Word to the Wise
Friday, July 28, 2023 - Friday in the 16th Week in Ordinary Time
[Exod 20:1-17 and Matt 13:18-23]"I, the Lord, am your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, that place of slavery. You shall not have others gods besides me......." [Exodus]
Where can one even begin to speak about the Ten Commandments - that bedrock of Jewish and Christian faith and morality??? Today's first scripture gives us the unabridged version which contains a lot more speech and words than we learned in catechism class! In images down through the ages, this moral code is depicted on two tablets of stone - often, strangely enough, with ROMAN numerals! Moses had to get God to make a second set after he (Moses) broke the first set in anger at the Israelites over the golden calf!!
On their face, the Ten Commandments are fairly basic and necessary for peaceful living in a society. Unity in faith, a sense of what is sacred both in regard to God and to one's neighbor are hallmarks of this code. The enshrinement of them in public places, at least in this country, has been a source of controversy because they are part of Judaeo-Christian tradition, not because of their content! Secular patriotism could drop the reference to God and substitute "America" and agree with the rest!! Family, property, truth-telling, fidelity in marriage....almost any politician of any sort could run on that platform!!
For Christians and Jews the Ten Commandments are God's law. We accept them as a matter of God's revelation. For Christians we accept them as part of God's law, added to and extended by God through the revelation and teaching and "new law" given to us by Jesus, the Son of God. The Sermon on the Mount is the best example. Enshrining the Ten Commandments on a courthouse lawn is empty if those commandments are not first enshrined in our hearts and conduct!!! AMEN