As a Baptist growing up in Arkansas, we had a very definite set of rules concerning what you could and couldn’t do on Sunday, because after all we are commanded to keep the Sabbath holy, as it says in the ten commandments which is our text today.  Never mind that the Sabbath is really Saturday and we are really not Jews who are bound to the 10 Commandments, none of that seemed to matter.  Oh, we need to keep the commandments you say, and I say OK, I’ll see you here next Saturday.   But for some reason, we think Sunday is holy, or at least we thought that where I was raised.  You really were not supposed to work, but for some reason it was OK to eat at a restaurant where other people were working.  It was not OK to mow the yard (I think that is a good rule, no yard work for me today), but it was OK to do those things necessary to survive, like cook, eat, and wash clothes.  These were probably OK because they were considered “women’s work.”  Men’s work was OK, because it evidently consisted of sleeping all afternoon and watching Baseball or golf on TV, which are wonderful sleep inducing aids.   Of course you were in danger of hell if you actually played golf on Sunday afternoon.  And while we are at it, you had also better not miss Sunday night church, for it was God’s will that you be there. 

          But the strangest thing was what you could and could not shop for on a Sunday.  Granted in those days not much was open on Sunday except a few grocery stores and a few gas stations and maybe a drug store or two.  There was no Wal-mart, so we didn’t know that we were missing out by not being able to buy stuff from China.  But at the grocery store there were all kinds of things that one simply could not by on Sunday, and it was a strange list of items indeed.  I believe that they called the laws “Blue Laws,” and they were very restrictive and very bizarre.  Most stores would post a large list of things that were forbidden on Sunday, for some reason I remember that you could not buy lawn chairs for example, so that you could see the list and would not be tempted to break the law just because you were tired of standing up in the back yard.  Many a Sunday I would have bought a lawn chair and I might have ended up breaking the law.  These blue laws were repealed many years ago, so now we can purchase lawn chairs and charcoal without fear of fine, imprisonment, or both. 

          So the overly complex and restrictive blue laws are gone, but there are still some pretty strange laws on the books that have not been removed, some of which I found at a web site called “Goofy Laws.”  For example, did you know that chewing gum in Singapore can net you a $6,250 dollar fine, or a year in jail.  I know that this sounds harsh, but anyone who has been to a kid’s ball game at Burn’s Park would appreciate this law.  My shoes have stuck to the pavement there over and over again.  Heck, wasn’t it in Singapore where a guy who looked like Bruce Lee’s little brother beat that kid with a stick a few years back for spraying graffiti around town?  Cainning I think they called it.  Must be a tough place on pre-adulthood.  In Kentucky, it is illegal to carry Ice Cream in your back pocket.  I was in Louisville the past three days, got home last night, and I will confess that the law is working, I saw absolutely no one with ice cream in their back pocket or for that matter the people must have been terrified by that law to even carry it in their front pocket.  It was illegal to teach evolution until 1968 in the great state of Tennessee.  I am surprised that it is legal in Arkansas even now.  In Massachusetts, you cannot legally use tomatoes to make clam chowder.  That’s one way to put an end to that foolish tomato-based- milk-based debate. 

In our own state of Arkansas, there is a law in the books that says it is illegal to mispronounce the name of “Arkansas.”  So I say lock up all those yankees who slam us with Ar-KANSAS and throw away the key, because it is a more heinous crime that buying a whole patio set on Sunday from Dollar General.  It evidently is not illegal to think that Arkansas lies somewhere between Texas and Oklahoma, or maybe that’s an executive privilege as you can’t arrest the president without impeachment.  There is a law in New York against shooting rabbits from Trolley cars.  I am guessing that it is a great big no-no to shoot anything from the Rivermarket Trolleys here.  But as a consolation it seems to be OK to shoot people from your moving car here, as it is a regular occurrence.  It is illegal in Arizona to hunt camels.  I guess they were hunted to extinction in Arizona, because I don’t recall seeing one anywhere there except at the zoo, and I understand that they frown on weapons at the zoo.  In Chaseville, New York, you may not, and I quote, “drive a goat past a church in a ridiculous fashion.”  We might need that law here, every time I’ve looked at that back door while preaching and have seen a goat drive by, it has been very distracting to me. 

