Sunday
02/26/17 Freeville/Homer Avenue UMC’s
Sermon Title: “Where the Ten Commandments come from”
Old Testament
Scripture: Exodus 24:12-18
New Testament
Scripture: 2 Peter 1:16-21
Gospel Lesson:
Matthew 17:1-9
Welcome again my friends, my brothers and sisters in
Christ, on this our Transfiguration Sunday. This Sunday, Transfiguration
Sunday, has a really fancy name, doesn’t it? Well what this Sunday, Transfiguration
Sunday is all about, is celebrating the story of Jesus going up on a “high
mountain” with Peter, James, and John (Mt. 17:1, NRSV). Once on that mountain,
Jesus was changed, or beautified, or elevated, or Transfigured right in front
of them. Suddenly Jesus was with Moses and Elijah, yet Jesus was at the center.
Jesus was the focal point. The Transfiguration story is found in the gospels of
Matthew, Mark, and Luke, and is alluded to in a verse in the gospel of John.
Peter also discussed witnessing this event in his second epistle or letter in
the New Testament, which we have as a reading for this morning, as well.
So on this day, Jesus Christ went up a “high mountain,” as the
gospel of Matthew tells us, and then suddenly “his face shone like the sun, and
his clothes became dazzling white (Mt. 17:1, NRSV). Suddenly there appeared to
them Moses and Elijah, talking with him” (Mt. 17:1-3, NRSV).
The title of my sermon this morning is called “Where the
Ten Commandments came from,” which might be seem like an odd title for a
sermon, given that this is Transfiguration Sunday. You might also remember that
last Sunday that I said that I am trying to preach out of the Old Testament or the
Hebrew Bible more, as to then connect it more to the New Testament, to Jesus.
This morning in our lectionary readings, which are the
pre-packed Old Testament and New Testament scriptures that the church gives us
each week, we have a common theme of going up a mountain. While I didn’t pick
the fourth scripture from this Sunday from Psalm 99, it talks about how Moses
and Aaron spoke to God “in the pillar of cloud” (Ps. 99:6-7a, NRSV). Psalm 99
ends by saying, “Extol the LORD our God, and worship at his holy mountain; for
the LORD our God is holy” (Ps. 99:9, NRSV). So, on the mountain.
Our weekly pre-packaged lectionary scriptures aren’t
perfect, but what is great about them is that we get a theme or themes presented
to us. Today this theme is going up a “high mountain” and talking with, and
receiving instruction from God (Mt. 17:1, NRSV). For me, I really like our
pre-packed lectionary scriptures as I believe they often tell us the full story
of the Bible. The founder of Methodism, John Wesley, referred to this a “general
tenor” of scripture, or a flow and an interconnectivity of scripture. In this
way, we cannot discuss the New Testament without the Old Testament, and vice
versa.
Now before getting into the scripture from Exodus 24:12-18
that I want to focus on for a little while this morning, I want to briefly
discuss the other scripture from this morning 2 Peter 1:16-21. If you remember
I began this sermon just a couple minutes ago by discussing the Transfiguration
story of Jesus Christ upon a “high mountain.” You also might remember that I
said a couple of minutes ago that Jesus took the Apostle Peter, the Apostle
John, and the Apostle James with him. In his second epistle or letter from this
morning, Peter tells about the Transfiguration story, as he witnessed it.
The Apostle Peter writes in 2 Peter 1:16-21, “For we did
not follow cleverly devised myths when made known to you the power and coming
of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we had been eyewitnesses of his majesty. For he
received honor and glory from God the Father when that voice was conveyed by
the Majestic Glory, saying, “This is my Son, my Beloved, with whom I am well
pleased” (2 Pet. 1:16-17, NRSV).
The Apostle Peter then writes, “We ourselves heard this
voice come from heaven, while we were with him on the holy mountain. So we have
the prophetic message more full confirmed” (2 Pet. 1:18, NRSV).
