Lenten Devotional – Day 29

Q. 44. What does the preface to the Ten Commandments teach us?

A. The preface to the Ten Commandments teaches us that because God is the Lord, and our God and Redeemer, therefore we are bound to keep all his commandments.

When I think of your ways,
    I turn my feet to your decrees;
I hurry and do not delay to keep your commandments.
Though the cords of the wicked ensnare me,
   I do not forget your law.
At midnight I rise to praise you,
   because of your righteous ordinances.
I am a companion of all who fear you,
   of those who keep your precepts.
The earth, O LORD, is full of your steadfast love;
   teach me your statutes. (Psalm 119:59-64)

The truth is, of course, that the curtness of the Ten Commandments is an evidence, not of the gloom and narrowness of a religion, but, on the contrary, of its liberality and humanity. It is shorter to state the things forbidden than the things permitted: precisely because most things are permitted, and only a few things are forbidden. - Gilbert Keith G. K. Chesterton

  NASA had high hopes for their Mars orbiter - it would make possible some exciting new research into the Red Planet. They were stunned when suddenly, without warning, they lost the Mars orbiter in deep space. After the initial shock, NASA tried to determine what went wrong. The answer was almost as alarming as losing the orbiter itself. The fatal malfunction was the result of a tragic error in calculations - bad math doomed the Mars craft. One set of engineers had worked with English measurements - while another set of engineers did their calculations by the metric system! ...

  A costly failure was the result of measuring by two different standards ... . You can't keep vacillating; commuting back and forth between what the world around you says is right and what your Lord says is right. You can't just go God's way when it's convenient and doesn't cost you much. In God's words, you have to "choose this day whom you will serve." When you do, life is a whole lot less confusing. - Ron Hutchcraft, "The measurement mess," Ron Hutchcraft Ministries, December 1999.

Lenten Devotional – Fifth Sunday in Lent

Q. 42. What is the sum of the Ten Commandments?

A. The sum of the Ten Commandments is: to love the Lord our God with all our heart, with all our soul, with all our strength, and with all our mind; and our neighbor as ourselves.

“Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?” He said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.” (Matt. 22:36-40)

Reverence and respect for God's commandments teach us the way of love - love of God and love of neighbor. What is impossible to individuals is possible to God and those who have faith in God. God gives us the grace to love as he loves, to forgive as he forgives, to think as he thinks, and to act as he acts. - Gospel Meditation by Don Schwager

  These commandments have not changed for the past 3,400 years. Why? Because human nature has not changed. During the past 3,400 years, there have been all kinds of changes in the lives of human beings. Civilizations have changed. Knowledge has changed. Medicine has changed. Science and technology has changed. Politics and political systems have changed. Nations have changed. Government has changed. Perpetual change is the mark of the human experience during the past 3,400 years of history.

  Meanwhile, while all these changes have been going on for 3,400 years, human nature has not changed. Today, people still worship various gods in their lives. Today, people still swear and cure. Today, people still don’t find time to worship. Today, people still have problems honoring their parents. Today, people still murder, still commit adultery, still steal, still lie, still covet other peoples’ spouses or property. Change is all around us human beings, but human nature has not changed. People still need the Ten Commandments, for our human community as much today are people did 3,400 years ago.

  With the arrival of Jesus in human history, how does Jesus handle the Ten Commandments.? In the first five books of the Bible, which are called the Law, there are more than 600 laws, rules and regulations for human society. Jesus seems less concerned with all of these 600 laws, rules and regulations. Instead, Jesus highlights two commandments in a special and sacred way. Jesus says that the whole Old Testament rested on two commandments and everything else depended.

  The first commandment was this, quoting from Deuteronomy 5. “You shall love the Lord your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment.” In this commandment, Jesus invites us to love, not only our husband or wife or children or grandchildren or family or friends or neighbors. More than that, Jesus invites us to love God, who is the source of all life. And we are invited to love God, not just a little bit, but with all our heart, soul, and mind. For Jesus, this is the first and greatest commandment.

  And the second is like it for Jesus. Jesus quotes from Leviticus 19:18, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” That is, just as you look after your own self-interest and life, so you are to work for the benefit of your neighbor as you would work for the benefit of your own life. Jesus said, “Do these, and you shall live. Do these, and you will understand what it means to discover your life. Joy in life consists of loving both God and your fellow human beings.”

Lenten Devotional – Day 28

Q. 41. Where is the moral law summarily comprehended?

A. The moral law is summarily comprehended in the Ten Commandments.

“And he said to him, “Why do you ask me about what is good? There is only one who is good. If you wish to enter into life, keep the commandments.” (Matt. 19:17)

A businessman notorious for his ruthlessness, announced to Samuel Clemens, aka, Mark Twain, "Before I die, I mean to make a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. I will climb Mount Sinai and read the Ten Commandments aloud at the top."
"I have a better idea," said Clemens, "You could stay home in Boston and keep them." - Clifton Fadiman, ed., The Little, Brown Book of Anecdotes (Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1985), 483.

  Many states have passed laws requiring each motor vehicle licensed in the state must have an inspection sticker generally on the driver’s side of the windshield. States made these laws because some of us are careless about keeping our cars in safe operating condition. The law is for the good of the owner of the vehicle and for the others who might be jeopardized by its operation. So the law is for the good of all concerned.

  Suppose the legislators in your state passed another law requiring a green star sticker on the passenger side of the windshield. They explain the purpose of this law: “We made this law just to let you know that we have the authority to legislate. We want you to get this sticker because we can simply make you are get it.” That would be an arbitrary, tyrannical law. During the next election, the electorate may be inclined to see some new faces in the legislature!

  Law must originate from authority in order to have validity; yet just laws are not arbitrary expressions of authority, just because one have this authority. The Ten Commandments lose their authority if you don’t embrace the author. Simply having the Commandments posted on the wall without a relationship with the creator produces little compliance.

  The Ten Commandments, for instance, were not arbitrary laws, but were based on principles, which have proven themselves for centuries among humans. In it, God is saying, “Remember your spiritual relationship with me, and remember the dignity and purpose of man.”

  Theologian Douglas Alan Walrath reminds us that "God's love includes not only a sustaining center but protective boundaries." Indeed, by dishonoring the boundaries, we diminish the power of what he calls "God's endless, bounded love." Boundaries like the Ten Commandments "protect us from jeopardizing our relationship with God, from violating other humans and from destroying ourselves." Or, as he ends his treatment of this theme, "We become the persons God created us to be as we are blessed with God's soul power. That godliness continues in our lives as we embrace God's endless love and honor the boundaries set by God's commandments." - Walrath, Counterpoints: The Dynamics of Believing Today (New York: Pilgrim Press, 1991), 60, 61, 63.