Have you heard of no shoes, no shirt, no service?  The famous Connecticut blue laws states no food or lodging can be granted to a heretic.  That’s why I haven’t gone to Connecticut, I’m afraid to take my chances on room and board.  I might be stuck in sleeping in the park without that lawn chair I was afraid to buy.  I have a feeling that whoever defines heretics there is not of my stripe.  They also state no one shall eat mince pies, dance, play cards, or play any musical instrument other than a drum, trumpet, or jew’s-harp.  I mean think about it, what song sounds good on a drum, trumpet and jew’s-harp?  It must be tough trying to perform the Hallelujah Chorus with those limitations.  I guess the early Connecticut symphony was not much to listen to.  And finally, 400 years ago, anyone drinking coffee in Turkey was put to death.  Nowadays, the thick syrupy coffee in Turkey simply kills you itself, so that saves a step or two in the litigation process.

          Well, there certainly are lots of strange laws on the books that seem silly, exaggerated, or overly oppressive by today’s standards.  Nobody likes a bunch of goofy, restrictive laws or rules.  I would love to live in Montana where there is no speed limit, so I could see how fast my cars can really go. On second thought, I can’t probably could not afford the gas; I need to stick to below 60 on the freeway.

          Today’s lectionary text deals with another set of laws, and they are anything but goofy laws.  In fact they are the very serious 10, count ‘em 10 commandments.  OK, it really seems that there are only nine as one is really a two part-er.  But nonetheless they are commandments that people stake their lives one, and they are making a come back in evangelical America.  Do you remember a couple of years ago the action of the Alabama Supreme Court to remove the Ten Commandments from their place in the rotunda of the Alabama Supreme Court building and of the many foiled efforts on the part of others besides Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore to get the Commandments displayed in public places. This failure to gain legal approval for public display of the Commandments comes despite polls indicating that perhaps as many as three-fourths of the American population would support their display in our nation’s schools. The Commandments have become a powerful symbol, a part of our culture wars. As is often the case, wars produce extreme options. In this instance, the Commandments are to be either everywhere or nowhere. Put them in every classroom or do not allow them in any public place at all-these are the choices that seem to be before us.  Theologian Patrick Miller believes that the arguments about public display of the Commandments seem to move between appeal to the separation of church and state and the tradition of non-establishment of religion in the United States, on one hand, and insistence on public affirmation of our nation’s religious roots and moral values, on the other (Is there a place for the commandments?  Patrick Miller, Theology Today, JAN 2004).

          It seems funny to me that Christians are so adamant about displaying the 10 commandments even if we are misguided into thinking we are keeping the Sabbath holy by going to church on the day after. All in all, the commandments reflect our values and morals.  We all know that the “thou shall nots” are for our own good and for the good of society.  The “thou shalts” even though out numbered six to four are good as well. They contain the basis for living together in a moral civilized way.  Without the ones about God (the “Thou Shalts,” the standards they set are universal understandings of right and wrong.

          But I ask you, do we really need a reminder to not kill?  Maybe we do, we are such a violent society.  I know that at the cash registers at Chick-Fil-A have a little sign on them that says “God says, Thou Shalt not Steal.”  I am not sure if they report less employee theft than say McDonald’s so I am not sure if it is a deterrent or not.  How much a deterrent is thou shalt not commit adultery or the prohibition to steal? Do people who plan on stealing stop and say to themselves, “what was I thinking, God say don’t steal, so I will just have to beg and borrow only.” We probably all ought to be reminded to have no other God’s before Jehovah, as we are prone to idolatry in this country.  We certainly live in the land of many gods and we worship many idols.

          But why put these rules in a court house in Alabama or a school house in Kentucky?  Well, I am convinced that at least some of the reason is the underlying fear that we are losing the moral grip on this country, that it really is going to hell in a hand basket.  The commandments are a cultural statement that there are principles, there are values that are absolute and transcend time and culture. 

