Changing Laws

Thursday, May 11, 2005 -- Week of 4 Easter

"Morning Reflections" is a brief thought about the scripture readings from the Daily Office of Morning and Evening Prayer according to the practice found in the Book of Common Prayer of the Episcopal Church.

Morning Prayer begins on p. 80 of the Book of Common Prayer.
Evening Prayer begins on p. 117

An online resource for praying the Daily Office is found at www.missionstclare.com
Another form of the office from Phyllis Tickle's "Divine Hours" is available on our partner web site www.ExploreFaith.org at this link -- http://explorefaith.org/prayer/fixed/index.html


Today's Readings for the Daily Office (p. 961)
Psalms 50 (morning) // [59, 60] or 114, 115 (afternoon)
Exodus 34:1-17
1 Thessalonians 2:13-20
Matthew 5:21-26

Changing Laws

In our Exodus reading Moses prepares to take the two tablets of stone up the mountain again. Earlier in anger at Israel's apostasy, Moses had broken these stones with the ten words of commandment on them.

Early in the morning Moses goes up Mount Sinai with the stones and he has an experience of God. "The Lord descended in the cloud and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name, 'The LORD.'" God then describes the divine character as being "merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, ...for giving iniquity and transgression and sin." But then God speaks that he is God who judges the guilty, "visiting the iniquity of the parents upon the children and the children's children, to the third and the fourth generation." This vow to punish up to four generations for the sins of their ancestors also appears in the first set of commandments from Exodus 20.

Such placement of a fundamental law of God appears pretty foundational. As God is delivering the commandments that create the conditions of fellowship, God reasserts the intention to hold multiple generations responsible for sin. (We sure see that happen, as any son of the Confederacy can witness. My ancestor's injustice to our black brothers and sisters redowns as cursing racism for generations. But that's a reflection for another morning.)

This law about the nature of God subsequently changed. Several centuries later both the prophet Jeremiah (chapter 31) and the prophet Ezekiel (ch. 18) pronounced to God's people in God's name that it would no longer be true that God punishes the children for the ancestor's sin. The person who sins would be held accountable. It is like an amendment to the commandment.

In that same prophetic tradition, Jesus interprets the law in our reading from Matthew today. He opened this section with the words "Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets," then he reinterprets the law in a more radical way. He changes their focus from outward behaviors to inward motivations. It is not enough just to refrain from murder, but harboring anger in your heart is a form of murdering. Not only is bearing false witness prohibited, but to insult another human being is a form of false witness that is forbidden.

I remember as a child being haunted by that passage "if you say, 'You fool,' you will be liable to the hell of fire." I was very afraid of that message. I tried to use other epithets when I was angry. I wondered, is "You idiot" okay to say? But one day, it slipped out. I was having a disagreement with a playmate and I called him a fool. He knew his Bible. "Oh!" he said. "You'll go to hell for that." At that moment, I felt like a goner.

Some lessons for me include these. Following all the rules isn't the bottom line. Sometimes the rules need to change. Sometimes they need to be loosened. Sometimes they need to find more depth. The motivation of the heart is key? The place of struggle is in the heart. What motivates me? What are the thoughts of my heart? From that place will come the acts of good and evil. Jesus' summary helps: Love God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength; and love your neighbor as yourself.

Lowell
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The Rev. Lowell Grisham
St. Paul's Episcopal Church
Fayetteville, Arkansas