The wisdom of hindsight

Exodus 20:1-21

     I think we all have a recollection of a parental guide telling us at one point or another that we should not do something. The question of why not was often answered with the age old response "because I said so!" In hindsight we can only imagine what might have happened to us if we had actually done what we were asking about. If this were Facebook I could start a thread wherein everyone reports their intended action and how, thankfully, they were thwarted by someone older and wiser.

     Jesus was like a wiser adult. I imagine him saying to his followers, look Moses gave you those laws and they were good as far as they went but you are now old enough and mature enough ( as a people ) to understand that the real commandments can be synthesized down into these two great commandments. 'Not as legalistic as you once needed, certainly harder to follow but you are intelligent enough to understand.' In the end, as Jesus died and rose, Jesus promised that the Spirit would come and give us even more knowledge and wisdom.  Perhaps we would one day learn that the earth was not in fact made in seven days. Perhaps we would discover that the world is actually a round orb and that indeed, everything does not revolve around it. Rather, everything here at least, revolves around our sun.  It in no way diminishes the authorship of creation. In fact, I'd argue that the more we know, we discover the volumes we don't know and God is even more awesome. God is a bigger mystery than we could have imagined. 

      Today's passage is to me, clear evidence of the human hand being guided by the truth that God wishes to convey in terms that could be comprehended at a given time.  The Spirit moves us right along as we grow and hopefully mature.  But these humans that wrote down God's message were quite fallible. They inserted their very own wishes along with God's. Was it Jesus that gave us the maxim that 'the law is made for man, not man for the law'. Man wrote down what was perceived as God message (eg. God created the world ) but inserted sometimes selfish and human rules to guide that message. Perhaps to highlight the importance of the message but perhaps also to control the masses. That idea about the sabbath is a great idea seven days a week, not just one. The world was not in fact created in six days. God did not 'rest' on day # 7. These are all human constructs of a divine message. It all becomes quite obvious in hindsight.

      God did not create us to be ignorant. The word became flesh to show us ( amongst other things ) how our humanity is a gift to be embraced. Sexuality. Intelligence. Passion. Love.  All great things that will help us in our journey to wholeness as humans. The Spirit is hopefully, prayerfully the guide to move us along so that we do not stagnate at the notion that suspension bridges are of the devil or that the world is flat. We are to use our brains as God created us.  We have the capacity to love and the capacity to learn and grow. That seems the essence of who we are. Great wisdom is looking back and seeing the truth of where we are and to catch a glimpse of where we are going. Always in love.

   

Then God spoke all these words:

I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery; you shall have no other gods before me.

You shall not make for yourself an idol, whether in the form of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, punishing children for the iniquity of parents, to the third and the fourth generation of those who reject me, but showing steadfast love to the thousandth generation^*of those who love me and keep my commandments.

You shall not make wrongful use of the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not acquit anyone who misuses his name.

Remember the sabbath day, and keep it holy. For six days you shall labour and do all your work. But the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God; you shall not do any work—you, your son or your daughter, your male or female slave, your livestock, or the alien resident in your towns. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but rested the seventh day; therefore the Lordblessed the sabbath day and consecrated it.

Honour your father and your mother, so that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.

You shall not murder.^*

You shall not commit adultery.

You shall not steal.

You shall not bear false witness against your neighbour.

You shall not covet your neighbour’s house; you shall not covet your neighbour’s wife, or male or female slave, or ox, or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbour.

When all the people witnessed the thunder and lightning, the sound of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking, they were afraid and trembled and stood at a distance, and said to Moses, ‘You speak to us, and we will listen; but do not let God speak to us, or we will die.’ Moses said to the people, ‘Do not be afraid; for God has come only to test you and to put the fear of him upon you so that you do not sin.’ Then the people stood at a distance, while Moses drew near to the thick darkness where God was.