October 5, 2014
World Wide Communion Sunday
SCRIPTURE: Hebrew Bible: Contemporary Reading “Ten Ways” on
Exodus 20: 1-4, 7-9, 12-20
Gospel:
Matthew 21: 33-46
MEDITATION: Why the Rules?
Rules are often a difficult thing. Some people like rules. They like knowing what is “correct” or
“acceptable” or what to expect and they like to know that we are all following the same rules. For them
rules can give a sense of security. Then there are other folks who don’t like rules or don’t like them
much. They like the world to be more free flowing and unpredictable at some level. They don’t want a
lot of rules imposed on themselves and trust more on their own sense of what is ”right” or “wrong” or
“acceptable” or not. At their best these folks believe that everyone should have the same freedom that
they do. At their worst they believe that rules are for everyone else but not for them. Sooooooooo –
why the rules?
Moses’ experience with the people he was bringing out of Egypt might give us a bit of a clue why rules
are important. We have all heard the stories of how difficult this journey was. It began on such a high
note with overwhelming joy that they were free from slavery. Then they found themselves in the desert
with no food, no water, there was danger all around them and they were even attacked by the
Amalekites. Their community began to unravel. Moses was spending all his time acting as a judge for all
the disputes that were arising within the community. Things were a mess. Then God offered a solution.
God wanted a covenant with the people he had saved, so that they would be in right relationship with
God and with each other. God wanted the people to remember all that had been done for them and all
that had been promised to them in the new land that they were approaching. God wanted them to live
in a new way, a way that would show that they were in a covenant with God and a way that others
would notice by the difference in how God’s chosen people lived. It was all very dramatic with thunder
and lightning and smoke and even trumpets blaring and the people were frightened. Moses tried to
assure them that they didn’t need to be afraid because the “rules” were a good thing that would help
them to live in God’s way.
Do any of these stories resonate in any way in our lives today? What many of us might forget is that in
the Bible the explanation of how these rules are to be administered goes on for another 11 chapters
before Moses actually returns for good to be with the people. A half a chapter to write down the rules
and 11 chapters to clarify them! That is something that we can relate to in our modern lives! Rules are
not simple, they are not easily or always understood and they are open to interpretation either for good
or for evil. Rules can be made to work in our favour if we want or against others if that is what we want.
Rules are complicated without a doubt. But there is one overriding message that we should not forget as
we get lost in those 11 chapters – the rules are meant to help us in our covenant with God. If we
remember the essence of the rules and don’t get all tangled in the letter of the rules then we have
something like a “pattern” of how God would like us to live in relationship with God and with each
other. Humans complicate what God intended for our good.
Our United Church of Canada would seem to be “sparse” on rules. And then if you pick up The Manual
you get an idea that that may not be so true. We have had, through the years since 1925, many versions
of The Manual, all meant to help us live in community in a good way. Sometimes it has helped and
sometimes is has not! In a religion-as-rules system, the only possible way to conceive of God in the end
is as the Great Appeasee. Because God must continually be appeased through our keeping of rules (at
least the minimal worship attendance, the minimal financial contributions – a tenth of what we have we
do, the minimal number of good deeds, uttering minimal cuss words, minimal voting for the least
spiritually grounded candidates, and so on), if we ever fall short, we can only conclude that we have let
God down,, and in order to get back into God’s good graces we have to keep still more rules, even as we
follow the proper prescription for getting forgiven. It’s a vicious cycle indeed. If this is how we live, our
religion exhausts us rather than energies us!
Now don’t get me wrong – I think that we do need rules. Every community needs to have rules that help
all of us live out our covenant relationship in a good way. We need to graft those rules together, just as
your staff and board did a couple of years ago. And we need to hold each other accountable to those
rules and that covenant so that we can live together in the way that God intends. The rules are a tool to
following the way of Christ not a means for controlling, harming or hurting each other. It is the essence
that is important.
The harsh parable that we heard in Matthew can be pretty frightening to us just as those Israelites were
frightened by the power of God. But fear is not the “essence” of the message. Jesus wasn’t always the
kind and gentle man surrounded by children and little lambs. Sometimes Jesus laid it on the line.
Sometimes when the rules were misused for the good of some and the harm of others, Jesus called for
an accounting. Jesus has a claim on our lives if we are to be followers. We can’t keep breaking all the
rules of right relationship and get away with it. We are accountable for how we live out our following.
We are accountable to God and Jesus first, and then we are accountable to each other. There is no
getting away with “sloppy” rule following. Jesus is the very Son of God who has lived our life, died our
death, and been raised in triumph. In the words of hymn writer Isaac Watts. “Love so amazing, so divine,
demands my soul, my life, my all.” We are in relationship to that covenant. We will shortly gather at the
table as we have been instructed by Jesus. We will kneel and we will remember what this great love has
done for each of us. And when we rise from our knees we are not to forget this simple act, this
remembrance that has guided followers for more than 2000 years. It is a covenant promise. We MUST
strive to keep that promise. It is indeed the “essence” of our faith. We do it in love, gifted by grace,
strengthened by the rules and guided by the promises of that covenant. We rise to go and be followers.
We can do no less. AMEN