Sixth Sunday of Easter

“When The Ten Become Two”

Exodus 20:1-17

John 14:15-21

Rev. Dr. R. Tim Meadows

Listen to this Sermon!

I do not like the Ten Commandments. For the most part in their Old Testament form they focus on the negative, they seem impossible to keep, and somewhat directed at things that do not seem to be day to day issues of my life. Graven images, a neighbor’s livestock, servants or slaves which are no longer a legal part of civilized social orders. Not really the focus of life as we lead it.

While I am digging this theological hole in which to be buried, let me further suggests to you that I do not think that Jesus much cared for the commandments as they were originally interpreted either. This is why when he was questioned about the greatest commandment, he did not choose from the list of ten as anticipated, instead he pointed to love. Love the Lord your God with all your being and love your neighbor as you love yourself. For Jesus this was the essence of all of the talk about graven images, a neighbor’s livestock, or a neighbor’s servant or slave. Let love be the controlling principle of how you act toward God and neighbor and God will be pleased, Jesus declared.

In today’s gospel lesson we find Jesus talking about keeping the commandments as a means of receiving the Spirit of God and experiencing the love of Christ. Our great temptation in hearing these words, is to revert back to the list of ten, to reduce them to a formula for managing if not controlling the presence of God, and yet I think Jesus would challenge us to let the ten become two. To let the essence of the regulations be about love. To know that if we love God and love neighbor, we will please God and find ways to live in peace with one another.

When the ten become two, then the first four which focus on how we relate to God, take on the positive encouragement to put God above all other things in our existence, to celebrate the boundless nature of God, to use the name and power of God in appropriate ways that make our world better, and to spend significant quality time with our creator, for the purpose of reflection and renewal.

When the ten become two, then the second six which focus on how we relate to each other, take on the positive encouragement to cherish our families, to cherish and respect life, to speak the truth in lovingkindness, to respect committed relationships, to respect the property of others, and to celebrate with others the success they achieve in their life’s course.

When the ten become two and love becomes the focus, then the activities of our lives center on what we seek to do well, rather than what we must avoid. When the ten become two and love becomes the focus, then we hear Jesus say “Well Done”, rather than “Depart from me”. When the ten become two and love becomes the focus, we do not have to keep score in our relationships. When the ten become two and love becomes the focus, we will find a world revolutionized by a power that is often mistaken, misused, and misunderstood. When the ten become two and love becomes the focus, we will no longer say that cannot happen in our world, or that is naïve, rather we will know that When the ten become two and love becomes the focus, we will be less fixated on the legality of public displays of the commandments, and more captivated by the actions of the living displays of our lives.

No, I do not like the Ten Commandments in their original form, and I do not think that Jesus liked them either. But, I long for a world in which the ten become two, and love becomes the focus.

May God help us to do our part in making this world a reality! AMEN!