THE SIXTH OF THE BIG TEN: HONORING LIFE
Exodus 20:13
Rev. Paul Wrightman 9/24/23
WE CONTINUE OUR SERMON SERIES ON THE TEN COMMANDMENTS
FROM A JEWISH POINT OF VIEW.
UNLIKE MANY OF OUR CONTEMPORARIES,
WHO SEE THE COMMANDMENTS
AS LIMITATIONS ON OUR FREEDOM,
OUR JEWISH BROTHERS AND SISTERS
WHO PRACTICE THEIR FAITH SEE THEM
AS THE INVALUABLE GIFT
OF TEN LIFE-GIVING WORDS FROM GOD
WHOSE INTENT IS TO TEACH US HOW TO LIVE,
HOW TO LIVE ABUNDANTLY.
I, PERSONALLY, AM FULLY PERSUADED
THAT MOSES WAS ONE A VERY, VERY SMALL GROUP
OF PERSONS WHO WE MIGHT DESIGNATE
AS RELIGIOUS “GIANTS,” OR RELIGIOUS “GENIUSES” –
PERSONS WHO IN THEIR ENCOUNTER WITH GOD
RECEIVED REVELATION THAT WAS NOT MERELY
ADDRESSED TO THEM AS INDIVIDUALS,
BUT REVELATION WHICH GOD INTENDED TO FLOW THROUGH THEM
TO SHAPE THE LIFE OF A PEOPLE,
AND THEN, THROUGH THAT PEOPLE,
TO TRANSFORM HUMANITY AS A WHOLE.
ALREADY IN THIS SERMON SERIES WE HAVE SEEN HOW
THE TEN COMMANDMENTS ARE UNCANNILY UP TO DATE;
THEY ARE AS RELEVANT FOR LIFE TODAY
AS THEY WERE WHEN THEY WERE GIVEN
SOME THREE THOUSAND THREE HUNDRED YEARS AGO.
ANOTHER UNCANNY ASPECT OF THE COMMANDMENTS
IS THAT THEY CONTAINED DIMENSIONS OF TRANSFORMATION
WHICH WERE WAY AHEAD OF THEIR TIME
AND WHICH HAD TO BE GROWN INTO.
FOR EXAMPLE, THE SEVENTH WORD,
“YOU SHALL NOT COMMIT ADULTERY,”
WHICH WE WILL BE LOOKING AT NEXT WEEK,
SHOULD NOT EXIST AS A DISTINCT COMMANDMENT AT ALL,
GIVEN THE FACT
THAT AT THE TIME THE COMMANDMENTS WERE GIVEN,
WIVES WERE CONSIDERED TO BE
THE PROPERTY OF THEIR HUSBANDS,
THERE WAS NO NEED FOR A COMMANDMENT
HAVING TO DO WITH ADULTERY.
PROPERTY WAS ALREADY COVERED BY THE EIGHTH WORD,
“YOU SHALL NOT STEAL.”
THE INTENT
OF THE COMMANDMENT CONCERNING ADULTERY
WAS SPECIFICALLY TO AFFIRM AND PROTECT
THE MARRIAGE RELATIONSHIP
AS THE MASTER-METAPHOR
FOR THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN GOD AND HUMAN BEINGS.
IT TOOK ABOUT FIVE CENTURIES
FOR THE RELATIONAL IMPLICATIONS
OF THE SEVENTH WORD CONCERNING MARRIAGE
TO BE SEEN AND AFFIRMED
BY SOME OF THE GREAT PROPHETS OF ISRAEL:
HOSEA AND ISAIAH IN PARTICULAR.
IT LOOKS VERY MUCH AS IF
GOD REVEALED THESE TEN COMMANDMENTS,
THESE TEN LIFE-GIVING WORDS,
KNOWING THAT THEY WERE WAY AHEAD OF THEIR TIME
AND THAT THE HEBREW PEOPLE WOULD TAKE CENTURIES,
INDEED MILLENIA, TO GROW INTO THEM.
