Top Ten lists of all sorts are very popular, no doubt owing to the popularity of the original Top Ten list which we’ve read today from the book of Exodus. It’s one of the fundamental texts of the Old Testament, certainly; and, I suppose some would argue, one of the fundamental texts of the entire Bible - the Ten Commandments. I'd guess that even a lot of people who don’t know their Bible well, know the Ten Commandments; and even those who couldn’t list them in order could probably name at least a few of them; and even those who couldn’t name a single one, even if their life depended on it, still usually say, when asked by pollsters, that people ought to govern their behavior according to the Ten Commandments, whatever they are. How you do that without knowing what they are, I’ve never quite been able to understand; but that seems to be the answer that people give, anyway.

The "Thou shalts," and the "Thou shalt nots," are without question one of the basic texts of Scripture. If you’re going to be a "biblically literate" person, you really ought to know them, at least in their simplest form. But knowing them, and knowing what to do with them, is not always the same thing, either. Theologians have been debating what the commandments mean for Christians ever since... well, I suppose ever since Jesus came along and started saying things like, "You have heard that it was said, ‘Thou shalt not kill,’ but I say to you, whoever insults another person shall be liable to judgment." (Matthew 5:21-22) Or, along those same lines, take our own brother, Martin Luther, who was himself something of an expert at reinterpreting the commandments beyond their simple, literal meaning. For example, "Thou shalt not kill" really means, according to Luther’s Catechism, that "we should not harm our neighbor in any way, but (rather) help him in all his physical needs." And, speaking of that particular commandment, you may have noticed that it doesn’t even show up in the translation we read this morning. Here (in the New Revised Standard Version) it doesn’t say, "You shall not kill," but rather, "You shall not murder" - which is not exactly the same thing, is it? And then, once we’ve heard it, how is the commandment to be applied? Does it speak at all to questions of war? Or capital punishment? How about abortion? What about euthanasia? Some would say Yes, definitely - or at least definitely to some of those actions - but definitely not to others. Others would say No, it doesn’t apply at all. But they all would say, if anyone was about to do something that they defined as "wrong," "Stop that!" - God’s Law is against it. The Ten Commandments say so.

And then there would be those who would remind us that, as Christians, we are no longer under the authority of the Law at all; that Jesus fulfilled the Law for us; that our obligation is not obedience to the commandments, but rather faith in Christ. The Christian life is lived not under the power of Law, but under the power of Love.

To which the legalists among us would reply, "What’s love got to do with it? For heaven’s sake, just post the Ten Commandments on the wall of every classroom in America, teach them to our children, and see what a difference it might make." And it very well might make a difference, at least until some ethical issue arises that the Commandments don't seem to cover - like cloning sheep and pigs, for example. What do the commandments say about that? Is it stealing from God to clone a pig? Or is it OK to do, as long as we obey the third commandment and let the clones rest on the Sabbath Day, along with the rest of our livestock and slaves?

Well, all of those competing claims are common responses when the topic of the Ten Commandments comes up. We get this crazy-quilt picture in which almost everybody thinks the Commandments are important to live by, but almost no one can recite all ten by heart; and the ones we do know, we can’t necessarily agree on what exactly they mean when it comes to modern moral issues; and then, when we turn to the New Testament, we find that Jesus defines them in ways that make them even harder to obey, and then goes ahead and fulfills them all himself so that we don’t have to. It all makes me feel a little bit confused, maybe like the little girl I heard about who came home from Sunday School one day and announced that her class had studied the Ten Commandments, and she had learned that it was wrong to "cover her neighbor’s donkey." Not too helpful, and just a little bit confused...

But I think there are some areas of clarity we can find when it comes to the Ten Commandments that we can focus on, that would prevent us from making either of the two mistakes that most of the above ideas make - which is to give the Ten Commandments either too much importance and authority in our lives, or else too little. Somewhere in between those two extremes lies some truth that it may benefit us to explore. So, let’s do that.

