Reading: Lk. 9:28-36, Ex. 20:7, 34:29-25, Transfiguration B – August 6, 2000
By The Rev. Karen Siegfriedt
St. Jude the Apostle Episcopal Church, Cupertino CA
“Now Peter and his companions were weighed down with sleep; but since they had stayed awake, they saw [the glory of God manifested in Jesus]. (Lk.9)
The glory of God is the human person, fully alive! So said St. Ireaneus of Lyon. “Glory be to the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.” “Glory to God in the Highest.” “For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory.” Today is the feast of the Transfiguration. It is a feast day when we focus on the glory of God. It is the feast day on which we remember how the glory of God was fully manifested in the person of Jesus as he immersed himself in prayer. It is the feast day on which we remember the glory of God that shone through Moses’ face as he came down the mountain with the Ten Commandments after having had an intimate discourse with God. The glory of God is something that needs to be seen more often in this world. Today I would like to complete my sermon series on the Ten Commandments and to connect them to the manifestation of the glory of God. In particular, I would like to focus my comments on the third commandment, “Thou shalt not take the Lord’s name in vain.”
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.
The Third Commandment says, “You shall not make wrongful use of the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not acquit anyone who misuses his name.” (Ex. 23) When I was young and in Sunday School, I was taught that this commandment was a warning against using vulgar language. The third commandment however, is not really about bad or vulgar language. It basically says: Do not use God’s name unless you mean it. Do not use God’s name for purposes that are extraneous to God, such as calling upon God to win a football game or to destroy other human beings. The third commandment calls us to an appreciation for the presence and power of God when God’s name is uttered.
For the people of Israel, the name of God was so sacred and so powerful that they did not ever speak God’s name. The other extreme is in modern day times in which the name of God has undergone enormous devaluation. The name of God is used more frequently and less seriously, as in joking or as an epithet. Some of the ways in which God’s name has been wrongfully used is by:
Calling upon God’s name for self-centered goals such as for wealth or power.
Preaching in such as way as to defraud people.
Offering soothing syrup of the “good news” in the place of a demand for justice.
Speaking “peace, peace” when there is no peace.
Devaluating oaths and promises.
Placing the words “In God we trust” on our currency without placing God at the center of our economics.
William Barclay, a biblical scholar, says that, “Using the divine name without meaning has weakened the three most important religious pledges most people make.” These are:
the marriage pledge, when we promise in God’s name to love and honor our partners until we die;
the baptismal pledge, when we promise in God’s name to renounce all the evil powers of the world which corrupt and destroy the creatures of God;
and the pledge of the sacrament of Holy Communion, when we promise to live in a renewed relationship with God in Christ.
What does it mean to make a vow, to make a pledge, in the name of God, and then not trying one’s hardest to maintain that vow? Once we fail to honor the holiest name, there is nothing on earth that is safe from the erosion of meaning.
Today we are going to baptize Joshua and Daniel Iben. In the name of God, a pledge will be made on behalf of these children, that they be brought up in the Christian faith and life. In the name of God, a pledge will be made on behalf of these children that through the prayers and witness of the parents and godparents, they will help these children grow into the full stature of Christ. Today is a time when all of us who witness this baptism, will call upon God to help us with our own baptismal covenant. To take the Lord’s name in vain would mean to call upon God’s name while at the same time refusing to take these vows seriously. The sacrament of baptism is the most important vow a Christian will ever make. It is living this sacrament with integrity that makes a human person fully alive. It is living this sacrament with integrity that allows the glory of God to be manifested through us.
Can you imagine a life in which the glory of God has been completely nullified? The result would be an existence that is completely one-dimensional, flattened, profane. Such a profane existence is bound to be brutal, in which any assault against the neighbor is possible and permitted. Such brutality eventually ends in despair. How many people live at the brink of such a profane existence in which there is no ray of “glory”, no power beyond the self, and no opening to hopefulness?
The glory of God is the human person fully alive. Jesus came to show us how to be fully alive by loving God and loving one’s neighbor. The Ten Commandments are a commentary on this great commandment to love.