see, every one of us is countin' the dice that we didn't roll
& the loser is the last to ask for help
Let’s have a little participation. Shall we? Raise YOUR hand if you’re thinking, after that reading, about Charlton Heston in Cecil B. DeMille’s classic epic, The Ten Commandments?
*Go ahead. Raise your hands! It’s not a trick. I’m not going to put anyone on the spot.
What about this: Anyone whose never seen this movie???* Anyone whose never even heard of it?!?
Ok. Who associates this passage with confirmation classes?* Are the memories good?* …Are they bad?* A little of both?!?*
And who here had to memorize the Commandments?* Does anyone still have them memorized?* *I know some of you do!
What’s the Fourth Commandment?* Here’s a clue; it’s the first one on page 4. (Honor your father and your mother) Nice! Alright, who knows the First Commandment?* I know some of you do! (You shall have no other gods). And who remembers what this commandment means?* (We are to fear, love, and trust GOD above ALL things.) Well done!
And there are plenty of other associations we have with this passage. Aren’t there? This Scripture is pretty familiar.
However, as well-known as this reading may be, it begins in an unexpected way! In fact, as much as you might know about this passage, my hunch is its surprising preamble has still slipped PAST your attention with little notice.
*Most good surprises work like that, by the way.
So go ahead and shout out the answer. And this isn’t a trick question. How does this passage begin?* Feel free to use your bulletins. Anyone? How do the Ten Commandments start?*
Yes! With a notice of what God has done!
Wouldn’t you say that’s, at least, a little surprising?!? I mean, who here thinks, in this passage, all about what WE should and shouldn’t DO; who thinks about God? Much less about what God has done?
I know I DON’T.
…It’s not too surprising we should think thusly, though. After all, all the “shalls’ and “shall nots” have a way of guiding your thinking in that regard. Don’t they?
What’s more, for people like us, people who earn our bread by the sweat of our brow, this is how WE navigate the world. We make our way through this old life by what we do and what we don’t do. Don’t we?
However, as natural as this way of thinking may be, it comes with a hitch. And that catch is revealed by OUR predilection for jumping past what God has done! Here it is: Focusing exclusively on yourself, YOUR choices, and YOUR actions is the surest way to miss so many of the best things in life!
The honest truth is, the MOST important actions in your life are NOT the ones you make! They’re the ones someone else has.
Yes, you heard me right! The most pivotal actions in your life are not YOURS at all! No, the most significant actions in your life are the ones others have made!
For instance, of all the actions I’ve done and failed to do, none have been so significant as my conception. *RIGHT?!? And I DIDN’T have anything to do with that! Thank heavens!
And there are plenty of other examples. Like Amanda’s “I will” at our wedding. Those words of hers have defined my life much more profoundly than many of my own actions.
And there’s my ordination, too. All my discernment, all my college work, all my work in seminary; none of that made me a pastor. No, what made me a pastor was the call you all extended my way! Nothing I did or didn’t do made me a pastor. At least, not until you all decided to call me one! It was your call, not mine, that made me a pastor.
Thank you.
…And sadly, there are also negative examples, too. Aren’t there? Of course there are.
As many of you know, my biological father and I never had a good relationship. He’s dead now. But something in this old world opened a rift between us. And our inability to close it had more of an impact on my life than most of my own choices or actions.
And you, YOU, have your own examples, too. Don’t you?
Words like, “I love you,” or “I’m leaving,” or “You’re hired,” or “We’re letting you go,” or “There’s nothing more we can do,” or “You have a clean bill of health;” words like these ALL have more of an impact on our life than ninety-nine percent of ALL our own actions! Don’t they?
…That’s why, although it comes as a surprise that the Commandments begin with a notice of what God has done, it shouldn’t! The Commandments aren’t abstract or theoretical! No, they’re for real! They’re for real life! They’re for real people living real lives!
