Exodus 20:7-11 - The Day of the Lord

Here we have the Second and Third Commandments. On the Lord's Second Command, I would just like to share a great quote I read by Philo the Jew: "Those who swear often, diminish their credit among the wise." It should be obvious why taking the Lord's name in vain is sinful, but, as Philo states, it doesn't make one look too wise, either.

The Third Command is one to which we modern Christians, for the most part, have turned a blind eye. It is clearly stated to us, "On the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God: thou shalt do no work on it..." (Exodus 20:10). Yet, the idea of Sunday (the Christian sabbath) as a rest day is becoming more and more foreign to us. It's only been a generation or two since stores were actually closed on Sundays, and now such a thing is nearly unheard of. We've allowed our "Americanism," that is, our role as consumer, supersede our role as follower of Christ. Writer and professor Michael Foley has said that "man is meant for something far higher than being a mere consumer or producer." And Sunday allows us to see just that. The Catechism states that the Sabbath "is a day of protest against the servitude of work and the worship of money." Even if we ourselves don't perform any servile work on Sunday, how many of us still contribute to the excessive commerce that occurs on the Lord's Day? But for whatever reason we tend to think ignoring this particular Commandment is acceptable. Foley, who has written a great article about the sacredness of Sunday, says that "a proper observance of the Lord's holy day ... is a life-transforming experience that gives new meaning to our existence." Another great commentator on the importance of Sunday is the brilliant philosopher Josef Pieper. Foley, referencing Pieper, notes, "the modern doctrine of 'total work' has left little room for a genuine celebration of Sunday." Pieper's book Leisure: the Basis of Culture is evidently one of the best treatises on the significance of taking a break from the "rat race" (I haven't read it yet, but I have just ordered my copy and I can't wait to dig into it!). We should be viewing our sabbath as a gift from God, a chance to give all our time and thoughts to Him, instead of the world. All week long it's easy to keep so busy that we hardly spend a few minutes contemplating God (some people keep busy specifically to avoid thinking of such things!), but on Sunday we are given an entire day to do nothing but contemplate God. We should be overjoyed at such a gift! And, to wrap it all up, we must stop treating the Sunday obligation as a thing we do if we have the time. It is the Third Commandment. If God felt so nonchalant about His day, He wouldn't have instituted it as a command etched in stone for the duration of mankind's existence on earth! Yet we sure are nonchalant about it.