Exodus 20: 1-17

If you’re a parent or have ever been around kids (or frankly have ever seen a movie involving young kids) you are all too familiar with the constant “Why?”, “Why?”, “Why?” that follows almost every statement that an adult makes to a young child.  While it is a little annoying at times – alright, a lot sometimes – this is how little children process the world.  They want to know the reason and context for the rules and advice that they are being given.  It’s when they stop asking “Why” that we are really in trouble….

When we understand the context for things it becomes easier to integrate them into who we are and into the pattern of our daily living.  As we read the Ten Commandments it’s important to pause and see how God begins them.  I don’t mean just that the first Commandment is that we should have no other gods but God, but I mean verse 2.  Here God sets the context in which the Commandments are supposed to be seen.  These are not just random rules or the ramblings of an overprotective or dictatorial parent.  These guidelines arise from a much larger context – from a much larger story.

God says, “I am the Lord your God, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.”  God is not some inanimate idol upon which our pleas and supplications fall in vain.  God is a living and active being who can deliver His people from bondage.  He doesn’t angrily demand our worship and loyalty – thought he certainly could – he simply reminds us of his inherent nature and then points to an appropriate response.

By setting the Commandments in this context, God is also reminding us of the larger narrative.  He is reminding us of the displaced nature of our lives – we are separated from Him, from our home and from each other.  God has continued to work His plan of restoration and redemption by releasing the Israelites from bondage.  The Ten Commandments are part of that plan as well.  They outline simple ways that we can be involved in the work of our restoration.  They speak to a holistic approach to our relationship with God and with each other that is intended to supplement His work in bringing us to a new and restored home.

Too often the Ten Commandments are seen simply as a set of rules or boundaries.  But when we see them in their true context they both remind us of God’s plan to restore the world and they give us practical ways that we can embody that restoration.  Of course, God also knows that we will fail; so thank God for the grace we find at the foot of the cross.