God's Law...Our Peace

God always gives His People what they need to know His will and to do it.

When He lead the Israelites out of Egypt and through the desert to the land He had promised them, He gave them a law which would guide their actions as a nation. This law would teach them how to live as His People so that they would be a shining light of goodness to other nations.

At the heart of this law is the Ten Commandments which we heard proclaimed in today’s first reading. And although they were first proclaimed to the people of Israel some five thousand years ago, they remain relevant to our society today if we want to be a people who do God’s will and live in peace with one another.

Down the ages, rabbis have taught us that the Ten Commandments have two tablets. The first tablet contains the first three commandments which have to do with our relationship to God. We are to serve no other gods than He, we are not to take His name in vain and we are to keep holy the Sabbath day. The second tablet contains the final seven commandments regulating our relationship with our neighbors. We are to respect their right to life, the sanctity of their marriages and families and, finally, their property.

The Ten Commandments teach us that the first step to leading an upright life and to building a just society is to fulfill our duty to God. When we put God first, everything else falls into place. If we acknowledge God as creator, then we will respect our neighbors because they are made in His image and likeness. We will also respect creation because it is His gift to us. Fulfilling our duty to God, then, is the foundation of any good society.

To fulfill our duty to God, then, we have to get rid of false idols as we are instructed to do by the first commandment: “I, the Lord am your God....You shall not have other gods beside me.” In Moses time, this commandment meant not worshiping the idols of the Egyptian and Canaanite peoples. The false gods of our times, however, are not as obvious as the carved idols of pagan cultures. Rather, they appear to us in hidden forms.

There are many examples of false gods in today’s world. However, one of the most powerful idols is money. Most crimes have money as the principal motivation. How many families are torn apart because of issues related to inheritances and finances? Making a god of money leads to corruption in government and injustice in the workplace. When money takes the place of God in society it leads to unjust distribution of wealth, poverty and, ultimately, social unrest. No matter how many regulations and laws we put in place to stop the corruption, those who serve wealth as their god always find ways around them. The injustice will continue until we put God at the center of our life as individuals and as a nation.

The second tablet of the Ten Commandments deals with our responsibilities to our neighbor. It begins with the fourth commandment: “Honor your father and your mother that you may have a long life in the land.” God makes it clear that the secret to a good life in the land He had promised them begins with the family. Marriage is to have pride of place and to be respected in the order that God established. It is the only institution that can unite children with the father and mother who brought them into the world by their love. In the family, children learn the meaning of respect, hard work and sacrifice for others.

Families are the foundation of a good society. When families are healthy, the community as a whole is healthy. When families are stable, then schools, businesses, churches and governments are also stable. Good families create good citizens.

We live in a world in which family life is under extreme pressure resulting in negative consequences throughout our society. At this point, the problem may seem too massive for any one of us to resolve. However, there is something each of us can do. By attending to the needs of our own families, we can strengthen society as a whole. That means being the best father and husband or wife and mother you can be. It means loving your children and nurturing them to the best of your ability. It means being a good and obedient son or daughter. Those small daily efforts to strengthen our families will have positive ripple effects throughout the society as a whole.

In today’s world, many families are experiencing pain and difficulty. If our family has been torn apart by divorce,  neglect or even abuse, it is not too late to repair the damage. The first step is to reach out to those members of our family we have not seen in years to ask forgiveness of those we have hurt and to forgive those who have hurt us. It can be awkward and painful. We may be afraid how they might react to us after so many years. However, making a connection, letting them know that we care, leads to healing. Our family may never be as close as it once was but it can be better than it is now. Most of the time it only takes one person to overcome his or her pride and to take the first step.

God wants us to live in peace with one another. He wants all of us to enjoy the natural resources of the world He created. The first step to lasting peace and justice in our world is to acknowledge Him alone as God and to refuse to put money, power or pleasure in His place. The second step is to protect and strengthen marriage and family life. These Ten Commandments, though carved in stone, still have relevance in today’s digital world because God’s word never passes away. If we put that word into practice, we will begin to see a world filled with justice, peace and goodwill.