Out of Bondage
Exodus 20

October 5, 2008


Nothing kills the spirit of the Christian faith more quickly than a vehement insistence that we all have to follow the Ten Commandments. The Ten Commandments, and there are many more than ten, are much more important for our faith and for living with God than those who have memorized the list have imagined.

Those loud voices trumpeting the need for the Ten typically want to use the Commandments as a tool to assert their own righteousness, and clearly assign unrighteousness to those who have violated. We have helped, for the Commandments have been taken completely out of their context and put up as a moral check-off list on our refrigerators. The word commandment is not used in Exodus 20, the Lord God said these words to Moses, and then inscribed them on stone tablets with the finger of God. Impressive stuff, but what was happening all around this makes a difference.

The people of Israel, led by Moses, had reached Mount Sinai, the peak of their journey into the wilderness on the Exodus from Egypt. Up to this point the Israelites were not wandering. They were grumbling and murmuring because of lack of food and water and the security of home, but their path to Sinai was fairly straightforward guided by Moses and God’s flame and cloud. Only after Sinai did their traveling seem to be bogged down in direction-lessness, and it took them short of 40 years to make it to the Promised Land by a very circuitous and confused route. Just as today, the making of many laws does not always clarify living for a society.

Only Moses dares to ascend the rocky and stormy mountain, though he would like some company in encountering the deity, but the Israelites respond, “You speak to us and we will listen; but don’t let God speak to us, lest we die.” The fear of God was tangible, for the common idea was that if a human being came into the direct presence of God, the infinite distance between their natures would instantly disintegrate the human. God began these words by identifying who God really is: “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.” Many times in the Old Testament, people are amazed that they have seen God and yet are still living. No one ever dies seeing God. And this God, the only real God, intends to make you and me free, to release us from our slavery and bondage. That’s who and what our God is - the One who redeems us out of our bondage. You cannot read the Ten Commandments without first having that freedom in your mind.

There are lots of laws in our world today, many attempting to mandate what ought to be, and if you read ahead in Exodus you will see a number of these. Many laws, however, describe how things are, how things really work - such as the law of gravity and innumerable laws of chemistry. That’s what is here - the way things really are, and the way they work according to God’s creation. Lots of people bluster about getting involved in the “real world,” the world of pain and suffering, violence and human pretension to power over other human beings. The laws of the streets that run this world are considered the only ones that count. The “real world” is God’s world, not this contrived human existence, and this all too short list are simply the beginnings of how this world really works.

There is only one God, because everything else is a phony, is not real. When we worship other gods, erect our graven images and idols, we are worshipping thin air, nothing. All we end up doing is enslaving our minds and souls to something which can never bring us freedom, whether it is money, possessions, power, fame, or thrills. We go back to Egypt and not for a holiday.

The holiday, the holy day, is this utterly unique idea of the sabbath, the day of rest, so that we might be free to be utterly human. Sabbath was made for human beings, not human beings for the Sabbath, a certain Jesus would later comment, and many of us can remember that the Sabbath was not a day of freedom, but a day in which no fun was allowed, and therefore no truly human expression.

You shall not kill, nor commit adultery, nor steal, nor lie about your neighbour, nor covet your neighbour’s stuff simply don’t work anywhere. We lose our humanity and freedom and harm others, even if we do get away with it. When one person is violated, all people are violated, and then nobody is free.

Don’t forget, we are reading these words as Christians who have been guided to a wider view of law and laws. Jesus had plenty to say about how laws placed you and me in bondage and Paul later would say that the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. As Christians our spiritual discipline is not to obey a bunch of good laws and commandments, but to be free and alive with the Spirit of God and enable others to obtain freedom, which is another way of saying that we give all love and respect to other human beings. Sometimes, many times, the laws of society are unjust and need to be ignored or resisted in favour of God’s freedom and love, yes, civil disobedience.

Scott Hoezee retells how shortly after World War II the World Council of Churches dispatched Rev. John Mackie, president of the Church of Scotland, to go the Balkan peninsula to see how the churches were doing in remote areas following the war. Mackie was accompanied by two other pastors, both of whom were from a very sincere, albeit strict, denomination. One afternoon the three men visited an Orthodox priest in a lonely and small Greek village.

Unaccustomed ever to seeing visitors, much less fellow pastors, the priest was overjoyed and warmly invited them into his home. Soon after the men were situated in the priest's living room, the priest produced a box of fine Havana cigars and offered them to his guests. Mackie gratefully took one, bit the end off, lit it, and began puffing happily, praising the quality of the stogie. The other two pastors sat wide-eyed and when the priest moved the cigar box their way, they drew back and sternly snapped, “We do not smoke!” The priest looked flustered and fretted he had offended his honored guests. So he disappeared into another room, returning a few minutes later with a flagon of his finest wine. Again, Mackie graciously accepted a glass, drank some, and thanked the priest of such an excellent vintage. By now the other two pastors were dumbstruck and again sounded peevish in telling the priest in no uncertain terms, “We do not drink!”

Eventually the visit ended and the three men returned to their jeep for the ride back to the hotel. Immediately the two pastors attacked Mackie with hostility rising in their incredulous voices. "Dr. Mackie!” they scolded, “here you are the president of the Church of Scotland and you smoke and you drink!?” Mackie looked at the two men and replied, “No, I don’t. But somebody in there had to be a Christian!” Just for the record, smoking and drinking are not included in the Ten Commandments.

Somebody in there - in this world - has to be a Christian, alive with the God who brings us out of bondage to be really free.

Preached by Robert Kitchen
Knox-Metropolitan United Church
Regina, Saskatchewan