Lent 3B

How many of you learned the Ten Commandments when you were in Sunday School or confirmation? How many of you learned the long version (for those who don’t have their hands up -that’s the way they were read from Exodus and what the church expected of members before the 1980s)? 

In confirmation class, when the Commandments are studied, I take one commandment for the students to focus on.  Commandment #5: You shall not murder. Pretty straight forward as commandments go.

A spectrum is set up in the aisle of the church: the front pew is AGREE, and the back pew is DISAGREE. Students are asked to stand along the spectrum after situations related to, “you shall not murder,” are proposed to them, and explain why they have taken the position they have.

Do not murder. Agree or disagree.  With the first question, generally 100% find themselves by the front pew.

Students begin to spread out and take more time deciding where to be as situations are presented.

Are the following examples murder?

You kill a mosquito; … spider, or fly.

You are attacked and in self-defence kill the person who attacked you.

You simply wish someone to be dead.

You are conscripted into the army and go to war.

An abused woman kills the abuser while he is sleeping.

You don’t take care of yourself – too little sleep and exercise, too much food, sugar, drink, smokes, or recreational drugs.

You have your pet put to sleep.

Then what about abortion, medically assisted death, capital punishment, anorexia, suicide.

All of a sudden commandment #5, becomes not so simple – there is a whole lot of grey! The same can be said for the commandments.

What we have in this chapter of Exodus is a framework that a community has set up as basic principles in how they can be in relationship with each other.  It is a framework; in their understanding a God-given set of basic principles to guide the people in living together as a people; in relationship to God and each other. A set of rules that they will learn as they journey through the dessert, so that once reaching the Promised Land the new rules will be imbedded in the peoples’ hearts.  The framework of the Decalogue is expanded upon in further Chapters that tackle the nitty-gritty of how the laws are interpreted, applied, and practiced.

No two groups of people would understand the laws in the same manner. Consider, many countries in the world today have the same basic principles, the framework of the Ten Commandments within their present laws; the expansion of the laws changes from place to place.

The people in the wilderness interpreted commandment 5 – with these following statements – that to me sound an awful lot like murder: do not allow a sorceress to live; if anyone attacks his father or mother (or curses them) he is to be put to death; if anyone kidnaps another and is found with them/or if they are sold that person is to be put to death; an owner doesn’t die if he beats a slave to death –but will be punished.  Our society would not come up with these interpretations from the framework presented in Exodus 20.

So what is the difference?

Peoples can share the same framework; but it is the interpretation of the laws that changes what they mean; how they play out.  Interpretation comes from the topic of the sermon for today – ethics.  These chapters in Exodus are influenced by the ethics of the people.

Ethics contributes to our interpretations of the Gospel for this morning as well.  Jesus comes to the Temple in Jerusalem and throws over the tables of the money changers.  Money changers are a necessity to turn Roman currency (money that has graven images on it) into money acceptable for the Temple – to purchase sacrificial animals and to give as offerings.  The sellers of animals are also required, so that city folk, who cannot bring an animal they have raised, the ability to purchase an animal for their sacrifice.  Jesus gets angry.  Centuries of commentators have argued about the righteousness and appropriateness of Jesus’ action. Various interpretations exist about his display of anger.  It is the ethics of the person interpreting as to how one interprets the action of Jesus, and the application of the passage- which is differently applied as to how Christians are to act in the world, particularly when confronting what one considers misappropriation of authority.

Reflecting on ethics, I went on-line to see what other Lutherans were saying about Christian Ethics in the world today.  Where is it that our individual and community ethic is learned; grown; and fostered?    In a world where fear is present and mongered; in a world where darkness and injustice thrive; in a world where right and wrong become political platforms and people are expendable… what role does Christian ethic, Lutheran ethic, take in forming our lives?  

The Journal of Lutheran Ethics, found on the web-site of the ELCA, has a tonne of articles worth reading that speak to Christian Ethics; and topics of ethics in relation to biology, ecology, end-of-life, war, interfaith dialogue, vocation, and many more issues; a wealth of dialogue from a Lutheran perspective.  Much of what I gleaned from the site affects the expression of the rest of the sermon for today. 

Lutheran tradition, WE, have a lot to offer in discussions around ethics. Our tradition has a lot for us to grow into and practice.  What we learn here, whether we are able to articulate it or not, affects who we are as people in the world. It is in this community that the ethic by which we live is fostered.  This morning I remind us of what is it that you know deep within you – what you have absorbed in this place; what our tradition has to offer?

Lutheran ethic calls us to make decisions and live out of our experience of a gracious God.

The practice of ethics is a vocation, meaning we see our decisions as part of the Creator’s continuing creation in the world – we have a responsibility and a God-given call to grow the kingdom in the present.  Our decisions create the relationships and the strength of the communities in which we live.

As a community we continue to have profound insight on human falleness and the radical universality of God’s grace in Christ.  We hold that we are – simul justus et peccator- simultaneously saint and sinner; this leads to a sober and realistic approach to human and worldly possibilities.  Lutheran theology does not fall into what is termed the Social Gospel – a movement that applied Christian ethics to social issues, where it was taught that Christ would not come until social ills were alleviated by human effort – still seen as an underpinning to some forms of Christian liberalism and social justice efforts.  We do not adhere to a social Gospel, but do apply a Christian social ethic; this ethic recognizes that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is addressed to every person, and it is not our doing, but grace working through us that addresses social ills in the world.

Our ethic is grounded in scripture, distinguishing Law and Gospel, and focused on the centrality of the cross.

Our tradition reminds us, through the integration of Word and sacrament – that we can live in ambiguity; in the greys of the Commandments.

So how does our faith guide us to where our ethics are? We know we have different opinions on all sorts of issues.

It is obedience to keeping the Sabbath, returning again and again, to participate in community – hear the Word and share in sacrament. Here the frameworks of the world, the Law, are discussed, interpreted, and reflected on. We are challenged so that ethic is constantly growing and creating in the mission that is God’s.

Ethic is not about what WE do; rather it is what happens through us.

Friday at the Neptune Theatre I read the following quote from William Lionel Mackenzie King in the program. In Aug. 1936 he said that, “It is what we prevent, rather than what we do that counts most in Government.”

As Prime Minster of Canada, he was not known for a captivating image, spellbinding speeches, or radical platforms – yet for 22 years, during part of The Depression and all of WWII, he held English and French Canada together while negotiating conscription and managing pressures from Churchill and Rosevelt.  He was a man of passive compromise and conciliation.

Could it be that our interpretation of the Commandments might follow an ethic of prevention rather than focusing on what we do?

 It is what we prevent, rather than what we do that counts most in church (in mission; in life).

Consider living from an ethic that is about preventing rather than doing.  The Commandments are about encouraging relationship with God and each other in community.  If every action is lived knowing that we are saint and sinner, and that Jesus’ address is given to all – that interprets and guides our decisions.

Go and live, informed by a community ethic grounded in scripture and one that understands human falleness; apply grace in abundance; and continually be challenged to grow your ethic circumstance by circumstance. 

Commandments are not black and white – as simple as they appear – be at peace living in ambiguity. And remember sometimes it is about what we prevent, rather than what we do that counts.