Now I won’t get into the rest of the 2 Peter reading for
this morning, but a general theme for this morning is that God reveals himself
to us in many ways, a and one way is on mountains or high places.
In
the Bible then we have continued themes and other indicators that speak all the
time to John Wesley’s idea of a “general tenor” of scripture. One of these ideas
is the idea of something lasting for “forty days and forty nights,” as it
states this morning in the reading from the Book of Exodus. In the story of
Noah’s Ark, the Ark was on the water for, you guessed it, “forty days and forty
nights”. Jesus was tempted in the desert for, you guessed it, “forty days and
forty nights”. Certain numbers, certain lengths of time, and certain concepts
like going up a “high mountain” become fluid all throughout the Bible, if we
read all of it (Mt. 17:1, NRSV).
This
morning in the Book of Exodus, or in the Ancient Greek, it translates to “going
out,” we have part of the story of the Jewish people leaving slavery Egypt, to eventually
get to the “Promised Land”. In the scripture this morning, Moses, a great
servant of God and a prophet receives on a Mount Sinai, the actual tablets of
the famous Ten-Commandments. In Exodus 20 the Israelites receive the Ten-Commandments
verbally, followed by more of the “Old Law,” but the tablets actually get
presented to Moses in Exodus 24. Further, this story of Moses receiving the
Ten-Commandments occurs after the parting of the Red Sea story.
Let’s
see what the scripture from the Book of Exodus has to say to us this morning.
Here is what it says, “The LORD said to Moses, “Come up to me on the mountain,
and wait there; and I will give you the tablets of stone, with the law and the
commandment, which I have written for their instruction. So Moses set out with
his assistant Joshua, and Moses went up into the mountain of God” (Ex.
24:12-13, NRSV).
Do
you see more now this theme of going up to a mountain to see God, to meet God,
and to receive from God?
In
many Medieval Christian Cathedrals in Europe, the ceilings were intentionally built
very high and were intentionally very ornately decorated. The idea in these
churches was that when were in them, that our eyes would be drawn upwards to
the high and beautiful ceilings and architecture. As our scriptures say this
morning, God can be found on mountains, and in high places. For this reason,
many churches have historically built high and ornate ceilings, so that we as the
worshipers might be drawn heavenward, where God is.
Continuing
in our scripture reading from Exodus this morning, it says, “Then Moses went up
on the mountain, and the cloud covered the mountain. The glory of the LORD settled
on Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it for six days; on the seventh day he
called to Moses out of the cloud” (Ex. 24:15-16, NRSV). Does anyone here know
of any Bible stories that involve something happening over seven-days? I ask
this because Moses is on the top of Mount Sinai, in the Sinai Peninsula of Egypt,
for six days, then on the seventh-day, God calls Moses out of the cloud. Well
the big one for me, is the creation story in the Book of Genesis. God created
in six-days, then on the seventh day God rested. Do you see how the Bible has
these themes with numbers, and mountains, and etc.?
This
scripture also talks about the “glory of the LORD” settling on Mount Sinai for
the first days that Moses was there, and in the Gospel of Matthew, which is the
Transfiguration story, it says of Jesus on the mountain, “his face shone like
the sun, and his clothes became dazzling white” (Ex. 24:16a, NRSV and Mt. 17:2,
NRSV).
So
what I am hoping to establish then, is connecting the ideas or themes that
exist in our lectionary scriptures for this morning, and that are throughout
scripture in general.
The
scripture reading from this morning from the Book of Exodus ends by saying, “Moses
entered the cloud, and went up on the mountain, Moses was on the mountain for
forty days and forty nights” (Ex. 24:18, NRSV).
This
then ends chapter 24 of the Book of Exodus. In the next chapter of the Book of
Exodus, Moses ordered that the Ark of the Covenant to house the tablets of the
Ten-Commandments be built, that an altar be built, and a tabernacle, or tent to
house the Ark of the Covenant be built.
