“Do Not Covet”
Exodus 20:17
17 [Moses said,] “You must not covet your neighbor’s house. You must not covet your neighbor’s wife, male or female servant, ox or donkey, or anything else that belongs to your neighbor.”
This morning’s reading reminds me of the one about a Wall Street broker who parked his brand new Lamborghini on the street in front of his office so that all of his coworkers could see it and envy him. As he was opening the door, a cab flew by, clipped the door, and kept going. The broker sat there for a moment in shock, staring through his windshield at the remains of his door, 20 feet in front of his brand new, very expensive car. He finally snapped out of it and was livid. He got out of the car and screamed at the fleeing cab, shaking his fist in fury. Realizing that it was pointless to continue yelling at the cab, he called the police and yelled at them, demanding that they catch the man responsible for this. When the police arrived, the man was further frustrated because he couldn’t remember any distinguishing features about the cab and “yellow” doesn’t really help much in New York City. “This is ridiculous!” he screamed, “It’s going to cost a fortune to fix this, it’ll be in the shop for months, and it’ll never be quite right!” The officer just looked at him, flabbergasted, “Sir, I can’t believe you…” “Me…you can’t believe me!?” the broker screamed back, “What about the idiot who did this to my car?!” “You Wall Street people are all the same,” the officer continued calmly, “you’re all so materialistic.” “Someone did thousands of dollars worth of damage and you’re standing here lecturing me on materialism!? What’s it matter to you?! Just do your job!” “But, sir, when you opened your door, it took more than your door,” the officer said, pointing at the bloody stump where the broker’s left hand used to be. The broker looked down and, after a moment of shock, screamed, “OH MY GOD! MY ROLEX!!”
And thus is the evil of materialism. We become so focused on our possessions that we don’t even notice a hand missing from a terrible accident. And though materialism is quite different from coveting, it tends to lead to coveting. We fixate on what others have and we tell ourselves that what they have is better than what we have. We can’t really tell if the man was covetous of another person’s car or watch and hence why he had such expensive ones. But we did hear that he wanted others to covet what he had. That’s why he parked his Lamborghini in front of his store which kind of makes him more evil than the person coveting what he had, don’t you think? To incite covetousness vs actually coveting something? There’s something particularly diabolical about inciting covetousness…
Well, we’ve come to the end of brief sermon series on the Ten Commandments, and the lectionary creators want us to focus on this whole notion of coveting. It’s such a particularly nasty mind frame to have that two of the ten commandments are dedicated to managing it. Church tradition has broken this verse into two parts: coveting our neighbors’ possessions and coveting our neighbors’ relationships. As if the act of coveting wasn’t sinful enough, God was very specific in condemning both types of coveting. God reaaaaally doesn’t want us to have an unhealthy desire of anything of our neighbors! Why? Perhaps because coveting often leads to breaking his other commandments. Coveting often leads us to lie and steal, murder and disrespect, commit adultery and blaspheme God. One could easily make the argument that coveting is the root sin beneath all the other sins that God’s commands try to manage. And, as was pointed out in our Bible study this week, coveting is also rooted in arguably the greatest sin-pride. We covet what others have because we think we deserve what they have. We think that God somehow made a mistake in allocating his many blessings. We think too highly of ourselves and what we have received or not received for that matter. Do we really think God makes such a mistake?! God blesses each of us with exactly what we need. Maybe not with what we want but certainly with what we need. So then is it wrong to want anything at all? Not necessarily. It is wrong to want what our neighbors have. We should be glad for our neighbor and his/her possessions. We should protect our neighbors’ possessions. We should give thanks for our neighbors’ possessions. I know, I know, easier said than done!
Well, if we can’t be glad or protect or give thanks for our neighbors’ possessions, we can certainly redirect our focus to being glad and protecting and giving thanks for our own possessions. God richly blesses each of us though it may not seem apparent all the time. We quickly forget all his blessings, especially when noticing the many blessings of others. But God doesn’t play favoritism. God simply rewards those who appreciate his blessings and use his blessings to bless others. Recall the parable of the talents when the master gave a portion of his wealth to various people. Most of the people grew their wealth but one person buried it. Sure, he didn’t lose it, but he also didn’t grow it, and the master was furious with him and took his portion away from him. So it is with our blessings. We are expected to appreciate and share and grow our many blessings.
At the root of being glad, protecting, and giving thanks for our many blessings is a deep sense of contentment. God knows what He’s doing. He knows who to bless with which blessings. He also knows how much to bless each of us. And we have to trust him! Our God is a good and generous God! We have to trust in this! The book of Hebrews tells us, “Don’t love money; be satisfied with what you have. For God has said, ‘I will never fail you. I will never abandon you.’” (13:5) God knows what we need, when we need it. Trust in this! Recall the words of Paul written to his church in Philippi, “Not that I was ever in need, for I have learned how to be content with whatever I have.” (4:11) Paul didn’t always have what he wanted but he trusted that what God gave him was what he needed and it was enough.
So as we close out this series on the Ten Commandments, let us seek to be content with all our many blessings. Paul wrote in his first letter to Timothy, “Yet true godliness with contentment is itself great wealth. After all, we brought nothing with us when we came into the world, and we can’t take anything with us when we leave it. So if we have enough food and clothing, let us be content.” (6:6-8) Let us seek to be glad for our neighbors’ blessings and protect them and give thanks for them. Most importantly, let us give thanks for our own blessings. Thanks be to God!
In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
