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.