Piety of the Redeemed: A Holy Life
Exodus 20.1-17; Psalm 19; John 2.13-22
Rev. Tiare L. Mathison, Pastor & Soul-Tender
“He pulls life from death.” So Greg Pennoyer says in the preface for the book, God For Us Rediscovering the Meaning of Lent and Easter. He pulls life from death.
In Advent & Christmas we sing Emmanuel, God with us. In Lent, Holy Week & Easter, we discover a bright sadness--God, FOR us, through the cross.
It is “Holy Cross” Sunday, this 3rd Sunday in Lent, according to our ancient tradition. Originally, Lent was the time for baptismal preparation; Adult Christians were baptized during the Easter vigil, the night before the resurrection celebration. Penitential customs such as fasting and Examen, the intentional act of self-examination, grew out of these 40 days of getting ready for admission into the church. It would be fair to say, “remember your baptism and be thankful” as the procession of the cross comes into the church. (slow) It reminds the gathered congregation that at the limit of human weakness, God brings life out of death through Christ’s resurrection.
This gift, we call redemption, defined in Hebraic terms as a broad and roomy place, is the landscape where God speaks in the clarity of the 10 Words, the 10 Teachings, or what has become the 10 commandments. First, let me tell you what these are not. They are not a moral code. They are not tablets for courthouse lawns or judges’ chambers. They are not pithy sayings that define who is in the White American Christian Club and who is not. Rather, they are the scaffolding to hold the Piety of the Redeemed, to frame what a covenanted, holy life looks like. These Eternal Words are not designed to show us the way to receive God’s grace, rather they are GIVEN to us as gift, for we have been set free by Jesus Christ’s life, death and resurrection.
John Calvin says they serve 3 purposes: 1) to expose our sin; 2) to restrain our sin; 3) to guide us away from sin. What often gets lost in translation is the fact they are rooted in God’s deep and abiding love for the people of Israel and the whole world. Before there was Torah, there was the covenant with Abraham & Sarah; before there were the 10 Words there was the great escape from Egypt and the wanderings in the desert until the Israelites arrive at Mt. Sinai (or Horeb). Now they are ready to receive quote ‘out of God’s own mouth’ as Walter Brueggemann says, ‘how God is to be practiced in community among these liberated slaves.’ Unquote.
10 Words are given at the beginning of a very long section of what is known as the covenant passage, it begins here and runs through Numbers 10.10. This placement symbolizes their importance to the life of what originally was an oral community. Long before they were every written down, these 10 Words were passed generation to generation, as a means to shape and form a faithful people. They are a bulwark against wandering the ways of death, they offer life that is bounded yet free. The two tablets structure life with God - the first 4 commandments -then life with our neighbors - the last 6. What we must recognize is you can’t live with only one of the tablets. They are woven together in kindom life, whereby we live into and out of Jesus’ injunction: Love God, love, neighbor, love yourself. Piety of the Redeemed: A Holy Life
Let me ask you this: do you live a holy life? Do you try? Do you have a sense of piety, that is of being religious or reverent? Dedicated, or consecrated to God is the definition of holy. It’s what happens at baptism - I baptize you in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. You bear the Name of God, you are the image of God, you are made holy by the shed blood of Jesus Christ, to use more traditional language. God loves you with a mercy overflowing that is not changed by any temporal circumstances. I find this to be such an important comfort as I age...
No gods, no idols, no name in vain, keep the Sabbath. In our culture idols pop up based on wealth, power, sports abilities, movie, Twitter and Instagram Influencers, music productions - little altars everywhere. We are to be on guard for we know how own capaciousness in turning our glance away from Yahweh, caught by the glitter and gold of someone or something else. We cannot harness God’s power for our own gain, it is why we bow down before Her, rather than claim a seat beside Her, as if She is our best friend.
And commandment 4? Keep the Sabbath? Do you know this may be one of the harder ones to honor? For it means take a rest, stop production, stop doing and start being, built into the very nature of God’s creation of which we are a part. “Go outside and play” our mom use to say to us 5 kids. She is right. We need to get outside and play, the whole life long! It’s a way to be holy.
The other 6 Words frame our relationships in community, not only our church friends, but the entire worlds we inhabit. The best definition I’ve read is this: these are “actions in rehearsal” that is, Hebrew verbs regarding our ways of thinking always have the anticipation of completion. Murder, adultery, steal, false witness, covet - all of these are insidious, invasive, and detrimental to the well-being of communities, and the souls of the individuals in the community. Our redemption does not hinge on our practice, thank God, but the corrosion of our life and its joys are placed at risk when we participate in acts that demean the image of God in another. Lust or covet or lie - tell me, which one can you do for very long without sacrificing your very self? Piety of the Redeemed: A Holy Life
There is no arrogance that comes with recognition of membership, our election, in a people who are called to be part of God’s peculiar possession. Our starting point is at the foot of the cross, whereby we are made holy by Jesus’ death and enlivened for faith by His resurrection, through the Holy Spirit. The task set before us is what Jews call Tikkun Olam, the mending of the world. God demands we live holy lives not so we look good, rather, so we are good and do good. Our reverence is for all of life to thrive, humans, plants, animals, the earth. We hold a vision that some day peace will reign over all, and only glory will fill our eyes. May it come quickly Lord Jesus. Piety of the Redeemed: A Holy Life