This brief meditation was offered as part of a series on the Ten Commandments in First Baptist Greenville's MidWeek Worship earlier this year.
One of the great, unsung discoveries of the twentieth century is that it’s all about relationships.
The renowned physicist Stephen Hawking tells a story that has circulated in numerous forms about a well-known scientist who
once gave a public lecture on astronomy. He described how the earth orbits around the sun and how the sun, in turn, orbits around the center of a vast collection of stars called our galaxy. At the end of the lecture, a little old lady at the back of the room got up and said: ‘What you have told us is rubbish. The world is really a flat plate supported on the back of a giant tortoise.’ The scientist gave a superior smile before replying, ‘What is the tortoise standing on?’ ‘You're very clever, young man, very clever’, said the old lady. ‘But it's turtles all the way down!’”“Turtles all the way down” has become a humorous metaphor for the philosophical problem called “infinite regression.” In simplest terms, we can think of the problem of infinite regression this way. Every assertion requires something to stand on.
But every assertion we make to support an assertion also requires something to stand on. It’s assertion after assertion after assertion without an end in sight. Without demonstrable evidence that establishes the end of the sequence, it may as well be “turtles all the way down.”It is not possible to demonstrate conclusively what it is “all the way down” without falling into the problem of infinite regression, but if I had to posit one thing that it is I would suggest this: it’s relationships all the way down—and all the way up and all the way in and all the way out. Consider the atom. The atom was long considered the basic unit of all matter. The word “atom” means “indivisible,” “cannot be cut,” “cannot be split.” But “splitting the atom” was of one of the most promising and horrific advances of science in the twentieth century. It turns out that atoms themselves are composed of other particles, and that an atom is constituted by the relationships among those particles: protons, neutrons and electrons. An atom is not so much a “thing” as it is a set of relationships among positive, neutral and negative charges. The “basic unit of matter” is inherently relational. In fact, at the subatomic level, there have been experiments that suggest that certain subatomic particles simply appear and disappear depending entirely on the presence of other particles to which they relate. Whether they are “there” or they are “not there” all depends on relationship. Whatever else is or is not, it’s relationships all the way down.
So when we talk about “relationships,” we are not talking about “touchy-feely” or “warm fuzzies” or “fluff.” We are talking about what constitutes the essential nature of the universe and our existence in it. It all depends on relationships. What kind of relationships we have and how we behave in our relationships reveal more about us than just our social aptitudes and our psychological states. What kind of relationships we have and how we behave in our relationships reveal how we understand and relate to all that is, including God.
In the ancient Near Eastern world in which the Old Testament was written, one’s name revealed one’s place in the created order. A name was not an arbitrary tag you wore in large social gatherings; it was a definition of your place, your function, your role, your purpose in relationship to the world and in relationship to God. That’s why we read in the creation narrative in Genesis 2 that in the search for a companion in creation for the lone human that the Lord God had created, the deity brought each new animal to ’adam to name it. As each name was given, it would become apparent, verse 20 says, that there was not found a fit companion for ’adam. The name revealed the place, the function, the role, the purpose, and none of the names said “Companion-of-’adam.” Only when God created the one whom ’adam named “Eve, because she was the mother of all living” (Genesis 3:20), was a fit partner to be found. The importance of a name is illustrated in Genesis 17 when the name of ’ab-ram, “exalted father,” is changed to ’ab-raham, “father of a multitude,” because his place, function, role, purpose in relation to the world and to God has changed—and that necessitates a change in name. In Genesis 32, Jacob’s name is changed from “heel grabber” or “trickster” to “Israel,” “he wrestled with God,” says verse 28. His relationship to the world and to God had changed, and so must his name.
In Exodus 3, God’s name is revealed to Moses on Mt. Sinai at the burning bush. When Moses asks God for God’s name—who are you are and what is your place, function, role, purpose in the world?—God reveal’s God’s name in a riddle: “I am who I am,” God says. “Tell them ‘I am’ has sent you” (verse 14). It’s a play on the name that is repeated thousands of times in the Hebrew Bible: “Yahweh.” It is the sacred and ineffable name “He is.” It is a claim on God’s part that “I am present”; “I am active”; “I am effective.” That’s my name. You tell them “Is” has sent you. “I was ‘is’; I am ‘is’; and I will be ‘is.’ You tell them Is-ness has sent you to them, because I am their Is-ness too.”
Oh, and by the way, says your Is-ness in Exodus 20:7, “Be serious when you say my name.”
That’s how our five-year-olds translated “Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain.” “Be serious when you say my name.” It’s all about relationship. Don’t trivialize my name. Because when you trivialize my name, you trivialize me and you trivialize yourself because you are created in my image and my likeness. No trivializing! Don’t manipulate my name. When you manipulate my name you are trying to manipulate me, and I will not be manipulated. Manipulation is not the kind of relationship I have created and sustained and redeemed you for. You are not created and sustained and redeemed to manipulate—or to be manipulated either one. No manipulating! Don’t misrepresent my name. When you misrepresent my name, you misrepresent me and you misrepresent yourself. No misrepresenting!It turns out that this commandment about reverence for God’s name is about reverence in all our relationships. Of course it is about rightful respect and devotion and adoration for God. But because of the relationship that God who is present, active, and effective in the world is in with the world, this commandment is also necessarily about rightful respect and devotion and adoration for all creation and for every human being in the world because we are all created in the image and likeness of God. We live in an era of Reverence Lost. We live in an era of routine trivialization and manipulation and misrepresentation. It’s true in our politics and our economics and our religion and our relationships. Reverence Lost rules the day. Nothing is sacred; nothing is holy; nothing is worthy of respect, devotion, and adoration. But it is, you see. It all is. Because it’s relationships all the way down. Every word and action of our lives that does not take the name of the Lord our God in vain—every word and action that does not trivialize, that does not manipulate, that does not misrepresent God or creation or other human beings—is an act of reverence, devotion, and adoration for God.
The commandment to be serious about God’s name shows us the way to Reverence Regained in an era of Reverence Lost. The rendering of Exodus 20:7 by our five year olds on the tablet on the Table in front of us reminds us that there is both a “No” and a “Yes” in this commandment. Notice how they turned the “Thou shalt not” around to ask and answer the question of the “shall” that the “shalt not” implies: “Be serious when you say my name,” they said. The “No” of the commandment is always and everywhere a “no” to trivializing, manipulating, and misrepresenting anyone or anything. The “Yes” of the commandment is a reminder that our every word and every action and every relationship is an act of reverence, devotion, and adoration for God. Or it is not, depending on the character and quality of that word, action, or relationship. Unlike in the ancient world, your name does not define you. But the character and quality of your words and your actions in your relationships do—and it’s relationships all the way down.
This material is Copyrighted © 2010 by Jeffrey S. Rogers. It may be copied or disseminated for non-commercial use, provided this notice is included. The author can be contacted at jeffrogers110@bellsouth.net.
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