Ten Commandments: Last Sunday's Sermon

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Old Testament

Exodus 20:1-4, 7-9, 12-20


Then God spoke all these words:

I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery; you shall have no other gods before me.

You shall not make for yourself an idol, whether in the form of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.

You shall not make wrongful use of the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not acquit anyone who misuses his name.

Remember the sabbath day, and keep it holy. For six days you shall labour and do all your work.

Honor your father and your mother, so that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.

You shall not murder.

You shall not commit adultery.

You shall not steal.

You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.

You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or male or female slave, or ox, or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.

When all the people witnessed the thunder and lightning, the sound of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking, they were afraid and trembled and stood at a distance, and said to Moses, “You speak to us, and we will listen; but do not let God speak to us, or we will die.” Moses said to the people, “Do not be afraid; for God has come only to test you and to put the fear of him upon you so that you do not sin.”

The Gospel

Matthew 21:33-46


Jesus said, “Listen to another parable. There was a landowner who planted a vineyard, put a fence around it, dug a wine press in it, and built a watchtower. Then he leased it to tenants and went to another country. When the harvest time had come, he sent his slaves to the tenants to collect his produce. But the tenants seized his slaves and beat one, killed another, and stoned another. Again he sent other slaves, more than the first; and they treated them in the same way. Finally he sent his son to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ But when the tenants saw the son, they said to themselves, ‘This is the heir; come, let us kill him and get his inheritance.” So they seized him, threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him. Now when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?” They said to him, “He will put those wretches to a miserable death, and lease the vineyard to other tenants who will give him the produce at the harvest time.”

Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the scriptures:

‘The stone that the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone;

this was the Lord’s doing,
and it is amazing in our eyes’?

Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people that produces the fruits of the kingdom. The one who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; and it will crush anyone on whom it falls.”

When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they realized that he was speaking about them. They wanted to arrest him, but they feared the crowds, because they regarded him as a prophet.

The Sermon

The Decalogue was our old testament reading today. It is also known as the ten commandments. When I was a child preparing to be confirmed in the faith the ten commandments were something I memorized or at least tried to memorize before the bishop would come for this most important event. My problem was that I have too much trouble keeping ten things in my head at once. I could pretty easily tick off eight of the ten or even nine of the ten but it always seemed I could never remember all ten. We were told that when the bishop came he would ask us questions about our understanding of our faith and if we did not have the answers we would not be confirmed. I was pretty sure I was toast. The end of this story is that when the bishop came he didn't ask any questions and I was confirmed.

I still have trouble remembering all ten commandments. If you read a little further along in Matthew, Jesus encounters the pharisees again and they ask him what is the greatest commandment. He tells them loving your God with all of your heart and mind and strength is the greatest and next to it is to love your neighbor as you love yourself.

This is literally a Godsend for those of us who have trouble keeping ten things in our head. I can remember two things. However, another problem is created.

The first four of the ten commandments talk about our relationship with God, We need to worship only one God, make no idols, don't swear and respect the Sabbath. The last six are about our relationship with each other. We are told to respect our parents, and not kill, steal,commit adultery, lie or covet our neighbor's possessions.

I can do all those things pretty easily although I may have on rare occasions very possibly crossed the line on a couple of them. They are very straightforward commandments. Jesus and his two commandments use the word love. Sure remembering just two commandments is much easier than remembering ten but in my way of thinking much harder to do. It is pretty easy not to kill or swear or steal but love can be really hard. Love is a feeling that comes from deep inside us. It is a feeling that can be expressed in so many different ways. When you express your love, you expose yourself and allow for a little vulnerability. That is not easy for many people. I encourage you to think about how you are doing on the two commandments. Keep in mind the ten but as Jesus said all of the commandments branch out from two that tell us of the importance of love.

This gospel reading can be seen as an allegory. The vineyard owner is God. The wicked tenants are the religious leaders of the time. The slaves who were sent to collect the share are the prophets and the son is Jesus. The new tenants are people who hear God's word and follow his commands. That would be you and me.

Jesus tells us very clearly that there are consequences for our actions and we should be mindful of what we say and do. Which are we like? Are we the new and good tenants or are we the wicked tenants. Do we follow those commandments, the ten and the two, or have we chosen a different path. Look inside yourself and where there is room for improvement don't shy away from making those changes that need to be made.

Amen