THIS IS VERY MUCH THE CASE WITH THE COMMANDMENT
WE ARE FOCUSING ON TODAY,
“YOU SHALL NOT KILL.”
FIRST OF ALL, A COMMENT ON TRANSLATION,
OR, MORE ACCURATELY, MISTRANSLATION.
WHEN WE LOOKED AT JESUS’ SERMON ON THE MOUNT,
WE SAW HOW IT VERY MUCH LOOKED LIKE
THERE WAS A SUSTAINED ATTEMPT
ON THE PART OF CONTEMPORARY TRANSLATORS
TO WATER-DOWN THE CHALLENGE OF JESUS’ TEACHINGS
BY CONSISTENLY CHOOSING THE MORE “SPIRITUAL” ALTERNATIVE.
THUS, WHEREAS CONTEMPORARY
SPANISH, FRENCH, GERMAN, AND ITALIAN
TRANSLATIONS REGULARLY USE THE WORD JUSTICE,
MEANING RESTORATIVE JUSTICE FOR THOSE WHOM SOCIETY
HAS RIPPED-OFF,
THE HUGE MAJORITY OF CURRENT ENGLISH TRANSLATIONS
USE THE WORD “RIGHTEOUSNESS,”
WHICH TENDS TO SPIRIT-AWAY ANY CONCRETE DEMANDS
THAT JESUS MAY BE MAKING OF US.
A VARIATION ON THIS THEME OF SPIRITING-AWAY
ANY UNCOMFORTABLE CHALLENGES
BY GETTING RID OF THEM IN THE PROCESS OF TRANSLATION,
CAN BE SEEN IN THE TRANSLATION OF TODAY’S COMMANDMENT,
WHICH ALMOST ALL CONTEMPORARY ENGLISH TRANSLATIONS
RENDER AS “YOU SHALL NOT MURDER,”
INSTEAD OF THE MORE ACCURATE, MORE INCLUSIVE,
AND INFINITELY MORE DEMANDING “YOU SHALL NOT KILL.”
SOMEWHAT SURPRISINGLY, THE KING JAMES VERSION OF 1611
GETS IT RIGHT: “THOU SHALT NOT KILL.”
HOW DO WE KNOW THAT THE CORRECT WORD IS “KILL,”
AND NOT “MURDER?”
WE KNOW FROM THE CONTEXT
IN WHICH THE WORD OCCURS IN THE HEBREW SCRIPTURES.
SINCE THE HEBREW WORD USED IN THIS COMMANDMENT
IS USED TO DESCRIBE ALL SORTS OF KINDS OF KILLING,
ACCIDENTAL, INTENTIONAL, EVEN LEGAL,
THE RANGE OF THE WORD IS BROAD, MEANING “TO KILL,”
AND NOT NARROW, MEANING “TO MURDER.”
HERE, TOO, I SUSPECT SOMETHING OF A COVER-UP.
GIVEN OUR ALL-TOO-HUMAN PROPENSITY TO KILL,
GIVEN OUR ENDLESS WARS,
AND ENDLESS RATIONALIZING OF OUR WARS
IN THE NAME OF GOD,
THE ORIGINAL MEANING OF THE SIXTH COMMANDMENT,
“THOU SHALT NOT KILL,”
IS JUST TOO MUCH, TOO BIG, AND TOO UNIVERSAL FOR US.
WE CAN LIVE WITH “THOU SHALT NOT MURDER,”
BECAUSE MOST OF US ARE NOT MURDERERS.
BUT “THOU SHALT NOT KILL”
IMPLICATES ALL OF US BECAUSE IT IMPLICATES
THE KILLING PRACTICED BY ALL GOVERNMENTS,
VERY MUCH INCLUDING OUR OWN.
