Exodus 20: 1-17; Psalm 19: 8,9,10,11; 1 Corinthians 1:22-25; John 2: 13-25
Today the Church is calling on us to reflect on the importance of ten words... That's it, just 10! Maybe we could refer to it as this weekend’s Top Ten List, or we could call it the Ten Things You Have to Have in This Life. But it would probably be most appropriate to refer to these “ten words” as the Decalogue or the Ten Commandments… They are the Law, and the words of God as received from Moses and past down through our Hebrew and now Christian Tradition! They come to us today from the Book of Exodus, but they are also listed in the Book of Deuteronomy. Reflect for a moment on each of the Ten...
1. I am the LORD your God: you shall not have strange Gods before me.
REFLECTION: GOD is the first word, and the last…
There is no other word greater than God!
2. You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain.
REFLECTION: The second word could be NAME…
He knows us by name, and He has given us His name… The Great I AM!
3. Remember to keep holy the LORD'S Day.
REFLECTION: The third word could be SABBATH…
We are to take time to rest with Him, and rest in Him!
4. Honor your father and your mother.
REFLECTION: The fourth word could be HONOR…
Our family is sacred, and we honor our parents for making it all possible!
5. You shall not kill.
REFLECTION: The fifth word could be LIFE…
Life is also sacred, for all of God’s creation is His gateway into our world & lives!
6. You shall not commit adultery.
REFLECTION: The sixth word could be COMMITMENT…
A bond is a bond, and a vow is a vow, but love is commitment and that’s for ever!
7. You shall not steal.
REFLECTION: The seventh word could be RESPECT…
God’s blessings given to others are there’s to use for His Glory!
8. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
REFLECTION: The eighth word could be TRUTH…
Telling the Truth, living the Truth and celebrating the Truth is the cornerstone
of discipleship, and our call to witness the Good News!
9. You shall not covet your neighbor's wife.
REFLECTION: The ninth word could be NEIGHBOR…
When we love our neighbor, we love that they too can find God in their families,
their homes, and in their lives!
10. You shall not covet your neighbor's goods.
REFLECTION: The tenth word could be BLESSING…
The blessings bestowed on God’s people give them the opportunity to share, and word for the greater good… Again, their blessings are theirs to use for the greater glory of God… And ours, are ours!
When asked which of these Commandments was the greatest, Jesus, in a sense, divided the Ten Commandments into two categories: God and Others. He responded by quoting from the Hebrew Prayer called the Shema which is rooted in the Sixth Chapter of the Book of Deuteronomy, “You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.” Then Jesus added, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” which is from the Book of Leviticus. St. Paul even went as far to say in his Letter to the Romans that, “He who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law. The commandments, 'You shall not commit adultery, You shall not kill, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,' and any other commandment, are summed up in this sentence, 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.” So today the Church invites us to know our loving God and to love our neighbor as ourselves in our thoughts, by our speech and through our actions! God created us to be in relationship with Him, and He blessed us with family, and He asked that we live in community with others!
Why the Sunday School lesson on the Commandments? Well, I offer two reasons. First, we're on a Lenten journey and we should ground ourselves in what it is we are called to do as we seek improve our lives so as to become better disciples! As we reflect on the "ten words" and the Commandments of God's Law, I hope that you are not discouraged, but rather encouraged at the opportunity you have to ready yourselves for the new life of Spring, and the promise of a new light in the sunrise of Easter Morning! And that sets up the second reason... When Jesus entered the Temple to find it overrun by the temptations and the busy-ness of an unlawful world, he defends His Father's house, His Father's Ten Words, and all that the Father has promised... It's not anger* that Jesus shows today, it's ZEAL. Zeal can be defined as having great energy or enthusiasm in pursuit of a cause or an objective... Well we know that this Faith of ours is more than a cause, and the objective is more than enforcing a law... No, it's allowing the love and the law of God to guide us to loving Him and our neighbor. So with much ZEAL our Lord cleansed the Temple, and us as well... Restoring the Temple to more than just a place of worship, or a gathering point for all the faithful... No. The Temple that will be rebuilt in just three days is the Body of Christ, the new Moses, and the love that fulfills the law, those "ten words" that guide us and teach us... Follow His Commandments, loving God and our neighbor. GOD, whose NAME we know, asks us to be here on this SABBATH and rest. He asks us to HONOR our parents and family, and gives us LIFE to revere and celebrate! We are called to COMMIT to and RESPECT one another, always witnessing the TRUTH. We are called to love God, and love our NEIGHBOR, who like us, has been given many BLESSINGS to share!
*Post Script: I began to wonder how zeal, especially in the case of today's Gospel reading, can be confused for anger. Since the day I preached this homily, I've had a chance to discuss this through with a great friend of mine, Kathy Irr, (http://kathymirr.com/wkreflect/) an author and Spiritual Director in Connecticut, and talk it out with a group of amazing young leaders that I presented to on Monday, also in Connecticut. (Xaverian Brothers Sponsored Schools Retreat - XBSS at http://www.xbss.org ). We are called as disciples to live with a zeal that defends our faith with LOVE, and "use words when necessary" (#BeLikeEthan). Christ had been to the Temple plenty of times, and I'm sure that he had seen all of this before. The merchants had a legitimate and practical reason for being there on Passover as they were assisting families in the preparation for their sacrifices. Remember, Jesus was presented there, and "like children of poor families; he was presented at the Temple along with two turtledoves, the offering made by those who could not afford a lamb (cf. Lk 2:24; Lev 5:7)" (EG, 197). All by way of saying that he knew how things were, and how they worked! So on this day Jesus did not come just to flip tables and get people's attention. He came to replace the need for any further sacrifice. He came to be the living Temple. He came to change the way we thought about the Temple. So let us do the same... Let us be the temples that God created us to be, and let us allow Christ to help us in defending this life of ours. Just don't confuse this zeal with anger or war, for even in the face of persecution we are to defend our faith with love... Loving thy neighbor, especially when he's the enemy!
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