Hymn: “Where Charity and Love Prevail” (Missalette, #301 ...



RCIA Session 7: Overview of the Ten Commandments

(February 23, 2010: Memorial of St. Polycarp, Bishop and Martyr)

God faith Church prayer eternal life

Housekeeping notes:

1) Point out answers to last week’s submitted questions

2) Point out handout of 10 Commandments, and different divisions (Catholic vs. Protestant)

3) Mention St. Polycarp, and some of his story

4) Treasure Hunt from last week: “Think of a time in your life where God put you in a position of having to trust Him.” (ask)

Opening Song: “What Shall I Bring” (St. Michael Hymnal, #605)

Opening Prayer: Heavenly Father, your early Saints called Your law “sweeter than honey” and “more to be desired than gold or precious stones”. Our tastes have conformed to the corrupt spirit of the age; send, we beg You, Your Holy Spirit to refresh our minds and hearts, that we may seek the wisdom of Your Commandments again, as eagerly as we would the sweetest of earthly delights. We ask this through Christ, Our Lord. Amen.

Summary: God created us for eternal happiness, and the way to that eternal happiness is through learning to crave the things which God wants for us (which are to our best good) and to hate the things which God wants us to avoid (which are to our destruction) By following God’s commandments, we’re simply choosing to live, and not to die. (Cf. Deuteronomy 30:15-20, CCC 2052ff).

If you could think of one thing that our secular culture, in this country, hated above anything else, what would it be? [get some suggestions] Guess which thing gets on almost all of the “most hated” lists, almost every time? It’s almost always some version of “being told what to do”, “not being allowed to do thus-and-so”, or some other version of “not being free”. I’m about to tell you something where, if you hadn’t gotten the background in God’s plan that you have, you might have thought I was joking—but it’s critically important, and it ties directly in with our ultimate purpose (and ultimate fulfillment):

[1] “Freedom is not the state of being allowed to do whatever you please; that’s called license, not freedom. Rather, freedom is the state of living in complete harmony with our intended purpose; which means that ultimate freedom can only be found by loving and embracing the Law and Commandments of God—Who knows exactly what we need.”

Think about that, for a moment: no one really wants all laws and restrictions to be abolished. Even the most rebellious and wild people want freedom for themselves; they don’t want anyone else to have the freedom to interfere with them! Liars want the freedom to lie, but they also want other people to be truthful and trusting enough to believe them when they lie, or else there wouldn’t be any point. Killers might want to have the freedom to kill, but they only want that freedom for themselves; they don’t want anyone freely choosing to kill them!

But God’s truth goes far beyond even these common-sense ideas. The world might eventually figure out that some laws are necessary in order for any freedom to exist at all; but even then, they’re only talking about a lack of chaos and harm. God’s commands are not designed only to prevent misery, though; they’re designed to point us toward complete and utter happiness and fulfillment, the likes of which the secular world can’t even imagine! There’s more to life than just avoiding pain, after all. We were made by God to know Him, to Love Him, to serve Him in this life, and to be forever happy with Him in the next!

In later sessions, we intend to describe the commandments in much more detail than we’ll cover tonight; but let me give you a quick overview of these Ten Commandments of God—what they mean, what they do, and why they’re so important. To start the story, I’m not going to go immediately to the slopes of Mt. Sinai, where God handed down these commandments on tablets of stone—not yet. Instead, I’m going to go about 1300 years into the future, to a scene in the temple of Jerusalem. A certain wandering preacher had just stumped and silenced a wide variety of hostile opponents in their arguments, so a doctor of the law came up and asked him: “Rabbi, which is the greatest commandment in the law?” The Rabbi (which means “teacher”) replied, “Here is the first: ‘You shall love the Lord your God with your whole heart, your whole soul, and your whole mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. The second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments, the entire law and the prophets depend.”

The wandering preacher, of course, was Jesus Himself (see Matthew 22:34-40); and He was quoting the words of His Father, which had been spoken through Moses (Deuteronomy 6:5 and Leviticus 19:18). The doctor of the law almost certainly knew this answer—it was a standard (and correct) answer to the question—but it also shines light on our question: what are the commandments of God, and why do we have them? The answer, as Jesus told us, comes in two parts:

As we learned a few weeks ago, God created us in His Image and Likeness—which means that we not only have a self-aware intellect (by which we know things) and a radically free will (by which we choose things), but we are made to exist in community with other persons—just like the very inner life of God is reflected in a unity of perfect love between the Three Persons of the Blessed Trinity: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. We’re created, then, to be in union with God (first), and in union with fellow men (second). As we explore the ten commandments of God, which He gave to us for our own good (as a sort of “road map” for those who are lost in the maze of sin), keep in mind these two things: the greatest commandment is to love God above all things; the second is to love our neighbor as ourselves. And let me refresh your memories about the true definition of “love” (as God loves—which is the type of love we mean, here): [2] Love is not a feeling; it’s a choice to sacrifice of oneself for the best good of another person, no matter what the cost. You might also remember what Kathy mentioned a few weeks ago: [3] the opposite of love is not choosing to “hate” someone; rather, it’s the decision to use someone as a “thing” for your own gratification. Even the most stern of the commandments will make a great deal more sense, in that context—because the commandments, on one way or another, all prevent us from treating persons as mere objects for our use and disposal!