          So how about it?  Are we in moral decline?  Society has indeed changed.  But even with the commandments which are great absolutes even for the most relativist amongst us have loop holes.  Thou shalt not kill.  That extends to abortion.  Ok.  But for some of that crowd it does not extend to capital punishment and it does not extend to war which is killing for a greater good.  Maybe a God sanctioned killing people say, and that is a disconnect for me.  Thou shalt have no other gods before me– I won’t even begin on that one.

          So we either break the commandments, or we tend to interpret them so narrowly that we don’t break them.  But Jesus interpreted them differently.  Jesus said, if you just look at another person with lust, then you have committed adultery. So who here this morning hasn’t done that.  No, I don’t want a show of hands, even with every head bowed or eyes closed, because I already know the answer.  You say such an inclusive definition nails every single one of us, and I say exactly, and that is the point.  Knowing the rules is not enough, even if we stick them on every building in town.  We are destined to fail. And where we fail is where God steps in and that is the gospel.

          The problem is, we want to hang on to the legalism that is the commandments as a guarantee of something that we feel we must preserve. But I will go a step further and say that we reinvent the commandments much like the Pharisees in Jesus day felt compelled to reinvent the commandments with their 250 commandments and 350 percepts.  Ten rules simply is not enough for a religion worth its salt. Try posting 600 commandments in a courthouse somewhere.  And many modern Christians have more rules than the average Pharisee, but they cannot be posted because so many of them are unwritten. And that is a problem for those of us who have to write stuff down if we are to remember it.  But the bigger issue is that it seems to me that we are either rule makers or rule breakers by nature.  And the rule makers are always busy fine tuning their craft.

          For in our text today we find that indeed the law was given at Sinai, and we all know what a burden it evolved in to.  The fact is that the children of Israel were never successful in abiding by the law, it was an awesome taskmaster over them.  And yet legalism abounds in 21^st century Christendom.   Why are people so attracted to it?  I believe that it has a lot to do with fear and a lot to do with a lack of security or perhaps self-esteem. And lest we be too hard on the Pharisees of old, we turn 10 simple laws into something much more all the time, and that is the problem with posting them anywhere, maybe even in this church. There is nothing wrong with the reminders not to kill or steal.  I understand that the ones about God probably are problematic in a public place, but the problem for me is the fact that there is no one who wants the 10 commandments placed in a school room who wants to stop there.  There is always more on the way.  More rules from the rule makers, more laws, more precepts.

          And there are plenty of rules in the average religion; I wore blue jeans this morning because I am tired from my trip and because somewhere growing up there was an unwritten rule against it in my church.  In religion we are experts in taking the law of love and choking it out with legalism, and that is my second reason for not wanting the commandments posted anywhere.  And speaking of goofy laws, nowhere are there more silly rules than your average religion.  But I don’t think that very many of them are very funny because of the guilt and fear than is instilled in the believer’s life if he or she fails to live up to these requirements that have purported eternal implications.  If you shoot a rabbit from a New York Trolley you get fined, but as I always heard growing up, if you fail to go to church on Sunday night, you earn divine displeasure, might even go to hell, which is worse than chewing gum in Singapore.  Yet for some reason, religion is prone to tons of oppressive rules that are not fashioned to make our lives better, but cut into our sense of personal freedom and individuality which goes against my Baptist heritage grain.

          For you see, Legalism denies the love and power of God.  Legalism is self-centered.  Legalism emphasizes externals and becomes preoccupied with trivia.  Legalism makes things other than God absolute. Legalism ignores human need and individuality.  Legalism develops a religion of “Experts.”  Legalism only leads to judgment, strife, and division.  Legalism denies soul competency and the priesthood of the believer.  The very word religion comes from a word meaning to “bind” or to “limit” The Christian word for salvation means “liberation” or “freedom.”  Jesus came to liberate people from hopeless bondage to legalistic abusive judgmental religion.  Gal. 5:1 says it best, “Since you are free in Christ, do not be bound together again by a religious yoke of slavery.”  In other words, stay clear of Sinai.  You know Sinai; it’s the mountain right around the corner that we are always tempted to make a pilgrimage to.

