"The Spirit of the Law" - Exodus 20:1-17 - March 23, 2003

One evening I was driving down the interstate and I was distracted by a deer in a field near the highway. A few seconds later I heard, "thump, thump, thump" and the car started vibrating. Immediately I realized I had veered off the road and my tires were in the section of the riveted pavement that is designed to awaken drivers who have fallen asleep. Thank God for those newly created boundaries, otherwise I might have run off the road or caused an accident.

Every facet of life has boundaries. If you are playing a sport, like basketball, you have to abide by certain rules. There are rules in the workplace to protect you from getting hurt. Cooking requires recipes to follow. If you own a home you have to pay real estate taxes. There are rules at school to maintain discipline and help you learn. Cheating, for example, may help you get a better grade but you don’t learn when you take short cuts.

Guidelines and boundaries are a way of life. When we cross boundaries we are in jeopardy of getting hurt or hurting others. When I was in the fourth grade I was the teacher’s pet. She used to send me to the library or the school office which meant I had the privilege of getting out of class. To impress my teacher I would run as fast as I could down the hallways. Since classes were in session the hallways were like runways. I liked to run and the freedom of soaring through those hallways at record speed was exhilarating.

One day I was racing down the hallway and when I turned the corner I ran smack into the school custodian. He warned me not to run in the hall and if he caught me again I would be sent to the principle’s office. About a month later I was on an errand for my teacher and once again I was running. When I turned the corner I collided with the school custodian who was toting a scrub bucket and mop. Needless to say it wasn’t a pretty sight. The next thing I knew I was in the principle’s office sitting on the hotseat.

God has some rules too. They are rules for life. They are intended to keep us out of the hotseat. Some folks tend to perceive the commandments as absolutes. That means they see them as strict laws that are never to be broken or altered in any way. That is true unless one of the laws stands in the way of something they want.

I recently heard about a friend who was driving to Dayton to visit their son in a hospital emergency room. He had been in a car accident and he wasted no time in getting to the hospital. He told me he drove 85 miles an hour on the interstate when the speed limit was only 65. He had a personal emergency so he ignored the "law" because he was in a hurry.

Was he wrong? If we accidentally cross over the white lines on the edge of the highway but return safely back to the middle, have we broken any rules? If we roll through a stop sign in the middle of the country with no approaching traffic in site, have we committed a crime?

One of the commandments says, "thou shall not kill." But, what about war? Does the fact that the United States has started a war to rid the world of a dictator justify killing? I suppose history will be the judge. I believe that God wants us to do everything in our power to avoid war. While a war may succeed in eliminating a tyrant from power we still have to live with the consequences. Crossing that line has already resulted in casualties. Hopefully, the war will end soon and the Mid East can live in peace.

I spend many hours on the road therefore I am used to road signs, markers and lines on the highway. They keep me on the road, especially at night. I am especially grateful for the white lines alone the outer edges of the highways since they help me stay on the road. Recently I was driving in Orlando, Florida where it is not unusual to have 3, 4 and even 5 lanes all going in the same direction. Think what it would be like without lines. There would be nothing but total chaos.

This is also true of the 10 commandments. They are guidelines that help us to keep our lives safe and prevent us from running over one another. Without them life would be total chaos since they help to maintain organization and harmony.

We have to live with the consequences when we ignore the boundaries God has established. The commandments are given to encourage us to remember who is ultimately in charge. The 10 commandments are not laws but principles. God is the reason for our being. God wants to be loved. God wants respect. God doesn't want us to have any substitutes. This, unfortunately is our greatest pitfall. We tend to push the envelope and disregard the boundaries God has established. We also replace God with temporary things, i.e., money, success, power, self, material goods, etc. We may be riding on that road without crossing over the lines, but driving as though we are in the Indianapolis 500. We are in a hurry to get to the finish line and win at the expense of everyone else on the track.

When we cross the boundary lines we are focused on ourselves instead of God and others. To be only concerned with our own agenda or live that "I" am more important than others is to ignore the guidelines God has established. When we are full of ourselves we ignore the needs of those around us. We don’t pay attention to other voices. We fill our lives with what we want and take advantage of the powerless. When we are full of ourselves we turn away from God as the source of life.

When we consider the commandments as a whole they are designed to help societies maintain order and harmony. Therefore, they are preventative in nature. In other words, the "spirit" of the law (the ten commandments) are to help us in our relationships with one another and our relationship with God.

Traditionally we have used the 10 commandments as a judicial basis. Those who have violated commandments, e.g., "thou shall not steal" or "thou shall not kill," are prosecuted. But not all commandments are given the same value. The fourth commandment says to "remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy." However, no one is jailed for skipping church. Society has a tendency to use some of the commandments as law, but not all. That is not the spirit that God intended.

For me, the spirit of the 10 commandments is proactive, not reactive. Besides, there is evidence to support the understanding that God is actually far more gracious than God is punitive. In verses 5-6, it reads, "For I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments." On the one hand God proclaims that several generations will have to live with the fact that their parents, grandparents and great-grandparents disrespected God. On the other hand, those who truly love God can expect a thousand generations to reap God's rewards.

This illustrates the fact that love is superior to evil since the consequences for love are long lasting. On the other hand, the consequences for hate are very short. In other words, we have much more to gain by being people of grace.

In the New Testament, Jesus summed the law in a few words; "You shall love the Lord your God and your neighbor as yourselves." Jesus was proactive in his understanding of the law and expects us to do the same.

It is also important to note that the 10 commandments are preceded by a historical reminder. God said, "I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage." Before God gives these guidelines to live by God reminded the Hebrews that they are a free people. Since God has set them free God doesn’t want them to revert to worshipping idols or hating their neighbors. God has also made it very clear that nothing is to receive greater loyalty.

In summary, the commandments are an aid which were given to protect our freedom not take it away. A far superior gift from God is the gift of liberation for which "the law" is intended to support. This does not mean the freedom to do whatever we want, it means the freedom to live fully, loving God and loving others.

Dr. Keith Wagner, St. Paul's United Church of Christ, Sidney, Ohio