The first gift that God gave to
humanity were the Ten Commandments. What is amazing about that is the amount of
time that it took all of us to discard them and to make up our own rules. As Moses was coming down from the summit of
Mount Sinai with the tablets in his hand, the tribes of the Hebrews were
worshiping a golden calf created by Aaron out of the gold that the people of
the tribes had on their fingers, on their wrists or in some other place. Here they were breaking the second
commandment before they had even read it.
Keeping the commandments has never been an easy thing. We have stumbled and fallen constantly trying
to keep them.
What is also fascinating is that the
religion that the Hebrew people devised for their people included Scribes and
Pharisees who interpreted the laws, making them stronger or easier, as time
went on. It wasn’t long before many
people were being ostracized and left out of the culture because they couldn’t
keep the law. This resulted in a multitude
of people who were poor and alone among them.
The scripture is full of stories about the people whom Jesus encountered
who needed to be saved from others. I
think of the story of the Good Samaritan who stopped and took care of the poor
man at the side of the road after the priest and the Levite had passed him by;
or the woman in the territory of Tyre and Sidon who asked Jesus to heal her
daughter and Jesus at first told her no because she was out of his area and she
convinced him that her life and her daughter’s life were important to God by
telling Jesus that even the dogs licked up the crumbs that fell from the table
after Jesus told her that he could not give the children’s food to the
dogs. Jesus was taught by her and led by
her into an important ministry.
We have broken all of the
commandments. Even the one that says
simply, you shall not commit murder. We do that when we racially disparage others
or keep them in bondage like slavery for our own use, or when we deprive others
of what they need to live. Murder is not
only killing others, it is causing death, which happens more often that we want
to admit. God knows who we are and what
we do and we need always to know that we need to repent and find forgiveness
for the commandments that we have broken.
But forgiveness is the second
great gift that God has given to humankind.
Each Sunday we confess our sins before God and the priest pronounces
absolution and forgiveness of our sins.
At that moment, we are clean again and we can go forward with our lives
knowing that we have to that point kept the commandments and that we are
continually loved by God. I discovered a
lot about forgiveness when I did my prison ministry. In our group, we talked about forgiveness
frequently. Occasionally, one of the
members of the group understood forgiveness applied to them for what they had
done in their lives that got them into prison.
Those were eloquent moments in the group and I was honored to see it
happen. If there is anyplace where
forgiveness is a gift to be not only accepted but revered, it is our
prisons. I have one convict who is in
his sixties who has applied for commutation.
I hope that it is granted because he would make a fine member of any
community that he was able to join. I
keep him in my prayers constantly.
One of the prime reasons that God
sent Jesus to live among us is that God knew how hard it was to be human. God came to us in the form of Jesus of
Nazareth to live human life along with us and to see the difficulties that we
encounter. He was born into poverty in a
stable instead of a room in an inn. He
watched countless people in need with hope in their hearts. I love the story of Jesus watching the woman
put her tiny mite into the temple’s collection and the way that he told his
disciples that she had given more than anyone else. She gave out of her poverty while others gave
of their wealth.
What is finally true is that, like
the people whom Jesus came to heal, he was also rejected by the Scribes, the
Pharisees and really everyone else and given over to the Romans for trial and
for judgement. He was crucified, died
and was buried in a donated grave. The
third gift that our God gave to humankind was Jesus’ resurrection. On the
third day after his crucifixion, Jesus rose from the dead and continued to live
among us. His disciples, who ran away
from the cross were amazed by this and set out to follow their Lord and to teach
his ways. All of them lost their lives
also, except John who died on the Isle of Patmos in the Aegean Sea after
writing the Book of Revelation. But even
with their deaths, the church continued to this day, telling all of humanity
that we are loved and forgiven by the God who gave us the commandments and
finally God has promised us resurrection.
We are blessed indeed. As we
continue through Lent, let’s all remember these gifts and get ready to
celebrate the glorious resurrection of our Lord when at last Easter comes.
amazing as it is! 😎🤞
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