This
“Old Law,” or the Law of Moses is still followed strictly by some Jews even to
this day. Now last Sunday I discussed that we should still follow the
Ten-Commandments, but that we are no longer bound by all the “Old Law”. The “Old
Law” says that we can’t eat shellfish, or bacon, and many other things. We are
not obligated to this “Old Law”.
As
I said last Sunday also, Jesus says in the Matthew, “‘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’” (Mt. 22:37-39, NRSV). What I didn’t tell you last Sunday though,
is in the very next verse Jesus says in Matthew 22:40, “On these two commandments hang all the law and the
prophets” (Mt. 22:40, NRSV). So love God, love your neighbor, and this
is so important that Jesus again says, “On these two
commandments hang all the law and the prophets” (Mt. 22:40, NRSV).
I think that for some Christians in the era we are living in
then, the Old Testament or the Hebrew is used much less, as Jesus says we are
no longer bound by the “Old Law”. The Old Testament is still important though.
To further connect all of this then, in our New Testament
readings for this morning, we have the Transfigured or changed Christ upon a “high
mountain,” like Moses who was atop Mount Sinai, as Psalm 99 discusses hearing
God on a mountain (Mt. 17:1, NRSV). Then in our reading from 2 Peter from this morning, the Apostle Peter
says that he was on that “high mountain” with Jesus, and he saw him
Transfigured first hand (Mt. 17:1, NRSV). I don’t know about you, but I
love how all the scriptures come together and make sense, like the ones we have
for this morning.
The
other big thing to point out is that Jesus is seen as greater that Adam who was
is the Garden of Eden story, greater than the great King David, and yes even
greater than the great prophet Moses. For in the Transfiguration story from the
Gospel of Matthew for this morning, Jesus does not wait for God to reveal
himself to him. Instead, Jesus himself is the one who is Transfigured, which
reinforces the historical claim that Jesus Christ was God on earth. That Jesus
Christ was and is the second person of the Holy Trinity, God in the flesh on
earth. Further in the Transfiguration story for this morning, Moses and Elijah
appear with Jesus, but as lesser figures than Jesus. What this means then, is
that this story is presenting the idea that Jesus is greater than great Moses,
and the greater prophet Elijah.
The
“general tenor” of scripture, or flow of scripture as John Wesley would call it
for this morning, walks us through Moses receiving the “Old Law” and the Ten
Commandments from God, to the “Old Law” being fulfilled in Jesus Christ. Today
when Jesus is Transfigured on the mountain, with Moses and Elijah as lesser
figures, it is making the statement that Jesus is not only the savior, but the
greatest of all the prophets, king, and leaders that preceded him. For Christ
is God in the flesh, the savior of the world.
Now
as I have said, as Christians we are not bound by the “Old Law” of Moses, but
there is a lot or richness in the Torah and the whole Hebrew Bible for that
matter. I also think that the Ten-Commandments are good, and that we should
still follow them.
In
closing, I will read the Ten-Commandments, given to Moses by God on the mountain
top at Mount Sinai. These are listed in both the Book of Exodus 20:1-17 and
Deuteronomy 5:6-21, but I am going to read them from the Book of Exodus. Here
is what they say: “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. Six days you shall labor 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 Lord blessed the sabbath day and consecrated it.
Honor 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 neighbor. You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not
covet your neighbor’s wife, or male or female slave, or ox, or donkey, or
anything that belongs to your neighbor” (Ex. 20:1-17, NRSV).
While Jesus Christ is the only one
who was able to live out a life free of sin, the only one who conquered death, and
while we are called to be like him, the Ten-Commandments are still something
that we should follow. This is why we should read the Old Testament or the
Hebrew Bible, and this is how we get from the Old Testament to Jesus Christ.
So this week, my friends, my
brothers and sisters let us keep the Ten-Commandments, and let us live for
Jesus, by doing our best every day to love and care for others. In doing this,
we become more like Jesus Christ, and in doing this people see more of Jesus Christ
in us. Praise be to God. Amen.
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