Sermon on
Commandment VIII
©Cynthia Serio
Intro to Preaching/Spring
2009
Dr. John C.
Holbert
“You must not steal” (from Exodus
20:15)
Sermon Preparation Exegesis
I.
Word Study: What does it mean to steal?
364.0 bn;G" (g¹nab) carry away, steal, steal away … “the verb means ‘to take that which belongs to another
without his consent or knowledge.’ It is restricted to acts of theft done
secretly. The related verbs g¹zal and ±¹shaq emphasize the
violent aspect of seizing the property of another.”[1]
The
first and most obvious object of the verb g¹nab is possessions. “On the face of it,” Walter Brueggemann
states, “the commandment concerns respect for the property of another.” [3] When mentioning the word steal, most people
envision the theft of material property.
The
second and perhaps the object least thought of in our contemporary context is
that of the “stealing” of persons. Although
Holbert finds this meaning questionable,[4] Michael
Coogan states that “stealing probably means kidnapping rather than theft.”[5] This gives a deeper meaning to the command
“You must not steal.” In historical
context, this makes good sense for many persons were considered property. However, today we must consider what it means
to “steal” a person. Brueggemann states,
“The materiality of Israel’s faith recognizes that selfhood includes the
necessary ‘goods’ to make a life of dignity possible.”[6]
The
third object and the one that might be most easily manipulated to “water down”
the message are the various metaphorical meanings we can assign. Holbert makes a reference to the thoughts of
Clovis Chappell who includes intangible aspects of a person’s life such as a reputation.[7] Perhaps plagiarism in the form of the theft
of ideas might fall in this category. Metaphorical
meanings can, however, give us creative freedom to apply this commandment anew
to contemporary lives and strike at the heart of one who may not otherwise be
touched. However, Holbert warns that we
run the “risk … [of] widening a commandment’s scope so far as to make it
finally meaningless.”[8]
II.
Historical Context: Covenant
Like
Abraham and Noah who each entered into a covenantal relationship with God,
Moses entered into a more focused covenantal relationship with God on behalf of
the Israelite community. The Ten
Commandments are the foundation of the Mosaic Covenant with Israel, the chosen
people. “They are set in the context of
the … liberation passion of the exodus narrative.[9] This covenantal relationship between God and
people is defined in the beginning of the Ten Commandment passage found in
Exodus 20:1-17 where we read, “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of
the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery; you shall have no other gods
before me.”
One
cannot truly understand any one of the Ten Commandment separated from the God
who has delivered and continues to deliver each one of us from bondage into
freedom. Holbert states, “until I know
and affirm that YHWH is the God who brought me out of bondage, the remainder of
the Ten Commandments are reduced to a sterile list of activities that I may or
may not choose to take seriously.”[10]
III.
Literary Context: The Law
The
first five books of the Bible are referred to as “the torah, the teaching or
the law of Moses.”[11] Although the traditional belief that Moses was
the direct author of these books has long since passed, the Law itself has “a
long history in Israel and a specific purpose in that history.”[12] Many people commonly believe the main purpose
of the Ten Commandments is to articulate a way to teach morality or order
society. Indeed many secular people will
“follow” them without having a relationship with God simply for the good sense
found within them. However, the Law is
relational at the core. Holbert states,
“the purpose of the laws is, first and foremost, a reminder of the basic story
of God with us.”[13]
The structure of the Ten Commandments outlines that basic
story of God with us. Most commentators
and most “Christians … agree that the commandments are in the form of two
tables, of which one has to do with how people are to live before God and the
second with how they are to live with one another.”[14] Craig Kocher calls it “internal logic … the
way we attend to God (tablet one) shapes the way we attend to our neighbor
(tablet two).[15] There is an interwoven covenantal thread
that flows back and forth from the beginning of the Ten Commandments through to
the end just as it flows in the relationship between God and each child of God
from beginning to end. When Jesus says,
“Love the Lord your God with all you heart, soul, strength, and mind, and love
your neighbor as yourself”, he “unites the two tablets, summarizing the whole
of the law and gospel.”[16]
Sermon
Manuscript “You must not steal”
(Hold up Glass) I have it on good
authority that this glass was stolen from a Pizza Parlor in Jonesboro, Arkansas
in 1976. It isn’t beautiful. It isn’t unusual. It may be rare these days, but it’s not an
antique. Although it does hold an entire
can of Dr. Pepper (ice included) it is still rather ordinary.
