Tuesday, March 17, 2020

“God’s Commandments – Given as Gift” by Colleen O’Sullivan


“God’s Commandments – Given as Gift” by Colleen O’Sullivan


Moses spoke to the people and said:  “Now, Israel, hear the statutes and decrees which I am teaching you to observe, that you may live and may enter in and take possession of the land which the Lord, the God of your fathers, is giving you.  Therefore, I teach you the statutes and decrees as the Lord, my God has commanded me, that you may observe them in the land you are entering to occupy.  Observe them carefully, for thus will you give evidence of your wisdom and intelligence to the nations, who will hear of all these statutes and say, ‘This great nation is truly a wise and intelligent people.’  For what great nation is there that has gods so close to it as the Lord, our God, is to us whenever we call upon him?  Or what great nation has statutes and decrees that are as just as this whole law which I am setting before you today?  However, take care and be earnestly on our guard not to forget the things which your own eyes have seen, nor let them slip from your memory as long as you live, but teach them to your children and to your children’s children.”  (Deuteronomy 4:1, 5-9)

Jesus said to his disciples: “Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets.  I have come not to abolish but to fulfill.”  (Matthew 5:17)

Piety
Your words, Lord, are Spirit and life; you have the words of everlasting life.   (Verse before Today’s Gospel Reading)

Study
Jean-Léon Gérôme, Moses on Mount Sinai, c. 1895-1900, Public Domain, Wikimedia Commons

The story of God’s giving the commandments to Moses for the people of Israel (Exodus 19-20) used to scare me when I was a child.  Moses himself seemed like a rather forbidding individual as depicted in many works of art.  All the thunder and lightning, the clouds, the shaking of the mountain, the commandments and threats of punishment should they be transgressed made God seem rather frightening, not someone I’d like to contend with. 

But today as an adult, my image of God has changed and I imagine the conversation on the mountain top somewhat differently.  Yes, a lot of drama surrounds the event to keep before us the knowledge that God is totally Other.  But what if the conversation went something along these lines:  Moses, I want to give you a gift to take back to my people, a gift that will help you and them to remember who I am and who you all are.  There is a vast difference between being Divine and being human.   As much as you each might attempt to run your own show, the bottom line is that I am the Creator and you are my creatures.  People many times end up quite unhappy when they live as though they are lords of their own lives. So reserve your worship for me.  Chaos and unhappiness reign when you worship anything else.  Keep my name holy.  Don’t use it for anything other than addressing me.  And keep one day of the week for rest.  As you relax from your work, take time to remember how much I love you.  I created you from the dust of the earth.  I saved you from slavery in Egypt.  I am leading you all to the Promised Land.  Be filled with thanksgiving that you have a God who loves you so much.

I am also giving you guidelines on how to get along with one another.  You, yourself, Moses, took the life of another human being.  And you know the grief that caused you.  You had to leave everyone you ever knew and run a far way off.  These commandments that I give you are designed to make your lives easier, to keep you from suffering the consequences of hurting others or being wounded yourselves.  So don’t take another human being’s life.  Love and cherish the parents who brought you up.  Don’t tell lies about your brothers and sisters.  They only come back to haunt you in the end.  Don’t wish for what isn’t yours, whether it’s something that belongs to another or someone else’s husband or wife.  And, certainly, don’t take something that isn’t yours.  I am not a harsh taskmaster.  These together constitute my gift to help you live in peace with yourself, one another, and me, your God.

Moses goes back and tells God’s people that they, a tiny, politically insignificant people surrounded by greater and mightier peoples, will be the envy of those greater powers.  Israel’s God loves them.  No other people in the Ancient Near East could make that claim.  Other peoples’ gods in that time and place weren’t close to them.  This gift of the law from Israel’s God is a symbol of God’s great caring for Israel. Worshipping this God, keeping the commandments God has given, will make Israel look wise in the eyes of others, Moses says. 

Other peoples were afraid of their gods.  The Israelites had a God who encouraged them to call out whenever they needed God’s help.

It ‘s not difficult to see why Moses said that faithfulness to God’s commandments would make the people appear wise and intelligent in the eyes of all the surrounding nations.

Action
How do you regard God’s commandments?  Do you regard them as a gift?  Or do you chafe at the slightest mention of “rules?”   Do you want to be free to do your own thing?  Being human means, we are sinners.  Our “own thing” often leads us into trouble, either by drawing us away from the Lord or causing us to hurt someone else or ourselves.


Image credit:  https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:G%C3%A9r%C3%B4me,_Jean-L%C3%A9on_-_Moses_on_Mount_Sinai_Jean-L%C3%A9on_G%C3%A9r%C3%B4me_-1895-1900.jpg

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