Back home in Chicago, when I worked in community mental health, I’d, fairly regularly, get subpoenaed to testify in cases of child neglect and abuse. The routine went as follows: I’d be served and immediately take the subpoena to the DA’s office, who’d then direct me as to the next steps. But, regardless of how routine, I’d be nervous, wondering if my documentation was up to snuff. Fearful that a case would get thrown out because I failed to adhere to the letter of the law. The DA assured me, each and every time, that it was my job to show that I’d always acted in my best professional judgment and that, as long as I could show an adherence to best practice, that even if I hadn’t followed the letter of the law, I had followed the spirit of the law and I would be ok. According the DA this was a valid defense. It must have been, because even though I am sure there were times I hadn’t followed the letter of the law, none of my cases were dismissed because of my mistake. Now, I wasn’t out to break the law, but in all the chaos of working with drug addicted families, sometimes i’s didn’t get dotted and t’s didn’t get crossed. But, and here is where the spirit of the law comes into play, I was using my best judgment to treat these families with the respect my professional standards and the law, demanded.
Laws are good things. Laws help us harmoniously co-exist.
But blind adherence to the letter of the law, failing to consider the spirit around the law, often leads to problems. This is why the wording of laws, and the actions of our judges, who interpret them, are so vitally important.
The Ten Commandments are a set of laws, guidelines for the Judea-Christian faith traditions. Maybe some of you needed to memorize them as part of Sunday School. I had to memorize them before I was confirmed. Perhaps some of you actively use them as a guideline for behavior to this day; still others of you may only know them as part of the iconic Cecil B. deMille, Charlton Heston movie of 1956.
Regardless, when we read them this morning, I bet it was the first time, in a long time, many of you had read them aloud.
These Commandments are directives, laws, designed to give the recently freed Israelites a foundation from which their national life would be based. The ten commandments provided them with a template for a free and civilized society--how to live together without letting the lesser part of their human nature take over. To this day, what we consider acceptable human behavior is outlined in the Ten Commandments. We’re quick to point out when others have violated some of the more famous of the ten using their violation as a litmus test for acceptable conduct---murder? Unacceptable. Stealing? Wrong. Adultery? Shame on you….
It can be easy to follow most of the commandments. After all, how many of us have even come close to murdering someone?
But, in today’s Gospel, Jesus interprets the commandments, expanding them, making them more universal; and by doing this he toughens them. He moves beyond the letter and into the spirit of the laws. We may not have murdered, we may not have stolen we may not have overtly dishonored another. But how many of us have wished ill toward someone? How many of us, when difficulties beset our neighbor, thank God it is them and not us? Or how many of us have looked upon the good fortune of another and thought, why them and not me?
Amy Oden, a Lutheran theologian and professor states: “It’s one thing to behave rightly. It’s another thing entirely for one’s heart to be oriented toward love. Just as it’s easier to make a sacrifice at the temple than it is to do justice (Micah 6) so it is easier to keep the commandment against murder than it is to avoid anger in one’s heart.”
We may not have overtly dishonored our parents, but how do we treat the elderly in this country? Do we check in on that older frail couple down the street? We haven’t robbed banks, but what role did we play in the financial crisis?Are we montioring the bail outs? Are we holding those who did the bailing and those who got bailed out accountable? We don’t murder people, but what about all the killing done in our name---both through overt and covert government sanctioned operations?
We could go around, patting ourselves on the back for following the letter of the law brought down from Sinai, but if we only do that then we’re missing the spirit of the law, the spirit of faith, the spirit of community. The letter of civil law keeps us from anarchy, but the spirit of civil law will leads us toward democracy. Following only the letter of our faith law puts us in danger of reducing the work of God to a ritual formula, a rote memorization of statutes and directives, where we live in accordance with a law without ever giving our hearts and lives over to God and to the welfare of our neighbor . That’s a life of crossed t’s dotted i’s full of doing the right things not because we know that doing right is good, but because doing right is commanded. This creates a passionless life, a life of order growing out of fear, instead of a life of compassion growing out of love. This isn’t the life Jesus wants us to live, nor is it the life God created us for and longs for us to live---a life of joy and happiness where we love our neighbor and in turn, our neighbor does the same for us.
Much like the ten commandments gave the Israelites guidance for living in their newly formed, free society, Jesus’ expansion of the ten commandments teaches us to internalize the law, adhering not only to its letter, but to its spirit. When we do this, we’re living a life which, not only obeys laws, but takes the welfare and concerns of others close to our hearts, not because we’ve been told we must, but because we’ve learned we want to.
The people of Egypt today are no different than the Israelites. They , like Moses’ people, have been freed from the tyranny of a pharaoh, they, like the Israelites, are scared, and may, like the Israelites, have times when they question whether freedom is an improvement. Our commandments, our faith, our spirit of love as learned through Jesus Christ teaches us that living together in a community where the welfare of our neighbor is our concern, commands us, implores us, that we hold the people of Egypt in our hearts as we learn from their bravery and perseverance and support them in their transition into the ways of freedom and peace.
May God bless them, guide them and keep them free. +
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