000 Allen FMT (i-xxii) - The Presbyterian Leader

Proper 22 [27]/Year A 97
no other gods before me” (Exod. 20:3) opens up into Deuteronomy 6:5:
“You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart . . .” So “you shall
not kill,” opens up to “you shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Lev.
19:18). The ease with which we kill today, especially with the instruments
of warfare, is opposed to God’s intent for the world, that it attain a life of
well-being for all.
“You shall not commit adultery” (v. 14). In ancient Israel adultery was
patriarchally understood: for men having sex was adultery only when it
was with a woman married to another man. For a woman it was having
sex with any man other than her husband. In one sense, adultery was a
property crime. Any contemporary understanding of this commandment
has to break out of a patriarchal framework. More deeply, what is at stake
are the relationships of loyalty, compassion, and faithfulness that constitute
any healthy family (and not only any heterosexual family). How are
children to grow up into adults who can sustain relationships of compassion
and faithfulness if the most intimate place where they can drink
deeply of those values is lacking them? Israel’s God is deeply committed
to the well-being of families; they are a central part of God’s concern that
we live and live well.
“You shall not steal” (v. 15). If you have ever had anything stolen or your
home burglarized, you know the feeling of having been violated. Biblical
faith understands stealing as “a violation of a person, not just a person’s
wealth.” 32 Other provisions in the Torah deal with the punishments for
stealing. They involve repayment of what was stolen, in multiples, for
example: “five oxen for an ox, and four sheep for a sheep” (Exod. 22:1). The
underlying principle is that “all who act dishonestly are abhorrent to the
LORD your God” (Deut. 25:16). This instruction leads us to reflect on what
constitutes stealing. Is it stealing to reward executives with $150 million
golden parachutes when thousands of children per day die of starvation?
“You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor” (v. 16). This
instruction had to do with testifying in court, because life in a just society
is impossible if courts of justice are corrupted. More broadly biblical faith
is concerned with the sins of speech—all misleading, libelous, defamatory,
malicious talk about others is condemned (Hos. 4:2; Lev. 19:16). One of
our greatest lies is against language itself when we abuse it and talk pejoratively
of others. We usually sin with words before we sin with deeds.
Verses 12–16 are picked up in the story of the rich young ruler (Matt.
19:16–30; Mark 10:17–31; Luke 18:18–30).
“You shall not covet” (v. 17). Here the Decalogue turns to internal urges
and desires. We are not even to want our neighbor’s house (and so to steal