Cast away from you all the transgressions that you have committed against me, and get yourselves a new heart and a new spirit! [Ezekiel 18:31 \u2013 NRSV]<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the campaigns waged around the Bible, and its role, or lack of it, in the public schools, one of the laments is often that we have forgotten the Ten Commandments. If only we were free to teach, recite, or post them, the proponents of religion in the schools suggest, violence would stop and children would always be kind. Somehow the presence of the Ten Commandments in our midst would offer moral rectitude. While that idea may indeed be simplistic, it raises a simple question. Have we, in fact, forgotten? The Book of Common Prayer offers this version of the Ten Commandments or Decalogue:
Hear the commandments of God to his people:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\nI am the Lord your God who brought you out of bondage.
You shall have no other gods but me.
You shall not make for yourself any idol.
You shall not invoke with malice the Name of the Lord your God.
Remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy.
Honor your father and your mother.
You shall not commit murder.
You shall not commit adultery.
You shall not steal.
You shall not be a false witness.
You shall not covet anything that belongs to your neighbor. [BCP 350]<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\nRules. Commandments. But one of the things we sometimes forget about the Bible is that what often sound like dire pronouncements are, simply, things that are true. These Ten Commandments constitute a fairly straightforward guide to community living. Stealing and murder destroy communities. Keeping the Sabbath helps create a healthy, less stressful rhythm to our life. When we hear of the ominous words added to not worshipping idols that: \u201cfor 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\u201d [Exodus 20:5], we hear it as a threat and forget that children almost always do suffer from the sins of their parents; addictions and dysfunctions that are often passed along \u2014 although we don\u2019t see or understand how. Adult Children of Alcoholics. Problems handling weight or money. Backgrounds. Reputations. But somehow the idea of rules broken and punishments given seems easier to grasp.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So today when we hear the story in Matthew of the two sons we think of obedience and either berate ourselves for not doing whatever, or commend ourselves for doing it when we didn\u2019t want to (and then pat ourselves on the back because our ancestors aren\u2019t Pharisees). But there is another way to look at this Gospel \u2014 the simple one of looking at how we keep our word, and choosing which word we decide to keep.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I don\u2019t know if you\u2019ve noticed, but often it seems less and less as if we can rely on people\u2019s promises. \u201cI\u2019ll call you back.\u201d \u201cThe check is in the mail.\u201d \u201d We\u2019ll get together soon.\u201d \u201cDon\u2019t worry about it.\u201d \u201cI\u2019ll take care of it.\u201d And we are very grateful for people who just follow up and get things done, whether they promise or not.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But that\u2019s other people. Today we need to grasp the idea that this is really about me and about you. For one key to today\u2019s lessons is that we can no longer blame (or credit) others for who we are. Ezekiel is clear \u2014 what parents do has nothing to do with their children\u2019s relationship to God. Jesus is clear. You can\u2019t depend on the labels given to you: priest or prostitute. It is who you are that matters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And the example isn\u2019t grandiose. In what situations do you make promises \u2014 or say things that sound like promises \u2014 and not follow through? Maybe never. But a lot of us, will say we will do something, when we really don\u2019t have time \u2014 and the time never becomes available. Or we forget. Or it is easier to get that person off the phone if we say, \u201cyes,\u201d although we know the real answer is \u201cI don\u2019t want to\u201d or, simply, \u201cno.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Or, maybe, it is just that you don\u2019t want to hurt someone\u2019s feelings \u2014 so you tell them whatever it is that you think they want to hear. \u201cThat\u2019s beautiful.\u201d \u201cWe\u2019ll get to it tomorrow.\u201d \u201cI\u2019ll be home by ten.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Now, how we keep our word isn\u2019t directly linked to one of the Ten Commandments listed earlier. So are they, indeed, something we need for a community, something we need to get along? Is it part of honoring our parents or not lying about our neighbor? Or is it, simply, part of loving your neighbor as yourself? Part of the reading from Philippians asks us to \u201clook not to your own interest, but to the interests of others.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yes, today, Jesus is telling us that this has something to do with loving ourselves. And this is made concrete by choosing to follow the Word as proclaimed through Jesus himself. But it is more than that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The bottom line, in Jesus\u2019 explanation to the chief priests and elders \u2014 and probably to anyone else who will listen \u2014 is that we can no longer make excuses because of birth or background; that all that matters is who we are and whose we are. We have the freedom to recognize what John proclaimed: that there are rules to follow in delight since they reflect a life lived with God. The good news is that we are no longer caught because our parents were in debt or drank or gave us everything we asked for. The bad news is that we can no longer use them or the government who taxed too much or the relatives that don\u2019t understand as an excuse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One of the things that often confuses us as Christians is whether what we believe is more important or whether what we do is primary. But today we are told that what we believe changes who we are; and what we do naturally flows from that identity. We are called to follow Jesus. And while we can\u2019t blame our parents, we really aren\u2019t alone. Jesus will help and lead us \u2014 excuses aside!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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