Then God spoke all these words, saying: 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. You shall not make for yourself a carved image or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.
You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and the fourth generations of those who hate me…
Third Sunday of Lent
EXODUS 20:1-17
Then God spoke all these words, saying:
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.
You shall not make for yourself a carved image or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.
You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and the fourth generations of those who hate me. But showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.
You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain.
Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.
Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.
You shall not murder. You shall not commit adultery. You shall not steal. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor’s.
We are facing the formulation of The Law. The text refers to an “event” that must have occurred around 1300 B.C. Today it seems to us a “primitive” formulation. But Israel is the people who are at the forefront of this formulation. The Word guides Israel and leads it, from a very remote antiquity, to approach the Law.
We see in it two parts, one referring to God, and the other to habitual behavior. Regarding God, respect: the one God, the jealous God, not representable in images, not to be invoked in vain… It rather points out the position of man before “The Lord”, and this is the foundation of the Law, “because I am The Lord”.
The second part is the ethical code: the weekly rest, murder, adultery, theft, false testimony, greed… It can be said that this is “almost” common sense: submission and respect to the Lord and norms of coexistence.
All this has been formulated in a scenography of a smoking mountain, the sound of trumpets and thunder, so that man submits. But it has also been done so that the people may live. The purpose is not submission, but Salvation. The foundation of this Law is not in the Master, but in the Savior who has brought his people out of slavery.
1 CORINTHIANS 1:22-25
For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.
For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.
It is one of the most famous texts of Paul: “Jews demand signs, Greeks seek wisdom: but we preach Christ crucified”.
The Law proclaimed in the Old Testament is wisdom proclaimed with signs. No one is scandalized that “The Lord” demands submission, no one is surprised that He manifests Himself with “signs and wonders”, no one is surprised by the content of the Law, which is common sense for coexistence. Wisdom and signs. That is why it does not scandalize. But Jesus scandalizes.
The wisdom of Jesus is not justice, nor is it reasonable. It is working with God to help humans become children. Bearing the cross with confidence, without understanding. Suffering knowing that He has also done it.
Do not believe in a reasonable god, who dwells in temples, demands worship, and imposes justice, but in the Liberating Father, in the Son who gives life, in the Spirit who moves men.
The summary is not in the Temple, but in washing feet. Without signs. “This wicked and adulterous generation seeks a sign, but no sign shall be given to it except the sign of Jonah” (Luke 11:29).
Jesus is not a magician who convinces of “his powers” by performing little miracles. When Jesus acts outside the ordinary, it is because he heals, because he makes the intention of God present: to save. And any interpretation of the miracle as “this is a superman” approaches magic or idolatry.
The doctrine of Jesus is not human wisdom, it is not reasonable, unless one has entered into his dynamic: that we, the children, must help the Father in the work of saving man. Then things are understood. But only from that point of view is it understood. If not, it is madness and scandal.
José Enrique Galarreta, S.J.