Dr. John Tamilio III, Pastor
© 2024, Dr. Tamilio
These are the big ten. The top ten. The Ten Commandments. No, not the Cecil B. DeMille film starring Charlton Heston and Yul Brynner. These are ten — the emblematic, key laws that the Israelites are to follow. There are actually 613 commandments in all of the Old Testament. That is why these are seen as representative: they represent all the Laws the Hebrews are to follow. Let’s look at these ten for a moment.
Some of them are written in the positive and some are in the negative. Positive and negative are not judgmental or evaluative terms. Positive and negative basically mean things we are to do (positive) and things we are not to do (negative). So, for example, “honor your father and mother” is a positive command. It is what we are supposed to do. “You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor” is negative. It is what we aren’t supposed to do this. The first four commandments are what I like to call vertical commands; they are about our relationship with God: have no other gods than God, do make a graven image of God, do not take the Lord’s name in vain, and observe the Sabbath keeping it holy. The rest of the commandments are horizontal maxims: they have to do with our relationship with one another: do not kill, do not commit adultery, do not steal.
Isn’t that interesting? More of the commandments (sixty percent of them) are about our relationship with one another as opposed to our relationship with God. I am not suggesting that our relationship with one another is more important than our relationship with God, but, rather, the Ten Commandments seem to embody moral, interpersonal instruction more than anything else. We’ve discussed many times how the two great commandments are to love God wholeheartedly and to love your neighbor as yourself. Jesus conjoins these two in his teachings by intimating that they are contingent upon one another. Is he saying that if you do not love your neighbor as you love yourself then you really do not love God? I think he is! How we treat one another is how we respond to the sacred that is all around us, not just the sacred that we encounter in prayer, or in worship, or when we read the Bible.
I received a phone call yesterday from The Boston Globe. They are doing a story on the Karen Reed case and wanted a quote or two from a clergy person in the area. They were interested in how community leaders feel that this case is affecting people. One of the things that the writer and I discussed is how this case, and more so people’s reaction to it, is symptomatic of what is happening nationally. We’ve talked about this before, but, as we can all tell, it bears repeating because it does not seem to be getting any better.
We are a nation divided, which is why we are a community divided. It is as if people cannot agree to disagree with one another anymore. You even hear people say things like, “If you are not with me, then you are against me?” Why are we so polarized? Why do we so strongly identify with a political candidate, or a social ideology, or anything else that divides people (for that matter) that we see those who do not think the way we do as the enemy? Where does that come from? Are we so wedded to our likes and dislikes, are we so entrenched in our opinions that anyone who thinks any differently than us is someone we should shun? It even influences religion. When I talk to people who hold even a slightly different theology than I do, they sometimes draw lines. This isn’t the case with everyone, but it is certainly the case with more people than it should be! In other words, throughout my ministry I have had people (not many but a few) say to my face that will say I am teaching is heresy if it does not align with their beliefs.
Let me give you an example. My first church in New Hampshire. We held an enquirer’s class for prospective members. There was a husband and wife who were in attendance and the husband decided to denominate the question-and-answer period by aggressively asserting his theology. Mind you, this was shortly after 9/11, so that may explain some of where this was coming from. He wanted to know if my preaching includes, among other things, me saying that Muslims are going to Hell when they die. “Not typically,” I said, very tongue and cheek.
“Well, when do you?” he asked. (He didn’t catch the sarcasm in my voice.)
“I don’t,” was my response.
The man then decided to deride me. “You call yourself a Christian pastor and you don’t stand in the pulpit and condemn Islam?” This story is 100% true. Instead of asking me why I do not preach such messages, this man automatically assumed that I was not only wrong, but irresponsible as a preacher.
This occurred over twenty years ago, and it may have been the beginning of the divisiveness that plagues our society today more than ever.
And yet we have the Ten Commandments that instruct us how we are to live together.
Honor thy mother and father.
Thou shall not murder.
Thou shall not commit adultery.
Thou shall not steal.
Thou shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
Thou shall not covet your neighbor’s house.
These commandments appear in Exodus. In the same section of the Bible, the Law, we get these two verses a few books later. God is speaking to Israel through Moses and says, “See, I have set before you life and prosperity, death and destruction. For I command you today to love the Lord your God, to walk in obedience to him, and to keep his commands, decrees and laws; then you will live and increase, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land you are entering to possess” (Deuteronomy 30:15-16).
There it is. There’s the connection. God’s commandments are a life-giving blessing, not a burdensome obligation. If we follow these commandments, we will have life and we will have it abundantly. If we follow them, we will live in peace and harmony with one another. Prosperity will be ours. Our life together will reflect the shalom (the life of mutual flourishing) that God intended for us.
Sin is when we get this wrong. Repentance is when we turn from this and follow God’s will.
All of these Commandments (and the others that are in the Old Testament) enable us to love God and one another the way we should. That is what the Bible is about: it does not justify the way things are; they tell us the way life should be.
Embrace those ways, my friends. Embrace the ways of God. Amen.