Thursday 5/5/2022

This morning’s Scriptures are: Psalm 37:1–18; Exodus 20:1-21; Colossians 1:24–2:7; Matthew 4:1-11

This morning’s Canticles are: before the Psalm reading, Pascha Nostrum(“Christ Our Passover,” BCP, p. 83); following the OT reading, Canticle 8 (“The Song of Moses,” Exodus 15, BCP, p. 85); following the Epistle reading, Canticle 19 (“The Song of the Redeemed,” Revelation 15:3–4, BCP, p. 94)

An audio or video version of this devotional can be found here: Apple Podcast, Spotify Podcast, YouTube

Today is Thursday of the Third Week of Easter

Exodus 20 and the “Ten Words.” We call them the “Ten Commandments.” The Bible calls them the “Ten Words” (Exodus 34:28; Deuteronomy 4:13; 10:4). We see them as impossible demands. The Bible sees them as the way of life. Many people see them as requirements to gain God’s favor. The Bible sees them as responses to God’s favor: “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt” (Exodus 20:2).

The best way to read them is as an explanation of what it means for a people whom God has loved to love him back and to love what he loves. Later, Scripture will say, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and strength” … and “Love your neighbor as yourself” (Deuteronomy 6:5; Leviticus 19:18).

If I love God, I will not love other gods as well, nor will I love him according to my own rules. If I know that I have been loved by God, I will extend that same love to my neighbor whom he has also loved: my parents, my spouse, the person who lives down the street. Their relationships, their property, their reputations will be as important to me as mine are to myself—for the sake of the one who has redeemed me.

That’s how it’s supposed to work: “Ten Words” intended for well-loved and grateful people, giving shape to a reflexive life of loving God and neighbor.

We’ve seen plenty in the narrative leading up to Mt. Sinai to let us know that it’s not going to be that simple. The Israelites grumbled in the wilderness, and God has warned them to keep their distance from his presence. The rest of the narrative will underscore the point. The people will impiously worship a golden calf, they will cowardly refuse to enter the Promised Land, they will not keep Sabbath, nor honor their parents, nor the integrity of their neighbor’s property, nor the virtue of their neighbor’s spouse. All of which necessitated an elaborate sacrificial system so their failure to love could be temporarily atoned for, in anticipation of a permanent fix.

Some Perspective from Paul. The apostle Paul has a refined sense of how the “Ten Words” are impacted by Christ’s coming.

The “Words” make us see the need for mercy, and so they set Christ’s atoning sacrifice into a framework of gratitude. As Paul writes in Romans 8:3, “For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do: by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and to deal with sin, he condemned sin in the flesh,….”

At the same time, the “Ten Words” shed light on the “walk” that new life in Christ enables. It’s not often appreciated that Paul sees Christ-followers as law-keepers, that is, as “Ten Words”-keepers. People who have been called by God in Christ “love God” (Romans 8:28)—which is the chief summary of the law, and half of the “Ten Words.”

Moreover, according to Paul, as we “walk” by the Spirit, an amazing thing happens. To finish the above quote, “…he condemned sin in the flesh, so that the just requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit” (Romans 8:4). Walking in union with Christ in the power of the Spirit, we learn both how to love God, and how to keep the other half of the “Ten Words,” loving our neighbor. Here’s what Paul says about that in Romans 13:8–10:

“Owe no one anything, except to love one another; for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. The commandments, ‘You shall not commit adultery; You shall not murder; You shall not steal; You shall not covet’; and any other commandment, are summed up in this word, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore, love is the fulfilling of the law.”

We live in an extraordinary and historic time. While many other issues are complex, there is one that is not. This is a time to find out what you really love. The “Ten Words” are there to reassert God’s claim on your love: “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt.”

“Will you love me?”, he continues to ask, “Will you love what I love?”

I pray for you—and for myself—the grace to answer those questions well.

Be blessed this day.

Reggie Kidd+

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