Reading: Exodus 20:17, Isaiah 57:14- 21, Proper 11B – July 23, 2000
By The Rev. Karen Siegfriedt
St. Jude the Apostle Episcopal Church, Cupertino CA
From the book of Isaiah, we hear God's voice saying: "Because of their wicked covetousness, I was angry; I struck them, I hid but they kept turning back to their own ways." (Is. 57)
A friend of mine works with a colleague who recently came from Toronto to work in San Jose. He rented a one-bedroom apartment here in Cupertino for $1600/month. After his lease was up, he received a notice of a 15% rent increase. Thinking that the management might have made a mistake in raising the cost of his one bedroom apartment to $1850, he went down to the office. There he was told that he ought to be grateful. New renters would be now be required to pay $2500 for a one-bedroom apartment in that complex.
This year, one of our parishioners who made about $11.00/hour had to leave this valley because the rents were too high. The San Jose Mercury News is filled with horror stories of people leaving their homes due to astronomical increases in rents. In the last six month, the cost of renting a place in the town of Sunnyvale has increased over 25%. An exodus of long time residents has begun and many of us are mourning their loss.
Into this atmosphere of greed, selfishness, and taking advantage of those who have less, the 10th commandment calls us to attention. "You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or male or female slave, or ox, or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor." (Ex. 20) Today, I would like to continue my sermon series on the Ten Commandments and focus my comments on coveting, another name for greed and avarice.
Whenever we speak about the Ten Commandments, we must remember that they were not separate moral commands to be kept by individuals. They were a way of life that guided the people of Israel to live in harmony with each other. It was believed that if people's relationship with God was faithful and their relationships with each other were just, then peace, harmony, and goodwill would reign.
While stealing has to do with an action, coveting has to do with the condition of one's heart. The 10th commandment is the only commandment that applies directly to thoughts rather than external actions. Coveting has to do with having more, receiving more, and wanting more. It is the desire for someone else's possessions or the immoderate accumulation of wealth for one's self. Coveting is a hindrance to true worship and faith in God because where a person's treasure is, there is his or her heart also. If our love is for material possessions and wealth, we cannot truly love God.
The people of Israel were called to be a godly community of people who cared for each other. Each family was promised an inheritance of land. To deprive a person of his property was to deprive him of his inheritance and his ability to care for himself and his family. If someone became dissatisfied with his property and desired more, there was always the possibility that this desire could turn into an act of whittling away the possessions of another. The 10th commandment concerns the destructive power of desire whereby one reaches for that which is not properly one's own. Such reaching inevitably destroys the community by causing the unequal distribution of wealth. This command expects that within a community of genuine covenanting, the drive of desire will be displaced by the honoring of neighbor by the sharing of goods, and by the acceptance of one's own possessions as adequate.
The problem with coveting is that this desire to have more can lead to actions that we would not normally engage in (similar to being under the influence of an addicting substance). When we want more than what we have and are determined to get it, we compromise who we are and often destroy relationships in the process. For instance, in order to increase their wealth, many will remain at a place of employment that is harmful to their well being or will jeopardize the harmony of their families by working long hours. Coveting can motivate people to step over their colleagues for promotion, destroy friendships by competing, and jeopardize our health by trying to maintain a high standard of living. When we have an insatiable desire for goods, we often neglect to take into account the affect of our materialism on the well being of the planet.
A simple lifestyle can be an antidote to coveting. A simple lifestyle offers us more freedom to make choices rather than being burdened with an extravagant, fast-paced lifestyle. A life of simplicity would force us to share with our neighbors and to live more communally. A simple lifestyle would put us in touch with the natural order, with the earth as a living entity, and with each other and all the creatures of the earth as companions. A simple lifestyle would offer us an opportunity to substitute material riches for spiritual wealth. The opposite of coveting and greed is generosity and sharing.
Joe Rodriguez, writer for the San Jose Mercury News, says, “Given the current rent gouging, the lack of land available for affordable housing, and the unwillingness or inability of government and developers to build it, rent control is the only answer in sight.” While I have been the grateful recipient of a rent-controlled apartment, it makes me sad to think that creating new laws to prevent citizens from ripping off their neighbors is the only perceived solution. If people don’t care about other people and operate out of a place of greed, then they will find ways of going around the law. Laws cannot transform the human heart. We have a lot of work to do as Christians to bring these self-absorbed people to Christ, so that “striving for justice and peace and respecting the dignity of every human being” becomes their operating principle rather than coveting and greed and gouging. When our hearts are turned toward God and we treat each other justly, then peace and harmony will reign. This is the goal of the Ten Commandments.