bless your Sabbath. You are here – you are consecrating about two hours of your time. In our society, you are now the exception.

What I want to leave you with is this: there must be some time, which you consecrate to God; there must be some time when you need a Sabbath— and that is weekly -- not monthly or quarterly. These are God’s commandments. I have not read anywhere where they have been repealed, or revoked, or rescinded. The Commandments are two sides of a coin. On one side are God’s demands of us, a people who often need clear cut demarcations of what is required of us: ‘Do not steal or murder or take God’s name in vain; but also honor your parents; and honor God, at least for one day a week.’ On the other side are rules for right ordering of life: You have the right to your own life; you have the right to have your marriage vows respected by others; you have the right not to have people lie about you by giving false witness; you have the right to observe the Sabbath, which also gives you a chance to rest for one day! Jesus obeyed every single one of these Commandments.

When Jesus experienced what was happening in the Temple, the central place for worship of His Father on this entire earth at that time, his zeal consumed him. Imagine Jesus’ zeal to live out the Commandments – and imagine his zeal that God’s house be a house of prayer. Walking with Jesus demands an intensity in our own lives.

Sometimes the idea of loving God with all of our heart and mind seems overwhelming; and loving our neighbor may seem almost impossible. We can start with the Ten Commandments.

We learned that originally there were fifteen Commandments in the historical movie, with ‘historian’ Mel Brooks, and ‘professors’ Gregory Hines and Dom DeLuise, called History of the World, Part I. In that movie we learned that the third tablet with Commandments 11, 12, 13, 14 and 15 were broken. While that movie was a comedy, we did learn that commandments could be broken. Let us not break the Ten Commandments we do have! Amen.