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Wednesday, 10^th week in ordinary time – Matthew 5:17-19

The 400-year period before Christ is known as the intertestamental period’. It was period marked with the absence of a prophetic voice. Roughly halfway through this period arose a group that called themselves the Perushim or ‘the separated ones.’ We know this group as the Pharisees of the Bible. The Pharisees positioned themselves as the guardians of pure uncompromised Torah obedience in response to both the corrupt Jewish kings and the influence of Greek culture on the Jewish faith.

Rival to this group were the aristocratic Sadducees. They held on to the written text of the first five books, the Torah, while rejecting angels and the resurrection. The Pharisees however believed that God had given Moses extra oral explanations on Mount Sinai to clarify the written law. As a consequence of this belief, elaborate list of rules and regulations were created that fenced the Torah. They created a secondary parameter around the Torah to ensure a person never came close to breaking a primary biblical command.

Along comes Jesus. The teachings of this young Jewish rabbi got the attention of the Jewish religious establishment. While Jesus spoke with authority, unlike the religious establishment of his time, his teachings might have been interpreted as unorthodox, drawing some criticism from the Pharisees and other religious groups.

Jesus viewed the Pharisees interpretation of the Torah with respect and yet with great ethical frustration. He fundamentally shared their core theology and the authority of scripture that they held on to. However, he parted ways with their specific interpretive methodology of scripture. The fences around the law that they had built ended up suffocating  and contradicting the actual commandments of God.

He accused them of ‘leaving the commandment of God to hold on to human traditions.’ (Mark 7:8). He elaborated how they missed the ‘weightier matters of the law’ of justice and mercy while dropping a spotlight on calculating a tithe of tiny garden herbs. He criticized them for their sabbath restrictions which distorted the intention of God for the Sabbath. Our Lord saw the Pharisees as conforming to the law externally while lacking inward transformation. He called them “whitewashed tombs!”

Jesus came to help people see the law and the prophets the way God wanted it to be and not twisted in ceremonials like the Pharisees had made it out to be. In short, Jesus was here to give them the law as it should be, unadulterated by human tradition.

When Jesus said he was not here to abolish (kataluo, meaning to tear it apart, to loosen it) the law, He was conscious that this law had been practiced by the Jewish leaders and its people both in its judicial or moral aspect and in its ceremonial or sacrificial aspect.  So, to give an example, one of the things that the ceremonial aspect of the law stipulated was the slaughter of a lamb in sacrifice as an atonement for sin to be forgiven.  Sin was seen as serious business and for sin to be atoned, blood had to be spilt; a life was required. For the Jews, the life of an animal was in the blood. By spilling the blood of an animal, sin was atoned.

When Jesus says that He has not come to do away with the law (in this case ceremonial law) but to fulfil it (pleroo meaning “bringing something to an end”), He proves it by dying on the cross at Calvary. In shedding his blood and giving his life, our sins are washed away. Jesus does not abolish the ceremonial law; he fulfils it and goes beyond what was stipulated. He becomes the sacrifice.

What can we take away from this text for our reflection?

1. While rigid legalism must be avoided at all costs, one can’t swing to the other end of the pendulum. The answer to rigid legalism is not in throwing out rules entirely under the guise of freedom. Jesus rejects both these approaches. Our Lord never abolished the law, but he never held that we are not called to personal transformation. True freedom isn’t the absence of boundaries; it’s the presence of the right ones.

2. The spiritual life must never be turned into a cold mechanical check list. Rules are not the ultimate destination; they are signposts pointing to a deeply relational wholehearted way of living. The Law tells us what to do, Jesus gives us the heart that wants to do it.

3. When Jesus speaks of every iota and every dot of the law being maintained, he reminds us that even our smallest obligations, private thoughts and minor interactions determine the structural integrity of our life. To relax the least things are to invite a slow, unnoticed erosion of the soul. Big characters are built up by small acts of micro faithfulness. If you dismantle the small boundaries of integrity, the whole structure eventually collapses. Sweat the small stuff!

4. Many see religion as compliance. Such a n approach to religion lacks devotion and desire to serve God. When Jesus fulfills the law, He opens the door for it to be written on our hearts. Compliance teaches us not to steal; devotion teaches us to be intrinsically generous.

5. Too often people ask spiritual questions framed around the minimum. How much can I do and still get away in the eyes of God? Fulfilling the law is not a matter of avoiding penalties. Jesus did not come to lower the bar of the Law; he came to raise our hearts to meet it.