WE MENTIONED HOW THE SEVENTH COMMANDMENT,
“THOU SHALT NOT COMMITMANT ADULTERY,”
WAS ACTUALLY WAY AHEAD OF ITS TIME,
AND HOW IT TOOK FIVE HUNDRED YEARS
FOR THE PROPHETS TO PICK UP ON
ITS RELATIONAL IMPLICATIONS.
THE SAME DYNAMIC WAS AND IS AT WORK
IN THIS SIXTH COMMANDMENT,
“THOU SHALT NOT KILL.”
WE HAVE THE IRONIC SITUATION
OF GOD REVEALING GOD’S DEEPEST WILL TO MOSES,
“THOU SHALT NOT KILL,”
WHILE AT THE SAME TIME THE VERY PEOPLE
TO WHOM GOD GAVE THIS COMMANDMENT
CONTINUED TO BELIEVE THAT IT WAS THIS SAME GOD
WHO TOLD THEM TO GO TO WAR AND WHO FOUGHT ON THEIR SIDE.
HERE AGAIN WE ARE PUSHED TO ASK THE QUESTION
“DOES GOD FOLLOW GOD’S OWN COMMANDMENTS?”
DOES FOLLOW GOD’S OWN COMMANDMENTS?
MANY OF US WOULD ANSWER THIS QUESTION
WITH A RESOUNDING “YES!”
BUT IF GOD FOLLOWS GOD’S OWN COMMANDMENTS
THIS CAN ONLY MEAN THAT ALL THOSE TIMES
IN THE HEBREW SCRIPTURES WHEN GOD IS PORTRAYED
AS INVOKING AND EVEN PARTICIPATING IN WARFARE
ARE NOTHING MORE THAN HUMAN BEINGS PROJECTING
THEIR OWN VIOLENCE ONTO GOD.
IF THE TEN COMMANDMENTS
GIVE US A GLIMPSE INTO THE DEEPEST HEART AND WILL OF GOD,
THEN THEY ARE WAY AHEAD OF WHERE THE HEBREW PEOPLE WERE
AT THE TIME THEY WERE GIVEN.
INDEED, THERE ARE WAY AHEAD OF
WHERE THE MAJORITY OF CHRISTIANS ARE IN THIS COUNTRY TODAY.
KINGS LIKE DAVID AND SOLOMON MAY HAVE SINCERELY BELIEVED
THAT THEY WERE FIGHTING GOD’S WARS,
BUT, IN REALITY, THEY WERE SIMPLY PROJECTING
THEIR OWN WILL-TO-POWER, THEIR OWN ADDICTION TO VIOLENCE,
ONTO GOD,
USING GOD’S NAME AND GOD’S WILL TO JUSTIFY THE WARS
THAT THEY WERE ALREADY BOUND AND DETERMINED TO FIGHT.
GOD’S DEEPEST WILL REGARDING WAR
HAD ALREADY BEEN REVEALED IN THE TEN COMMANDMENTS,
“THOU SHALT NOT KILL.”
PERIOD.
THE PROCLIVITY OF CONTEMPORARY
ENGLISH-LANGUAGE TRANSLATORS
TO WATER-DOWN THE ORIGINAL MEANING OF COMMANDMENTS
WHICH THEY DEEM TO BE TOO DIFFICULT, TOO CHALLENGING,
WREAKS HAVOC ON THE ORIGINAL TEACHINGS OF JESUS.
THUS, IN THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT,
WHICH IN MANY WAYS IS JESUS’ PERSONAL COMMMENTARY
ON THE TEN COMMANDMENTS,
WHEN JESUS EXPANDS ON THE MEANING
OF THE SIXTH COMMANDMENT,
LINKING IT TO ANGER,
(Matthew 5:22)
AND EXPANDING IT TO COVER
ONE’S ENEMIES AS WELL AS ONE’S NEIGHBORS,
(Matthew 5:43-48)
ALMOST ALL CONTEMPORARY ENGLISH TRANSLATIONS
MISTRANSLATE AND HAVE JESUS SAY,
“YOU HAVE HEARD THAT IT WAS SAID TO THOSE OF ANCIENT TIMES,
‘YOU SHALL NOT MURDER, AND WHOEVER MURDERS
SHALL BE LIABLE TO JUDGMENT.”
