Sometime last year the street department put up a bunch of new speed limit signs in our neighborhood. I’m not sure the signs have had much effect. Some of our neighbors have been not so good about obeying the limit. This time of year, school buses pick up children before the sun rises. Fast cars, dark streets, and little kids laden with winter jackets and heavy backpacks are not a good combination.
Apparently, there was an incident last week when a car zipped down the street, adding a little bit of vroom as it sped past the corner where children were waiting for the bus. A mother standing on the sidewalk with her children was not happy and said so on the HOA Facebook page. Her rage was justified.
Most of the comments to the mother’s post were supportive or recounted similar tales of fast cars, dark streets, and little kids. The community cynic, whose quips I often appreciate, posted, “I thought we had new 25 MPH speed limit signs installed?” along with a smile emoji.
I think the new speed limit signs were a good idea, and, who knows, some of us may have slowed down because of them. But I also think the cynic’s hunch is correct. The zip and vroom crowd pays no attention to speed limit signs, even on dark mornings with little kids heading to the bus stop laden with winter jackets and heavy backpacks.
So why post the speed limit if the people who need to see it most ignore it most?
I wonder if Moses sometimes thought the posting of the Ten Commandments to have had little effect among a people prone to bearing false witness and coveting the things that belong to our neighbors, to idol worship and sabbath breaking.
I don’t know the zippers and the vroomers in our neighborhood, though I see (and hear) them often. I imagine they don’t want to be late for work or school or need to get to Walmart in a hurry. Maybe they just like the thrill of zip and sound of vroom. Likewise, among those of us who think the Ten Commandments should be taken seriously, there is a tendency to justify our false witness and our idol worship for all sorts of self-serving reasons. Or maybe we just like the thrill of disobedience and the sound of taking the Lord’s name in vain.
Like many, most, all of us, in the neighborhood who occasionally violate the 25 miles per hour speed limit on our way to work, school, shopping, or church, all of us – including those of us seeking to obey them – violate one or more of the Ten Commandments day by day. “Why post them, then?” my cynic friend might ask.
The Heidelburg Catechism knows our cynicism and answers it well. These two questions are asked on Lord’s Day 44:
Q: Can those converted to God obey these commandments perfectly?
A: No. In this life even the holiest have only a small beginning of this obedience. Nevertheless, with all seriousness of purpose, they do begin to live according to all, not only some, of God’s commandments.
Q: No one in this life can obey the Ten Commandments perfectly: why then does God want them preached so pointedly?
A: First, so that the longer we live the more we may come to know our sinfulness and the more eagerly look to Christ for forgiveness of sins and righteousness. Second, so that, while praying to God for the grace of the Holy Spirit, we may never stop striving to be renewed more and more after God’s image, until after this life we reach our goal: perfection.
Why post the speed limit? Maybe someone will slow down and a child in a winter coat and heavy backpack will not be hurt. Why pay attention to the Ten Commandments? That we might be renewed more and more after God’s image, until after this life we reach our goal: perfection.