Tuesday, 10^th week in ordinary time – Matthew 5:13-16

The Sermon on the Mount which we began yesterday is one of the five blocks of teaching in the Gospel of Matthew. Jesus addresses his disciples. By calling them his disciples he has given them their identity. In the Beatitudes that follow, Jesus lays out the behaviour of the disciples.  If the Beatitudes are the description of the disciple, the text of today is the prescription; they are to be the salt and the light of the world.

Jesus presents us with two metaphors; salt and light. A modern mindset would look for more glamorous words to describe a disciple, but these metaphors were aptly chosen for the generation of Jesus.

Notice that Jesus does not say, ‘try to become the salt” or “if you work hard, you might become the light” Jesus states an objective reality; “you are’’. It is said in the indicative not the imperative. Jesus is not asking us to become something new, he is simply asking us to stop acting like something we are not.

Salt, as practical and useful as it may be today, was highly prized in the Roman world. While it may not be true that Roman soldiers were paid in salt, what is true is that the English word ‘salary’ has its roots in the Latin word, salarium, which in turn is derived from sal, the Latin word for salt. In Roman times, ‘Salarium’ was a specific monetary allowance given to soldiers to purchase salt and other necessities. Hence the phrase, “you are not worth your salt.”

But salt was also highly prized for two primary purposes. In a world that lacked refrigeration, salt was used as a preservative to stop meat from rotting. More essentially it was used as a flovouring, to make food palatable. Jesus is not calling us to be the whole meal. He is simply asking us to be the seasoning that makes people hungry for God.

The second metaphor of light to the world is drawn from the Old Testament. Israel as a nation was called to be a light to the Gentiles (Isaiah 42:6). Jesus gives this title to his disciples and redefines God’s people not by ethnicity but by faith to him. By calling a small band of Galilean peasants to be “the light of the world,” Jesus was making a radical exclusive claim. He was saying that true spiritual illumination does not come from Rome’s political power or Greece’s philosophies but through his followers. Yet, the mission is not exclusive but radically inclusive; the light must shine for ALL people.

Oil lamps, that dispersed light were placed on elevated stands in the house to illuminate the entire house. Lighting a lamp and keeping it under a bushel was illogical; as illogical as a Christian whose faith is ‘privately’ practiced or hidden from the world. Private faith is a biblical contradiction. A city set on a hill cannot hide its glowing torches at night.

What then can we learn from these metaphors?

1. As disciples of Jesus who are called to be salt, we need to acknowledge that like salt we are essential and not some optional luxury item. You can do without a Gucci bag; you can’t do without salt. Like salt, a Christian is essential to preserve the world.

2. Salt was a preservative; it kept things from rotting. As Christians, we must act as a moral preservative against society’s decay. We are called to bring flavour into the life of people.

3. We need to acknowledge that our ‘saltiness’ that changes the world is gift of grace and does not come from our self-effort. We are not the primary source of illumination or flavour, rather we are mirrors reflecting Jesus.

4. This gift can also be corrupted when we lose our saltiness because we watered down the message of Christ. Compromise does not make you relatable to the world; it makes you useless. Light does not negotiate with darkness; its mere presence expels it. Even a small fragile flame exposes hidden stumbling blocks and provides direction.

5. Salt works silently to stop meat from rotting. It does not complain about the decay, rather it actively prevents it. Christians often complain about their situations around us rather than be the silent agent that prevents the rot. If your faith does not change the flavour of your workplace, then check your purity.

6. Salt naturally makes people thirsty. As Christians we need to create a spiritual thirst for Jesus. We are called to make the world thirsty for Christ and not bitter towards us.

7. The metaphor of light is as challenging as the metaphor of salt. A hidden lamp is just a waste of oil. Covering a lamp with a bushel is self-defeating. If believers hide their faith out of fear or rejection or a desire for comfort or social awkwardness, then they are as absurd as a lamp covered with a bushel.

Finally, Human nature craves for recognition. Jesus demands that his disciples do things selflessly and beautifully in order that the observer looks past the human delivery system and praises the divine architect. The goal of Christian visibility is radically different from the world of self-promotion. The light shines so that onlookers bypass the mirror and praise the source. As mirrors we shine the light but deflect the praise. Your job is to do the good deeds, God’s job is to receive the glory.