The
Law of God says, “Don’t steal!” The Law
of this Land says, “Don’t steal! How
hard is that? “Just don’t steal!” So why do people take things that belong to
other people? This theft of material
possession is most basic meaning of the commandment “You must not steal!” I suppose there are as many reasons to steal
as there are people who steal … I know many people who say “I don’t care … Lock
“em up and throw away the key … they broke the law.”
“Just
don’t steal!” How hard is that? I remember sitting with a young woman at the State
Prison listening to her story. Her “life
of crime” began with a loaf of bread.
The tears rolled down her face as she cried out, “My children were
hungry and I didn’t know what to do … I didn’t know where to go … I didn’t know
who to turn to … so I stole a loaf of bread to feed my children.” Of course there was more to her story … there
is always more to the story … but the reality is that “Just don’t steal”
doesn’t mean much to a poor young mom with hungry children.
And
there are way too many young moms with hungry children in this land and in our
world. They live in bondage to the
poverty that keeps them on the margins of the everyday life that you and I
live. As we strive to keep the young
moms of our world in our consciousness, the commandment “You must not steal” cannot
truly be understood by us today in all of its depth until we put it into the
context of a covenantal relationship with God our Liberator. The Holy One of Israel continues to deliver
each one of us from bondage to the sinful human condition into the freedom of
love that flows from God in Christ.
When
Jesus the Christ says “you
shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and
with all your mind, and with all your strength … and you shall love your
neighbor as yourself” (Mark 12:30-31) he tells us that our love of God and our
love of young moms and their hungry children are forever linked. It is impossible to say we love God if we
are not actively working to alleviate the hunger pangs of the poor. And when we actively work to alleviate the
hunger pangs of the poor, we reveal our love of God in Christ.
In the days of ancient Israel, God
said, “When
you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap to the very edges of your
field, or gather the gleanings of your harvest; you shall leave them for the
poor and for the alien: I am the Lord your God.”
(Leviticus 23:22) Viewed through the
lens of this beautiful act of communal generosity, the commandment “You must
not steal” has not just an active dimension but a passive one as well. When I do not actively work to alleviate the
hunger pangs of the poor, I am just as guilty of stealing as I was when I took
this glass 33 years ago. And now as you
go forth from this place may these words resonate deep in your soul … Just
don’t steal!
[1] TWOT 3604 - The Theological Wordbook of the Old
Testament, in BibleWorks™ Copyright © 1992-2005, ed. R. Laird Harris, Gleason L. Archer Jr., Bruce
K. Waltke, (Chicago: Moody Press, 1980)
[2] John C. Holbert, The
Ten Commandments: A Preaching Commentary (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2002),
104-107.
[3] Walter Brueggemann, The Book of “Exodus” in The New Interpreter’s Bible, Volume 1,
Leander C. Keck, et al eds. (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1994), 848.
[4] Holbert, 106.
[5] Michael D. Coogan, The
Old Testament: A Historical and Literary Introduction to the Hebrew Scriptures
(New York: Oxford University Press, 2006), 116.
[6] Brueggemann, 848.
[7] Holbert, 102.
[8] Holbert, 103.
[9] Brueggemann, 839.
[10]Hobert, 14.
[11] Coogan, 21.
[12] John C. Holbert, “Laws and Regulations” in The New Interpreter’s Handbook of Preaching,
ed. Paul Scott Wilson, et al eds. (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2008), 87.
[13] Holbert, 87.
[14] George W. Stroup, “Exodus 20:1-17 Theological
Perspective” in Feasting on the Word:
Preaching the Revised Common Lectionary, Year B Volume 2, ed. David L.
Bartlett and Barbara Brown Taylor, et al eds (Louisville: John Knox Press,
2008), 76.
[15] Craig Kocher, “Exodus 20:1-17 Pastoral Perspective” in
Feasting on the Word: Preaching the
Revised Common Lectionary, Year B Volume 2, ed. David L. Bartlett and
Barbara Brown Taylor, et al eds. (Louisville: John Knox Press, 2008), 76.
[16] Kocher, 78.
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