THE CORRECT TRANSLATION IS:
“YOU HAVE HEARD THAT IT WAS SAID TO THOSE OF ANCIENT TIMES,
‘YOU SHALL NOT KILL, AND WHOEVER KILLS
SHALL BE LIABLE TO JUDGMENT.”
(Matthew 5:21)
THE USE OF THE WORD “MURDER” INSTEAD OF “KILL”
PRETTY MUCH TAKES THE STING OUT OF JESUS’ COMMAND
TO LOVE OUR ENEMIES.
SINCE WAR IS NEVER DEFINED IN TERMS OF MURDER,
BUT ALWAYS IN TERMS OF LAWFUL KILLING,
HAVING JESUS TAKE ON MURDER SPECIFICALLY,
AND NOT KILLING IN GENERAL,
SEEMS TO PROVIDE SCRIPTURAL JUSTIFICATION
FOR BEING ABLE TO “LOVE” OUR ENEMY
WHILE AT THE SAME TIME KILLING HIM OR HER.
SINCE WE HAVE DEFINED THE MURDER OUT OF WAR,
WHEN WE KILL SOMEONE IN WARFARE IT IS NO LONGER MURDER,
AND WE CAN STILL CONSIDER OURSELVES TO BE GOOD CHRISTIANS.
TODAY THE OVERWHELMING CONCENSUS
OF BIBLICAL SCHOLARS AND SYSTEMATIC THEOLOGIANS
IS THAT JUST AS JESUS PROCLAIMED
GOD’S UNCONDITIONAL LOVE AND UNCONDITIONAL FORGIVENESS,
SO ALSO JESUS COMMANDED HIS FOLLOWERS TO LIVE OUT
UNCONDITIONAL NONVIOLENCE AND LOVE OF ENEMY.
AND THIS UNCONDITIONAL NONVIOLENCE AND LOVE OF ENEMY
IS EXACTLY WHAT THE EARLY CHURCH UNEQUIVOCALLY PRACTICED.
THIS ALL CHANGED WHEN THE ROMAN EMPEROR CONSTANTINE
ALLEGEDLY BECAME A CHRISTIAN,
AND SET THE STAGE FOR CHRISTIANITY
TO BECOME THE STATE RELIGION,
COMPLETE WITH THE STATE TRAPPINGS
OF GOD-INSPIRED WARS AND CRUSADES.
EVER SINCE THE TIME OF CONSTANTINE,
CHRISTIANITY HAS LARGELY BEEN A RELIGION OF EMPIRE,
BLESSING CONQUEST, CRUSADE, AND THE GENOSIDE
OF MILLIONS OF NATIVE PEOPLES AS “GOD’S WILL.”
ALL THIS IN SPITE OF THE FACT THAT “GOD’S WILL”
AS ENDORSED BY EMPIRE
WAS OFTEN EXACTLY THE OPPOSITE
OF GOD’S WILL AS REVEALED BY JESUS.
AT THIS POINT I HAVE TO GET PERSONAL.
EVEN THOUGH I BELIEVE THAT GOD MEANT THE COMMANDMENT
“THOU SHALT NOT KILL,” TO BE BINDING,
AND EVEN THOUGH I BELIEVE THAT JESUS REALLY MEANT IT
WHEN HE COMMANDED US TO LOVE OUR ENEMIES,
I ALSO BELIEVE THAT THERE HAVE BEEN
WARS IN RECENT TIMES WHERE FIGHTING
WAS A NECESSARY EVIL.
I’M TALKING ABOUT THE SECOND WORLD WAR AND KOREA,
AND, SADLY, THE CURRENT WAR BETWEEN UKRAINE AND RUSSIA.