Here’s the truth: if, and I mean if, IF God’s Commandments are going to have anything to say TO you and me whatsoever, they must FIRST say something about you and me! Before YOU and I can hope to have anything to do with God’s Commandments at all, God, The Commander, must decide to have something to do with you and me!
Fellow children of God, the Commands about what WE should and shouldn’t do DON’T begin with us because if they did, they’d have nothing to do with us! At least, not really. NO, what the Commandments really are, is a notice of what it really means to really be swept UP into GOD’S prior ACT of salvation!
…Don’t go getting the wrong idea, though. Because these AREN’T mere ideas we’re dealing with here! This notice of what God has done is not a general one! No, it’s a pertinent one. And, more importantly, it’s also a direct one!
What I mean is, the prologue to the Commandments is not just some general information about the acts of God! No, the introduction to the Commandments is an introduction to what God has done FOR you! Yes, YOU.
BEFORE you took any action to commit YOUR life to God or to spend it running from God, God, in Jesus Christ, committed his life, and DEATH, to YOU! To getting YOU!
BEFORE you made any decision for or against God, GOD, through the HOLY Spirit, made a decision for you! GOD has decided to be your God! To be your God, come what may!
This first happened in your BAPTISM! And in this HOLY meal, God’s about to do it to you all over again! At THIS holy meal, Christ himself GIVES you ALL of himself!
And that’s not all, either! Because this is what God WILL do FOR you once and for all! Once and for all, when your baptism is complete—when YOU’RE laid to rest!
…The opportunity to take action on our own behalf is truly a basic one. And far too many people are regularly stymied in this regard. For us, as Christians, it ought to strike us as fundamentally impious when we witness attempts to suppress people from expressing their full, god-given personhood.
However, for us in the Church, we’ve also been liberated from the false belief that our lives are only what we make of them!
Each one of us who has been brought to these baptismal waters has been assured that the most crucial choice in our lives has already been made! And it’s already been made on our behalf! What’s more, we’ve also already been assured that this choice is oh so unfailingly good!
In baptism, God made no ifs, ands, or buts with you! In baptism, God pledged to BE your God! In baptism, God promised GOOD to you, as we sing in that old beloved hymn!
You who have been washed and welcomed in Christ’s salvific waters, you have already been promised that your life is HELD safe and secure!
In other words, your life is NOT your own! It’s NOT in your hands! No, it’s somewhere so much better! Your life is tucked away firmly in CHRIST’S pierced hands! And He’s not about to lose you!
You NO longer have to determine the course of your life! No, in your baptism, God has determined to mold YOUR life into the life-giving shape of the cross! YOUR fate doesn’t hang on your shoulders anymore! No, for upon that old rugged cross, GOD hung it all on Jesus’ broad shoulders! And in HIS resurrection, Jesus WON salvation, eternity itself, for you!
…If you’re HERE today, exhausted from trying to hold it together, well, first of all, welcome to the club. But if you are, know that, in CHRIST, you DON’T have to anymore! In Christ, YOU’RE freed from all that foolish folderol!
Your shortcomings, your achievements, these do not define you! No, what defines you is Christ! What He’s done. Done on your behalf!
Your past. Your future. THIS very instance, even! These all come to you, not of your own volition, but by the power of God!
You NO longer have to carve out your own fate! For Christ hands it all over to you by the scars in his hands! And he hands it all over TO you over and over and over AND over AGAIN!
YOU, yes YOU, you ARE a beloved Child of God! And this is true, not because of anything you’ve done or not done. No, it’s true because this is what CHRIST has done! Done for you!
You, YES you, you ARE a beloved Child of God. YOU are FREE! For you belong to Christ!
…This is not something we can get ourselves to believe, either, by the way. So you should know, the faith that is springing up in you to trust THESE words is nothing other than CHRIST’S Holy Spirit! Christ’s Holy Spirit at work IN you! Giving YOU faith! Giving you a future. Giving you the very fullness of God’s LOVE! And so, on account of that, let’s sing!
Let us sing of this miracle. Let us implore God for it. Spirit of God, Descend Upon My Heart, ELW 800
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