Lent 16 - The Ten Commandments

-


 Exodus 20:1-17

Many people seem to think that God gave the Israelites the ten commandments because God is a strict teacher who just wants humans to follow rules, regardless of the outcome. 

If we read the ten commandments at face value today, we discover that none of them are really unfair or unrealistic to follow. Even the most devout atheists would agree that murder is wrong and you shouldn't try to steal your neighbour's wife.

If we consider what we learnt yesterday, that the message of the cross sounds foolish until we put it into practice and discover its true wisdom, we find a similar reality when it comes to the ten commandments. 

We can huff and puff about being legalistic and not enjoying being "rule-followers," but the truth of the matter is that this list of commandments that Moses passed on to the people of Israel many, many years ago is still extremely relevant to our lives today.

The ten commandments are not a set of rules that we are meant to follow religiously without understanding why they are there. But when we live lives guided by the Holy Spirit, we will realise that these commandments are helpful guidelines for our daily living.

There are severe consequences for breaking these commandments. Not as punishments from God, but consequences that are disruptive to human relations and justice in the world.

In a world that was ravaged with violence and immorality, the Israelites received the ten commandments for their own good, even though some of them seemed contrary to the ways of the world at the time. Although Christians are living under a new Covenant, these commandments are still relevant and important for us to adhere to today.

Prayer: Almighty God, Your Word is good. Your Law is good. We are sorry for the times when we have turned the 10 commandments into legal rules that need to be followed. But we acknowledge that there are valuable truths to learn from these commandments and there are severe consequences for ignoring them. Holy Spirit, help us to follow these commandments in order to bring life to the world around us. Amen

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular Posts

The Laws of Leviticus

-
Image
The second and third passages of scripture that are used to condemn homosexuality and clobber LGBTQ+ people come from the often-read book of Leviticus (sarcasm alert). Before digging into these verses, let’s quote them here: “Don’t lie with a man as with a woman; it is an abomination.” - Leviticus 18:22 “‘If a man has sexual relations with a man as one does with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination. They are to be put to death; their blood will be on their own heads.” - Leviticus 20:13 These strong words in the Bible have armed anti-gay protesters with enough content to fill their picket signs with hatred and violence. “Homosexuality is an Abomination” and “God hates fags” and “To death with the gays” are all signs that make regular appearances at Pride parades throughout the world, unfortunately often held up by so-called Christians. Regardless of someone’s belief about homosexuality, I will never understand how some Christians see this as a Christ-like response
Read more

The Ceremony that Divided the Church

-
Image
Note: A shorter version of this article was first published with the Jesuit Institute of South Africa. Last week Friday, my family sat down to watch the opening ceremony of the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris. The French always have a knack for the theatrics and this year was no different. The performances throughout the long ceremony were mesmerizing and provocative. We went to bed that night feeling tired but excited for the Olympic Games that were officially starting the following day. Little did I know that not everyone shared my enthusiasm. The Outrage I woke up the following morning and decided to browse social media (when is this ever a good idea?). My feed was filled with people sharing their outrage at a particular scene of the Olympics’ opening ceremony. A still picture of the ceremony was being shared alongside a picture of Da Vinci’s “The Last Supper” painting which admittedly showed a slight resemblance to the original. According to the outraged folk (including some morally
Read more

Leap of Faith

-
Image
I recently did the Lake Eland Extreme Zip-line with some of my friends from Pietermaritzburg. The zip-line is 1 100 meters long and reaches max speeds of up to 160km's per hour. All that is keeping you from falling hundreds of meters to an inevitable death is 2 cables and a harness that my hysterical brain was telling me would not have been out of place as a car's seat-belt. We arrived early and waited for half an hour as we contemplated our life choices up to this point. Eventually we were all kitted up and ready to go. While I wouldn't say that I have Acrophobia - an extreme fear of heights - as I looked out over the gorge that we would be flying through, breaking the national speed-limit in the process, it is fair to say that my stomach started churning and my legs turned to jelly. It was at this point that I'm sure many of us were trying to think of any reasonable excuse that would get us out of this jump without seeming like a coward. One of the thin
Read more