Here, as Catholics number them (from Deuteronomy 5, as opposed to Exodus 20), are the Ten Commandments given to Moses by God, on Mount Sinai:

1. I am the Lord Your God; thou shalt not have other gods before Me.

2. Thou shalt not take the Name of the Lord Thy God in vain.

3. Keep holy the Sabbath day.

4. Honor thy father and thy mother.

5. Thou shalt not kill (Hebrew: “ratsach” = “kill unjustly”, or “murder”).

6. Thou shalt not commit adultery.

7. Thou shalt not steal.

8. Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.

9. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s wife.

10. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s goods.

One detail that many people (including me, years ago) didn’t know is that—although we’ve always known that there were ten commandments—the exact division and numbering of the Commandments is relatively recent! When Moses recorded the commandments in the books of Exodus and Deuteronomy (in the 1300’s B.C.), he didn’t number them “1,2,…”; he just wrote the entire book straight through. (In fact, our current “chapter and verse” numbering system of our present-day Bible didn’t exist until the middle ages, when the Catholic Archbishop of Canterbury developed them around the year 1200 A.D.) The first recorded attempts at numbering the commandments and dividing them in any organized way were all in the first centuries after Christ lived (at least 1300 years after the original recording). The Catholic system of numbering was apparently received from St. Augustine, one of the early Fathers of the Church (354-430 A.D., see CCC 2066), and that particular arrangement has at least three benefits:

1) The commandments are divided into two main categories: first, those dealing with “love of God”, followed by those dealing with “love of neighbor”—making an exact parallel with the “two greatest commandments” referenced by Jesus.

2) There are three commandments dealing with “love of God”, which points to the fact that God is a Blessed Trinity of Divine Persons; whenever the number “three” is used in any significant way in Scripture, it almost always acts as a “type” or “sign” pointing to God as Trinity.

3) Unlike other arrangements of the commandments, St. Augustine’s division distinguishes “coveting someone else’s wife” from simply “coveting anyone else’s property”; since someone’s spouse is a person and not simply an object or property, it’s helpful to show that critical fact through the division of the commandments.

Let’s take a quick look at the commandments, themselves, and what they mean. Like all Scripture, they’re far deeper than they might appear on the surface (which is impressive enough), and we’ll plumb more of their depths in future sessions, but even the surface can yield amazing things!

The first commandment is nothing more than a declaration of reality; God really and truly is God—the only God—and we are to believe and live according to reality, not according to whatever fantasy or insanity we might want to dream up. It’s like one of the slogans I heard long ago, and still use: “Rule #1: There is a God. Rule #2: It isn’t you.” This makes perfect sense, and—to anyone who thinks about it for even a moment—it’s almost bone-headedly obvious! It’s a bit like starting a manual for an automobile with the words: “This is a car. This is not a boat, nor is it a microwave oven, or anything other than a car, and bad things will happen if you try to treat it like a boat, a microwave, or anything else.” To my mind, it’s almost embarrassing that our sin-ridden minds are so clouded that God needed to state something so obvious to us; it’s like reading the labels that sometimes show up on shirts: “do not wear while ironing”. Treating reality as reality makes things work much more nicely. But this also prevents us from treating God as a mere “gumball machine in the sky”; God is personal, and He is to be loved, not used. We can ask Him for what we need, but we need to remember that we’re talking to our Father Who created us and loves us in spite of all we’ve done to hurt Him. There’s a big difference in receiving gifts from Our Father, and “taking” or “demanding” things from Him like we would a vending machine (if only we “plug in the right prayer-words”).

The Second Commandment is a reminder that names aren’t mere playthings—least of all, God’s Holy Name. This is also a painfully obvious idea, when we take a few quiet seconds to think about it clearly! Think of the ways that God’s Holy Name is thrown about in casual conversation—as a mere word to add emphasis or “spice”, or to express surprise, or as a curse word to express anger; to give you some idea of how warped that is, think of trying that with anyone else’s name. Picture yourself (or someone else) being shocked over a conversation point, and exclaiming: “Oh, my Kevin! Oh… my… Kevin! You’re kidding me!” Wouldn’t you be a bit puzzled as to who Kevin is, and why his name is being invoked? Or, after hitting your thumb with a hammer: “Jameson Smith! That hurt!” Even with human names, it’s insane… but we use God’s Holy Name, Which we should cherish more than precious jewels, as a throw-away piece of garbage like that, on a daily basis!

