Third Sunday of Lent: Spirit and Life

by the Rev. Francis T. Gignac, S.J.

he first reading (Exodus 20:1-17) contains the Ten Commandments from the Sinai covenant. The ancient Israelites modeled this covenant on contemporary political suzerainty treaties. First came the identification of the overlord, "I am Yahweh your God." This was followed by a historical prologue reciting benefits conferred, "who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery." Then follow the stipulations or laws to be obeyed.

The Ten Commandments fall into two groups of five, listed in descending order of importance. The first is literally, "Do not prefer any other god to me." The Hebrews were not yet monotheists; but for them there would be only one God, Yahweh, whom they would serve. The second is originally, "Do not make any graven image of me" (in later versions, it is reworded to refer to idols). It reflects an insight that Yahweh could not be adequately represented by any statue; the only true "image" of God was man and woman in their complementarity.

The third commandment, "Do not use my name," meant that one should never pronounce the personal name of Israel's God (adonai, LORD, is substituted in worship). This also served to keep people from using his name in curses and blessings and thus seeming to manipulate him. The fourth, "Keep the sabbath," enjoins a weekly day of rest. The fifth is to "Honor your parents," those who stand in the place of God.

The sixth commandment, "Do not murder," reflects the worst thing one could do to a fellow member of the community. The seventh, "Do not commit adultery," has more to do with life than sex. At this time, life after death was thought of only as survival in the name and person of one's children, and this gave the man the right to know who his children were. The eighth commandment really means "Do not kidnap"; the next worse thing you could do to another was to sell him into slavery. The ninth, "Do not commit perjury," is rather minimalistic: when you are called to testify, then you must tell the truth. The tenth states, "Do not covet (desire and take) your neighbor's house (property)," spelled out as "wife, manservant, maidservant, ox, and ass."

These Ten Commandments have often been called the highest moral code of antiquity. In rather primitive terms of 3,000 years ago, they expressed loyalty to their God by promising not to prefer other gods to him, to practice justice toward their fellow countrymen, and to exact vengeance upon their enemies. Early Christians saw in the teachings of Jesus an invitation to interiorize these laws and concepts: love your enemies, forgive one another, don't even be angry with another.

In some respects, we have come a long way in our religious insight since biblical times, especially in our acknowledgment of the dignity of the individual human person, in our concepts of freedom and religious liberty, and in our abhorrence for slavery and racism. In some other areas, we seem not to have made as much progress. But our challenge is to keep growing. Our call as Christians is to follow Jesus along his way, not literally by living as he did in first-century Palestine, but by becoming more and more imbued with his Spirit and by thinking and acting in accord with it in the realities of this day and age.

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Revised: 27 October 1997

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