Mitzvot and Stories: A Thought on Parshat Yitro

I just started the M² The Institute for Experiential Jewish Education fellowship on Pedagogies of Peoplehood, and I will be spending the next year thinking a great deal about stories - how they affect us, teach us and even shape us. 

The most famous passage in this week's Parashah - Yitro - and probabaly in the entire Torah, is the Ten Commandments - the Aseret Hadibrot. Yet, many Sages throughout history went out of their way to de-emphasize the importance of these Ten Commandments. Commenting on the ancient custom to stand during the reading of the Ten Commandments Rambam wrote, "In every place that their custom is to stand, one must prevent them from doing so due to the loss in faith that ensues, in that they assume that there are gradations in the Torah - that some commandments are exalted from others - that this is exceedingly bad." (Teshuvot Rambam #263) 

And yet, we do stand for the Ten Commandments. They are special. They have their own name - unlike any other set of mitzvot in the Torah. I wonder about the role of the story of the Ten Commandments - the fact that these specific mitzvot were in fact commanded to the entire nation by God Himself. The Torah describes in great detail the special, miraculous nature of the Revelation. The story is what gives these commandments their special significance. They are laws in the Torah like any other, but somehow, because of how, where and when they were given - they were more than simple laws. Somehow, they represent a code, and a special covenant between God and His people. The two tablets, containing these Ten Commandments, became a symbol of that bond that we symbolically display in nearly every house of worship. 

Imagine that the Torah simply related the Ten Commandments without the story. Would they mean something to us without the miracles that surrounded them? How does that story contribute to and change our perception of these particular laws?