10 commandments or suggestions?

The 10 Commandments by St Cecilia Church in Omaha, Nebraska.

This Sunday we reflect on the 10 commandments God gave to Moses on Mount Sinai. I still remember one spectacular scene from one of my favorite films, ‘The Ten Commandments’ which was issued in 1955 with Charlton Heston as Moses and Yul Brynner as the Pharoah Rameses. It’s one of those immortal movies with some spectacular scenes which we tend to appreciate even more today because they were done without any digital technology we have today. One of the most fascinating scenes is when God is giving the 10 commandments to Moses on Mount Sinai, with those flames of fire one after the other zipping through the air and arriving on the tablets, with sparks flying and writing in Hebrew the commandments. We all know what happened afterward as Moses was disappointed when the people, impatient in waiting, built a golden calf and started to adore him. In the USA, various states have erected monuments with the 10 Commandments, which brought some opposition, but eventually many of them were saved and are still standing. Most of these are set up in front of law courts close to the state Capitol. Others were erected next to churches, Catholics and Protestants, as well as Jewish synagogues. 

Someone once said that we humans have invented thousands of rules and regulations, but no one has been able to improve on the richness and the value of the 10 commandments. With the two new commandments given to us by Jesus, these are the benchmarks by which to monitor our spiritual lives. Let us always remember that they are not suggestions, but orders, commands, which we have to follow, as faithful followers of our Lord.