A Thought

“You shall not make for yourselves a carved image – any likeness of anything that is in heaven above or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.  You shall not bow down to them nor serve them.  For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing mercy to thousands, those who love Me and keep My commandments.” Exodus 20:4-6

Immediately we think of statues and other works of art when we read this commandment, but it is hard to say what is acceptable and what crosses the line.  Most Protestant churches have a cross, and Catholic churches have a crucifix.  Each serves as a reminder of the sacrifice our Lord was willing to make for our redemption, but even these have the potential of diverting our attention from the real presence of the Lord through His Spirit and the Holy Eucharist – and this, I think, is the point.

We should be aware of all things that can compromise our focus on the Lord, and we must never allow any sort of image to serve as a substitute for what we are called to do for our Lord and for our neighbor; for this is how we testify to what we know to be true.  It is a difference between what we see with our eyes, and what we hope for through faith.

Christ is our “substitute”; in other words, He did for us what was required for the sins of the world.  He paid the price in our place.  There is no need for us to search for any other “substitutes” or representations; that is who WE are for those who also need to “see”.

Blessings,

Michael