First of all, there’s this: the Commandments cannot save us. It couldn’t be much clearer in the New Testament writings than that, and really, also in the Old Testament. The Commandments cannot save us. You could read them; you could commit them to memory; you could tattoo them across your forehead; you could obey them from here to eternity - and when you were done, you wouldn’t be any closer to heaven than when you began. Salvation, with or without the law, is a gift of God’s grace - first, last, and always. The Commandments may have their purpose, but that purpose is not to unlock the door to heaven. The only key that unlocks that door is a key in the shape of a cross. So what function do the Commandments serve? Well, there's that rather negative function they have, which they serve so well. They remind us, especially when we think of them as Jesus interprets them, that nobody’s perfect - not you (if you’ll pardon my saying so), and certainly not me. They teach us, by pointing to our sin, that we need help! They teach us that we can’t save ourselves. They teach us that, at the deepest level of our being, what we really need is not more rules; what we need is God.

But there's also a positive thing the Commandments do - or, I should say, there are at least three positive things. The first is, that they give us a word about God. The Commandments begin with this word of affirmation (and, in fact, if they didn’t begin with this word, they might as well not begin at all): "I am the Lord your God... who brought you out of the house of slavery." I am the Lord your God. The Ten Commandments begin here. They flow from that statement. They are built on that foundation. They depend on that promise. I am the Lord your God. Not, "I will be your God if you do these ten things for me, if you obey me, if you pass this test." Not that, but this: "I am your God; I have already saved you." God’s relationship to the people, and the people’s relationship with God, begins with a promise, not a rule; with a covenant, not a command. Not unlike the covenant of the baptismal font, which says, "I have called you by name; you are mine." Not unlike the covenant of the altar, which says, "This is my body, given for you, for the forgiveness of sin." It’s a promise, unconditional; and everything that happens from that moment on, has to be seen and can only be understood in the light of God’s promise: "I am your God. Period." The most important part of the Ten Commandments is no commandment at all; rather, it’s God’s affirmation that God has chosen to enter into a relationship with Moses and with Israel, and with you and with me, a relationship which begins with God’s act of salvation, and continues with God’s promise to be faithful to us forever.

That word of promise leads to two further words. Since God has chosen to relate to people in an attitude of blessing and faithfulness - in an attitude of love - then, because of that, people are called upon to relate in a new way to God, and to each other. You know that there's ten commandments, but you also know that what’s called for is not simply that we avoid doing six bad things - like cursing and stealing - and work harder on doing four good things instead - like honoring parents and resting on the Sabbath. What’s called for in the commandments is a way of life; a positive way of relating to God and to one another. What’s called for is a way of living that puts loyalty to God at the center; a way of living that steadfastly refuses to use or abuse others to get what we want. What the commandments describe is a change of behavior; but what the commandments require is a change of heart. And how does that change of heart happen? Not by being told what to do, and what to stop doing. Not, as Paul says in our second lesson, through worldly wisdom or discernment. The change in our heart comes as we discover the love and the faithfulness of God as demonstrated in Israel’s exodus and in Jesus’ cross. "I am the Lord you God, setting you free, sacrificing of my own life so that you will know you're forgiven; you will know you’re mine." And as you see that love, as you believe that love, and as you trust that love, life is changed; and the commandments become not some burden of law; they become a blessing of love.

Jesus once said that all the commandment - not just these ten, but them plus all the other six hundred and some rules and regulations of the Jewish tradition - could be summed up in two short phrases: "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and mind and strength, and love your neighbor as you love yourself." There you have it. Or, in another place, he said, "Love one another as I have loved you." Maybe it’s even harder to live a whole life by love rather than by law; but I think the folks at Alcoholics Anonymous have it exactly right. They say that you don’t have to stay sober forever; just for the next day, or the next hour, or the next few minutes - whatever it takes. Maybe it’s more than we can imagine, to put loyalty to God at the center of our life forever, to never use or abuse another person for our own gain, as long as we live. Maybe a lifetime is too long to think about. But maybe just for today, we could love our neighbor as Jesus loves us; maybe just for this hour, we could love God with all of our being. It would be a start.

The Ten Commandments carry in them a positive vision, a vision for the community of God's people. It’s a vision of life lived with God at the center, with relationships between people shaped by a sense of each and every person's worth and dignity. It’s a life made possible not by human strength or human wisdom, but only by the presence and the promise and the power of the Holy One, who says, "I am your God. Live now as my people; live in the name of Love."

Amen.