          Many of you know my dad is remarried, and we like his wife who was a widow of a couple of years, and we like her family a lot we.  In fact we like them better than him.  Just kidding.  His wife’s name is Dianna as well, so this story might be confusing, so I will call her Diane.  Diane’s daughter Christy has two beautiful little girls, and they both helped out at Emily’s wedding, with the youngest being our flower girl.  After the wedding Christy confessed to her mother Diane how beautiful Emily’s wedding was, and then she said this:  “All my life my dream was at my wedding to have my daddy dance with me like Stan did with Emily. And because he did not believe in dancing, and because our church prohibited it, he would not do it.”  Diane said to her, “You could have danced at Emily’s wedding if you felt that way.” Christy replied, “No I could not –now I can never dance with my daddy.”  Legalism has plenty of senseless rules that bind and constrict us and our spirits.  And most of it does not matter one iota.  Are there people out there who really believe that dancing is so wrong that you should even dance with your daughter on her wedding day?  There are absolutely such people; the world is full of such people.  I say run from them fast as you can or you might try something else– running to them as fast as you can and tell them about the real Jesus. 

You see, the real Jesus spent much of his ministry saying it doesn’t matter to things that the religious people of his day did say mattered, and if you ask me, that’s why they killed him.  He knew that sacred cows made the best hamburger, and he knew that the prevalent religious yoke of the day was burdensome, in fact impossible, so he came to revolutionize how one understands and relates to God.  He in effect said, working on the Sabbath didn’t matter.  He said keeping all the Pharisees rules and laws didn’t matter.  He said that being Jewish didn’t matter.  He downplayed the rigors of their religion and came to free the spirit and to liberate the soul. 

The things that make us most angry, the sacred cows that we feel most obligated to protect, the icons of faith that are the most non-negotiable really often do not matter!  It does not matter how you were baptized and it really doesn’t matter if we practice open communion.  It does not matter if we don’t have church on Sunday night or Wednesday evening.  It doesn’t matter if I mow my yard or go to work on Sunday.  It doesn’t matter if I take my family to Disney World or to see a Harry Potter movie.  It doesn’t matter if you come to church once a month, it really doesn’t (even though I like seeing you and preaching to you).   It doesn’t matter if you are a democrat or whatever your political affiliation is, regardless of what some churches teach.   It doesn’t matter if you don’t pray before your meals for everyone to see.  It doesn’t matter if we put the 10 commandments anywhere on display that is so meaningless you know that there has to be a hidden agenda for people to be so passionate about it.

          So what does matter?  I will tell you what matters and that is the law of love.  That means people are more important than rules.  We see this over and over and over in Jesus ministry.  Like when Jesus went home with Zacchaeus, the no- good cheating lying tax-collector who was more important to Jesus than other peoples prejudices or his own reputation.  Or when he forgave the woman caught in adultery who violated one of the sacred 10, and showed that acceptance of her as a human being was more important than the religious obligations concerning her behavior.  Or Nichodemus, the woman at the well, the man born blind and almost every single person in the narratives of scripture, Jesus communicated that nothing was more important than tolerating and accepting less than perfect people who were powerless over the laws of religion.    

I think that Jesus would have us know today that there is nothing more important than people.  That is why he said things like the greatest commandment is not knowing the 10 but simply loving God with all your heart, AND loving your neighbor as yourself.   That is what we need to know and what we need to remember. That is what we need to post somewhere, and hey it is only two things to remember and we have a heck of a time remembering them I think. 

But these two commandments can change everything. That’s why he said don’t just love your friends, love, yes love your enemies too.   Look at his dealings with the people he came into contact with– He demonstrates over and over and over again, That there is nothing more powerful than acceptance, nothing more of a priority than tolerance, nothing more Christian than extending grace to others and loving our neighbors as ourselves.  This was the beginning of the revolution, of putting others first. 

I say let’s put the law of love in the courthouse, the schoolhouse, and in the church house.  Because the truth is that we cannot keep up with ten simple rules let alone the hundreds of others that people attach to them.  And may we as a church always keep the perspective that nothing, nothing at all matters more than people.   For if we are able to do that, we might even feel like dancing, because we will know why they call it the Good News.  Thanks be to God! AMEN.