I FIND THE EXAMPLE OF THE GERMAN PASTOR AND THEOLOGIAN
DIETRICH BONHOEFFER TO BE PARADIGMATIC FOR ME HERE.
BONHOEFFER WAS CONVINCED THAT JESUS TAUGHT
THE WAY OF NONVIOLENCE.
BUT BONHOEFFER BECAME CONVINCED THAT NONVIOLENCE
WAS INCAPABLE OF STOPPING HITLER.
FACED WITH AN IMPOSSIBLE SITUATION,
BONHOEFFER CHOSE TO TAKE PART
IN AN ASSASSINATION PLOT TO KILL HITLER.
FOR ADVOCATING VIOLENCE AGAINST HITLER
BONHOEFFER ACKNOWLEDGED THAT HE WAS,
INDEED, BREAKING GOD’S LAW,
AND FOR THAT HE ASKED GOD’S FORGIVENESS.
IF WE ARE TO REGAIN OUR INTEGRITY AS CHRISTIANS
CONCERNING GOD’S COMMANDMENT AGAINST KILLING,
I THINK IT IS FAR MORE HONEST, LIKE BONHOEFFER,
TO ACKNOWLEDGE THE UNCONDITIONAL NATURE OF GOD’S LAW,
AND ASK GOD’S FORGIVENESS
WHEN WE ARE FACED WITH AN IMPOSSIBLE SITUATION
AND CANNOT KEEP IT.
THERE’S SOMETHING ELSE.
IF YOU’RE ANYTHING LIKE ME, AND I’M SURE THAT YOU ARE,
I SUSPECT THAT ONE OF YOUR BIGGEST PROBLEMS WITH GOD
IS THAT GOD ALLOWS HUMANKIND TO ENGAGE
IN SO MUCH VIOLENCE, HATRED, AND EVIL.
THAT GOD ALLOWS THIS IS KNOWN AS “THE PROBLEM OF EVIL,”
AND IS BY FAR THE MOST COMMON REASON
THAT PEOPLE GIVE FOR REJECTING GOD ALTOGETHER.
EVEN THOUGH YOU AND I DON’T GO SO FAR AS TO REJECT GOD
BECAUSE OF THE VAST AMOUNT OF EVIL THAT GOD ALLOWS,
IT IS STILL A HUGE PROBLEM FOR MANY OF US,
BECAUSE IT UNDERMINES OUR ABILITY TO TOTALLY TRUST GOD.
THERE IS ALWAYS A STILL, SMALL, “BUT” IN A CORNER OF OUR MINDS
WHICH QUESTIONS GOD’S GOODNESS BECAUSE OF THIS.
MANY OF YOU KNOW THAT AT TIMES I MAKE A POINT OF
ARGUING WITH GOD, BASING MY BOLDNESS ON THE EXAMPLE
OF BIBLICAL CHARACTERS LIKE MOSES, JACOB, JOB, AND JEREMIAH.
I DISTINCTLY REMEMBER AN EXPERIENCE OF ARGUING WITH GOD
IN WHICH I ANGRILY SHOUTED AT GOD
“WHY DON’T YOU JUST MAKE US BROKEN HUMAN BEINGS
DO WHAT YOU WANT? THEN WE COULD FINALLY HAVE
SOME PEACE AND JUSTICE IN THIS WORLD.”
ALMOST IMMEDIATELY AFTER ANGRILY YELLING THIS AT GOD,
IN MY MIND’S EYE I RECEIVED AN IMAGE OF A SOLID
STAINLESS STEEL CUBE. IT WAS BIG, I’D SAY ABOUT 6 FEET SQUARE.
IT WAS SITTING ON A BARREN DESERT LANDSCAPE,
LIFELESS AND ALL ALONE.
AND THEN I GOT IT. THE WHOLE POINT OF THIS IMAGE
WAS THAT IT WAS LIFELESS.