The Third Commandment is actually a two-fold blessing, if we follow it. Remember how Adam and Eve entered into the first covenant with God, and that the “sign” of that covenant was the Sabbath—the day of rest, which only children (not creatures or slaves) were entitled to share? If we keep holy the Sabbath, not only do we remind ourselves of the fact that God’s grace and power are what give us the ability to work (or even exist) at all (and that the main point of any work is to grow closer to God and to one another), but it “forces” us to do what’s good for us! “I absolutely insist that you take a paid vacation day today, and use it to refresh yourself, body and soul!” What’s not to like, about that? It also reminds us that our family (covenant) relationship with God is something to be cherished; what would we think of a loved one who took an irreplaceable photo of us—that we’d given him or her as a gift—and he/she decided to put their morning coffee mug on it, or use it to mop up a spill? That’s similar to what we can do, if we treat the sign of God’s covenant with us as a disposable convenience.

After these three come the seven commandments (seven being the number of perfection, completion, and covenant!) which refer to love of neighbor—and, though we’ll only scratch the surface tonight, I want to re-emphasize: every last word of God is deeper than it seems on the surface! A commandment as plain as “thou shalt not kill”, for example, has depths which can amaze us, and it covers more than we could possibly explain in ten years’ worth of sessions! Remember this: every last commandment of God involves far more than just its surface meaning (though that’s vitally important, as well)!

The Fourth Commandment, at its most basis, safeguards the most fundamental “building block” of the Kingdom of God, and of any society: the family. “Honor Thy father and mother.” For those of us from dysfunctional homes, this one can be hard to hear; but at least in general, we need to admit that no family—not even the most healthy of families—could function properly if the children didn’t allow their parents to serve them as protectors, teachers and guides. Yes, we honor our parents for having cooperated with God to give us existence at all; but our honor of them also helps us receive whatever good they have to give. And as we suggested earlier, this commandment goes far beyond the surface meaning: it extends to cover all rightful authority (to a greater or lesser extent), such as police, teachers, and even elected leaders. (We’ll get into the details, and the limitations of that, later!) In essence, this commandment keeps us from treating our parents, etc., like “things” for our gratification.

Even the fifth commandment—“Thou shalt not kill,” which seems so self-explanatory, has applications far beyond the obvious command not to run over pedestrians with your car! It extends to cover all types of unjust aggression, harm, or desire to harm—even if that aggression is safely and silently wrapped up in your own imagination, where no one sees it but you and God! There are also right and wrong ways to understand this commandment, which become clear when we deal with high-intensity issues such as abortion, capital punishment, self-defense, and the like. This commandment prevents us from treating other persons as mere “things” that we can abuse or destroy as we please.

The sixth commandment states “Thou shalt not commit adultery.” The purely literal definition of adultery is “having sexual intercourse with someone else’s spouse”—but even a moment’s thought shows that the commandment goes far beyond this. If your husband or wife were engaged in passionate kissing with a person other than you, that would certainly be a violation of the same commandment! Jesus, in Matthew 5:28, warns us explicitly that even looking lustfully at another person violates this commandment! This commandment prevents us from seeing (and using) other people as “things” for our sexual (or other) gratification.

The seventh commandment forbids theft—the taking of what rightfully belongs to another; but even this commandment has depths that we don’t usually recognize. Violations of this commandment range from the obvious (such as robbing a bank) to the subtle (such as “fudging” your taxes or on schoolwork, wasting time while “on the clock” at work, etc.). By obeying this commandment, we avoid treating others as mere sources of physical or emotional “goods” to be harvested.

The eighth commandment forbids lying—both under oath, and in general. It also extends to more subtle issues, such as remaining silent when someone else has a true right to the information you have, or “playing the hypocrite” and pretending to like someone merely because you want something out of them. This is a safeguard against our temptation to say or do whatever it takes to “get things” out of people. (Think of all the possible reasons for lying to someone: it’s usually either to keep something from someone, or to deceive someone into getting something for us.)

The ninth commandment is a direct parallel to the sixth: if we see people as “things”, then we’ll have a tendency to want to “collect” them, use them, and envy others who have them. God forbids that we treat His children as property to be bought, sold, traded, craved, or bartered.

The tenth commandment is a direct parallel to the seventh: if we crave the things of others, then we’re starting to see those people as mere “objects” that can be exploited, or “mined” for resources that we happen to want. Love requires that we give and receive—never “take”, or wish we could take.

In short, please remember: the commands of God—in fact, every Word given by God—is precious and worth more than all the gold, pleasure precisely because it comes from Him Who is love personified, Who cannot give anything except that which is precious and good, and best for us.

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CD Song: “Thy Word” (Amy Grant, Michael W. Smith)

CHORUS:

Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path. (2x)

VERSE 1:

When I feel afraid,

think I've lost my way,

still you're there right beside me.

And nothing will I fear

as long as you are near.

Please be near me to the end.

VERSE 2:

I will not forget

your love for me and yet

my heart forever is wandering.

Jesus be my guide,

and hold me to your side,

I will love you to the end.

ENDING:

Nothing will I fear as long as you are near.

Please be near me to the end.

Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path.

Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path,

and a light unto my path.

You're the light unto my path.

Closing Prayer:

Lord our God, your blessed Bishop Polycarp clung to Your law, even in the face of torment and death, and he won a crown of everlasting glory through his martyrdom; through his prayers for us, may we be given the courage and the hunger for Your Law that will sustain us unto eternal life. We ask this through Christ, Our Lord. Amen.

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