What does it look like to be God’s people?
The Israelites had spent generations enslaved in Egypt, crushed under a system characterized by gross inequalities, exploitation, and cruelty. Now, led safely through the Red Sea into freedom, the people needed to figure out how to live.
Despite all those years in Egypt, God had not forgotten the covenant God had made with Abraham and Sarah and their descendants. That covenant - that God would be their God - is the foundation of the words God speaks here in Exodus. Any rules or guidelines that shape the community are first grounded in this promise - “I am the Lord your God.” Remember? I brought you out of the land of Egypt. Remember? I brought you out of the house of slavery. I am your God, and I love you.
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| Photo by Avel Chuklanov on Unsplash |
Firm in that foundation, God’s words begin to build the house that will provide structure and shelter for their life together. To be God’s people is to (borrowing Luther’s words) “fear, love, and trust God, so that…” It is to prioritize care for one another, and to work for life and flourishing for all, not just for the individual. In other words, life as the people of God means embracing God’s values.
The commandments are divided into two tables. The first table - commandments one, two, and three - address our relationship with God. The second table - commandments four through ten - are about our relationships with one another. Held together, we see the ways in which these relationships are closely intertwined. Jesus points to this connection in his answer to a question about the greatest commandment. The first, he says, is to love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, and the second is like it - to love your neighbor as you love yourself.
I think we sometimes look at the commandments as a kind of checklist for holiness. They seem simple, perhaps - well, I’ve never murdered anyone, we might say; haven’t cheated on my spouse, don’t have any gold statues lying around...things are good! This posture, though, isn’t particularly helpful.
First, we delude ourselves if we think that anything we do or don’t do is what secures our salvation. Keeping the commandments isn’t about making sure we’re good enough for heaven. It’s not possible! Instead, keeping the commandments is about life now, and not our lives, really, but our neighbors’. Keeping the commandments is about creating the kind of community that lives out God’s values of love, faithfulness, and abundant life.
Out of care for the neighbor, the people in this community don’t steal, lie, or defraud one another. Out of care for the neighbor, this community places wholeness and rest over profit, ensuring that everyone - even the enslaved and resident aliens, even the livestock - have a day where they don’t do any work. Out of care for the neighbor, this community honors elders and those in authority, who have been entrusted with responsibilities and leadership. God cares deeply about relationships, and deeply about our relationships with one another, and the commandments reflect that value much more than any individualistic view.
Second, it’s problematic to view the commandments as a checklist because when we’re trying to check things off, we’re much more likely to be satisfied with fulfilling the letter of the law rather than the spirit of the law.
For this reason, I love what Luther does in his explanation of the Ten Commandments in the Small Catechism. Luther’s explanations expand widely the scope of each commandment. Take, for example, the seventh commandment - “You shall not steal”. Luther writes: “We are to fear and love God, so that we neither take our neighbor’s money or property nor acquire them by using shoddy merchandise or crooked deals, but instead help them to improve and protect their property and income.”
It’s not enough to simply refrain from taking things that belong to someone else. Instead, the kind of community that reflects God’s values is one that actively seeks to secure and strengthen the livelihoods of all. In this kind of community, we are not in competition with one another for scarce resources, but rather we seek the flourishing of all through mutuality and generosity.
Having been freed from enslavement, the Israelites must learn a better way. The greed, exploitation, and disregard for life that characterized Pharaoh’s Egypt are not what life looks like for the people of God.
The same is true for us. We are in bondage to sin and cannot free ourselves. Sin curves us in on ourselves, turning our gaze away from our neighbor, away from God, and away from the relationships and life together for which we were created. Forgiven by God’s grace alone, we thrive when God’s love in us spills over into love for our neighbors. We are meant for community, meant for mutuality and flourishing. As we strive for justice and a way of life that honors and values all, we give thanks for the one who still promises to be our God.
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