GOD’S SPIRIT WAS TELLING ME THAT IF GOD FORCED HUMANITY
INTO OBEYING GOD’S LAWS, MADE US LIVE LIVES
OF JUSTICE AND PEACE, WE WOULD, INDEED, HAVE A “PERFECT”
WORLD, BUT THIS PERFECT WORLD WOULD BE AS PERFECT
AND LIFELESS AS A SIX FOOT SQUARE STAINLESS STEEL CUBE.
YES, GOD WANTS US TO LIVE LIVES WHICH EMBODY
JUSTICE AND PEACE, BUT HE WANTS OUR JUSTICE AND OUR PEACE
TO FLOW OUT OF OUR LOVE FOR GOD AND NEIGHBOR.
COERCED JUSTICE AND PEACE, EVEN IF COERCED BY GOD,
AMOUNT TO A SHAM JUSTICE AND A SHAM PEACE
BECAUSE THEY ARE NOT FREELY GIVEN.
ONE CAN FIGURE OUT FROM SCRIPTUE THAT THERE ARE
CERTAIN SPIRITUAL LAWS WHICH ARE JUST AS BINDING
IN GOD’S DIMENSION AS THE LAW OF GRAVITY
IS IN OUR DIMENSION.
THESE ARE “GOD’S OWN ABSOLUTES,” AS IT WERE.
ONE OF GOD’S ABSOLUTES IS THAT GOD WILL SETTLE
FOR NOTHING LESS THAN LOVE, JUSTICE, AND PEACE
FREELY GIVEN ON OUR PART AS OUR FREE RESPONSE
TO GOD’S OWN LOVE AND GOODNESS.
GOD IS TELLING US THAT FORCED LOVE, FORCED JUSTICE,
AND FORCED PEACE ARE NOT REAL PEACE, JUSTICE, AND LOVE,
BUT ACTUALLY THEIR OPPOSITES.
I STILL GET ANGRY AT GOD ABOUT THE “PROBLEM OF EVIL”
AT TIMES.
BUT NOW WHEN I DO GOD REMINDS ME OF THAT
STAINLESS STEEL CUBE, AND I’M FORCED TO CHOOSE BETWEEN
A WORLD THAT IS MESSY AND VIOLENT BUT ALIVE
AND A WORLD THAT IS COLDLY PERFECT AND DEVOID OF LIFE.
ANOTHER QUESTION THAT I THREW AT GOD IN ONE OF MY
BURSTS OF ANGER WAS “WHY DON’T YOU JUST COME DOWN
AND STRAIGHTEN THINGS OUT?, WHY DON’T YOU SHOW US
HOW TO LIVE?”
AND TO THIS DOUBLE-PRONGED QUESTION I FELT A SAD,
RESIGNED LAUGH ON GOD’S PART.
I SENSED THAT GOD WAS SAYING TO ME:
“BUT I HAVE ‘COME DOWN.’ BUT I HAVE SHOWN YOU HOW TO LIVE.”
ISN’T THIS WHAT I DID IN REVEALING MYSELF TO HUMANKIND
IN THE PERSON OF JESUS?
WHAT MORE CAN I DO? I BECAME A PERSON PRECISELY
IN ORDER TO SHOW YOU HOW TO LIVE.
IS IT MY FAULT THAT YOU REJECTED ME?
WHAT MORE CAN I DO? WHAT MORE CAN I DO?”
SO IT SEEMS TO ME THAT THE ONLY POSSIBLE WAY
THAT WE BROKEN HUMAN BEINGS CAN BEGIN
TO LIVE AND LEAN INTO THE LIFE-GIVING TEACHING
OF “YOU SHALL NOT KILL,” IS TO GO BACK --
TO GO BACK TO OUR LOVE RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD,
WHICH WILL GIVE US THE FREEDOM AND THE POWER
THAT WE NEED TO BEGIN LIVING OUT PEACE AND LOVE
AS GOD LIVED IT OUT IN THE PERSON OF JESUS.
AMEN.