Ash Wednesday 2009

Years ago Charlton Heston was interviewed on The Merv Griffin Show. This was at a time in Mr. Heston’s career when he had gained much notoriety over his two mega-movies, The Ten Commandments and Ben Hur. During the interview Merv Griffin asked him, “Has your spiritual outlook changed any because of these two movies?” Charlton Heston thought for a moment and then replied, “Well, Merv, you can’t walk barefoot down Mount Sinai and be the same person you were when you went up.” That’s a great answer. This is exactly the way Moses felt coming down from the mountain as well.

Next to Psalm 23, the Ten Commandments are probably the most familiar scripture in our culture. The Ten Commandments are part of the covenant that God made with the children of Israel, a covenant that extends from this point of Exodus all the way through to Deuteronomy.

To start out our series on the covenant call the 10 Commandments we need to start with understanding what a covenant is. How many of you have ever entered into a written contract with someone else? That contract was a sort of covenant. You, being the party of the first part, agreed to perform some duty, or pay so much money to the other person, being the party of the second part. The party of the second part in turn made a similar promise of delivery of goods or money to the party of the first part, namely you.

In Hebrew the term translated as covenant is berit. It originally meant a “shackle” or “chain”, but came to be any form of binding agreement. It expresses the solemn contract between Jacob and Laban in Genesis 31:44 or the alliance of friendship between David and Jonathan in 1 Samuel 18;3. It describes the peace pact made by Abraham with the whole tribe of Amorites in Genesis 14:13 and the bond of marriage in Proverbs 2:17 or Malachi 2:14. It can also be a solemn treaty between kings.

Berit is a term so rich it captures the heart of Israel’s religious beliefs: 1) they are bound to an unbreakable covenant–union with their God; 2) God has made known his love and his mercy to them; 3)God has given them commandments to guide their daily life; 4) they owe him worship, fidelity, and obedience; 5) they are marked by the sign of that covenant–bond.

The covenant created the unity of the nation Israel, not based on a blood relationship but on a submission to the divine will and the confession that he alone is God. In turn, God pledges to be Israel’s personal protector and helper, not only against foreign enemies, but against sickness, disease, and chaos as well. Most of all, he will be present whether it is a time of prosperity or of failure, for God has laid claim to this people as his own. Yahweh is a personal God who demands personal loyalty. God gives no guarantee that his protective love and help always involves victory in battle, wealth in possessions or increase of territory; it may at times include such gifts, but more often it describes the blessing that trust in the Lord will bring: freedom from fear in the promised land, the fruitfulness of children and crops, permanent peace and the joy of knowing God is near.

What does the covenant mean to us thousands of years later, living in the shadow of the cross? Did Jesus not say that he came to abolish the law? No, he said he came not abolish the law but to fulfill the law. The law was first given by God to restrain sins by threats and fear of punishment and by the promise and offer of grace and favor. But this purpose failed because of the wickedness which sin has worked in humanity. Some, who hate the law because it forbids what they desire to do and commands what they are unwilling to do, are made worse thereby. Since they are not restrained by punishment, they act against the law even more than before. Others become blind and presumptuous, imagining that they can and do keep the law by their own powers.

The chief function or power of the law is to make our original sin obvious to us and to show us to what utter depths our nature has fallen and how corrupt it has become. This, then, is the thunderbolt by which God, with one blow, destroys both open sinners and false saints. He allows no one to justify himself.

To the office of the law the New Testament immediately adds the consoling promise of grace in the gospel. John, the baptizing one who preceded Christ, is called a preacher of repentance, but for the remission of sins. That is, John was to accuse them all and convince them that they were sinners in order that they might know how they stood before God. In this way we are prepared to receive grace from the Lord and to expect and accept from him the forgiveness of sins.

Where the law exercises its office alone, without the addition of the gospel, there is only death and hell, and humanity must despair. The gospel, however, offers consolation and forgiveness in more ways than one, for with God there is plenteous redemption. God is surpassingly rich in his grace; first, through the spoken word, by which the forgiveness of sin is preached to the whole word; second, through Baptism; third, through Holy Communion; fourth, through confession and absolution; and finally through the mutual conversation and consolation of fellow Christians.