"You shall not have other gods besides me.
You shall not carve idols for yourselves
in the shape of anything in the sky above
or on the earth below or in the waters beneath the earth;
you shall not bow down before them or worship them.
For I, the LORD, your God, am a jealous God,
inflicting punishment for their fathers' wickedness
on the children of those who hate me,
down to the third and fourth generation;
but bestowing mercy down to the thousandth generation
on the children of those who love me and keep my commandments."
A Word about Words
The theme that ties together all of today's readings is, once again, the Golden Ratio or Golden Rule. This may not be obvious at first, so let's review some of the key concepts or terms being used here: The Word of God, the Laws of God, and the Rules or Commandments of God.
The most important idea to grasp is what people in the ancient world meant when they used the word logos, which is a Greek word often mistranslated or misunderstood. We are missing a great deal of the ancient context of the word logos, but much of its context may be recaptured by simply pointing out that logos is the root-word for "logic" and "analogy."
When ancient Greeks and Jews referred to the "Word of God" or "Laws of God" or "Commandments of God" they were by all means thinking in terms of logic, analogy and ratio. The main point of today's gospel readings is simple: It's extremely important to model God's justice in one's own life by making one's own words and actions a perfect and rational analogy to the words and laws of God.
The first step is to maintain absolute honesty and integrity, that is, a one-to-one ratio between word and reality, word and deeds. Likewise one tries to maintain an accurate one-to-one ratio when speaking of God or making images of God. Every word, letter and detail must correspond exactly to the word of God.
The goal is to make an exact, point-by-point analogy both in letter and in spirit.
For example, if someone learning a new language wants to be given a spoon but mistakenly asks for a "fork" or draws the sign for a fork, then that person has used the wrong word or symbolic analog, and the results are not what the seeker wanted. Using the wrong word or symbolic analog (the wrong sign or symbol) yields bad results. Using the wrong word, sign, symbol or image may destroy the relationship or ratio between what one wanted and what one gets.
However, if one uses the proper word, sign, symbol or image for the desired object, and if that word or analog is perfectly proportional to something at hand in the real world, then it is very likely that one will be understood and given the object that one desires. Ask for a spoon, and some kind soul at the table will hear you, understand you, and gladly hand you a spoon.
The importance of maintaining an honest, fair and clear analogy between words, symbols and images and their objects in the real world is the central theme here. The point of today's gospel is that one must be specially careful when making images of God, when representing God or God's word, or when dealing with words, signs and symbols in the Temple.
Graven Image as False Analogy
How does one honestly present to the public the true name of God or the true image of God? This is a difficult problem.
Spoons aren't a problem. One can certainly draw a spoon or use a word or symbol to represent a spoon with very positive and practical results. The word for "spoon" may be shared with everyone and used by everyone safely.
Gods is a problem. Any attempt to create a word or graven image for the purpose of fetching, controlling or using God is doomed to failure. The larger of two entities may control the smaller with words, but the smaller of two entities cannot necessarily control the larger and more powerful of the two with words.
God is all powerful and cannot be used as a tool or ordered about as one might sort out the spoons in a silverware drawer.
God is not a utensil. Calling on the name of God is a dangerous thing to do, because one cannot be sure what result one will get. Viewing God as an object or tool that can be used for one's own selfish ends is a very wrong-headed view of God indeed. The case is very much the reverse. God is much more likely to use us as a tool. Hence the saying in Proverbs: "Fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom."
Those who view God as an object, person or tool to be used for personal pleasure or personal gain have made an idol of God, which is a very grave error. Bowing down to an idol and leaving any kind of monetary bribe or offering at the feet of an idol is worse than throwing one's money out the window. It's a clear sign of ignorant superstition and shows an amazing lack of good sense..
The problem with naming or objectifying God is that it encourages people to see God as a utensil or tool -- a spoon that can used to feed one's face or a measuring scale that can be tipped in one's own favor, or a big stick that can be used to hit one's enemy over the head.
Idol vs. Ideal
God is not an instrument or slave that serves us. Neither is God a master to whom one must kowtow and bow down. God is not an idol, but the imagined embodiment of an ideal.
When we understand that God is an ideal, then all idolatry ceases. We serve justice. We serve the truth. We seek wisdom and study at the feet of the wise. But these virtues and qualities aren't things we can "get" and bring home in a box from Macy's.
Neither are these ideals perfectly embodied by godlike people. Faith, hope, charity, truth, justice and wisdom are not virtues that can be perfectly embodied by any one person, nor are they commodities that can be packaged, bought or sold at market.
Jesus and the Money Changers
Today's verse from the New Testament is from the gospel of St. John, and it's about Christ turning over the tables of the money changers who are cheating people in the Temple yard. The heart of the problem is dealing in unfair proportions or ratios. If you short-change a person in the Temple, you are not dealing fairly in one-to-one ratios.
The great warning in both Old Testament and New is this: Speak the truth. Use numbers just as carefully and give a fair accounting or don't do business anywhere near the Temple.
The God whom Hebrews called Yahweh ("I am") was first and foremost a God of truth, a God who kept his word. The words spoken in Temple had better be true and honest words. Even the small change made in the courtyard had better be fair and honest change, not an attempt to short-change one's neighbor.
For the God of the Hebrews was not an idol but an ideal called Truth. This ideal was very much connected to the ideals of unity, integrity and justice. Yahweh was a just God who, like a wise King, placed heavy emphasis on dividing the land, cattle and crops of Israel fairly and proportionally among his people.
The one basic command of Yahweh was a demand for integrity and honest relations with one's neighbor. Don't be two-faced. Deal with your neighbor honestly and openly, exactly as you would want your neighbor to behave toward you.
An honest one-to-one ratio between words and reality, words and deeds was paramount.
The Ten Commandments are One Great Commandment
Christians understand the New Testament to be a fulfillment of the Ten Commandments in the Old Testament. Christ did not come to destroy the law, but to fulfill it. The whole of the law is fulfilled by obeying one commandment, to love the Lord your God with your whole heart, with your whole mind, and with your whole body.
The over-arching ideals contained in the Ten Commandments were absolute honesty, absolute integrity and absolute justice.
Christ summarizes the Ten Commandments with one commandment: To love your neighbor as yourself. That is the whole of the law in a single sentence.
The Great Commandment and the Golden Ratio
Not surprisingly, the great commandment to "Love your neighbor as yourself" contains all the basic elements of a Golden Ratio. God relates to you exactly as you relate to your neighbor. As you relate to your neighbor, so you relate to God.
Why this rule is true becomes much more clear when we see it in terms of the Golden Rule or Golden Ratio, that is, a ratio that preserves the identity of the whole (God) by making the whole line segment proportional to the larger line segment (you) exactly as the larger line segment is proportional to the smaller segment (your neighbor).
God has been kind and just to you, therefore you must be equally and proportionally kind and just toward the person living next to you.
Conversely, if you stand in the courtyard of the Temple and short-change your neighbor, using God's scales of justice to practice a fraud, you can absolutely count on God coming around to unbalance your table and knock it over.
As you have treated your neighbor, so God will treat you. This truth is repeated several times in the Bible, using parables that say almost exactly the same thing.
