Theme For The Day: A call to spiritual renewal and cleansing. Since God has come to us as holy redeeming love, our response is to be cleansed of our sins and live holy lives. The Ten Commandments (First Lesson) are guidelines for such lives. Jesus' cleansing of the temple (Gospel) constitutes a call to moral and spiritual renewal, beginning with God's house and God's people.

COMMENTARY

Old Testament: Exodus 20:1-17
The decalogue, the Ten Commandments, is presented as Israel's response to God's act of redemption through the Exodus (v. 2). In the Hebrew form, they were originally very brief, two words long, and called the "Ten Words." According to this account, God spoke first to all the people but they didn't want to hear God's voice directly (v. 19) and so God gave the commandments to Mos…