I have come not to abolish but to fulfill.
Jesus, we were sort of hoping that you would abolish the law and the prophets. It is law and therefore it all seems so legalistic, so unbending and even oppressive. We wish you would just inaugurate the era of trying our best and accepting ourselves. We would prefer the focus shifted from what we ought to do to accepting the brokenness we find in ourselves and the world. We hear your law as condemnation, either to fail, or, at best, to constant struggle and effort.
But you do not leave the law as it is, Jesus. You come to fulfill it. The law has a meaning more profound than we guess.
Therefore, I teach you the statutes and decrees
as the LORD, my God, has commanded me,
that you may observe them in the land you are entering to occupy.
You want us to take possession of the promised land. You want to teach us a wisdom and intelligence that is evident to all who see us. If we follow it the world can't help but say, "This great nation is truly a wise and intelligent people."
We fear that your law means that you are far from us. It is as if you could mail us this law and then not talk to us because we can just read it. But it is only because of how close you are that you speak this law to us.
For what great nation is there
that has gods so close to it as the LORD, our God, is to us
whenever we call upon him?
Really? We don't feel particularly close to our Congress or any branch of our government. But their motivation is not yours. Our ways are not yours. Our law is a teacher in limited and general ways. But with your law you want to bring your wisdom and insight to bear in our lives. This is not distance.
One problem we have is that we feel like the law doesn't take account of our individuality because it is unchanging and unyielding and applies to everyone. You reveal that it is unchanging because your presence to us is unchanging (cf. Mat. 28:20). It is unyielding because your mercy is unyielding. In you we recognize the lawgiver as a friend who will never abandon us when you see us make bad choices and destructive decisions. And you are not one who ties up heavy burdens for us and then do not lift and finger to help us (cf. Mat. 23:4). Instead, you invite all who are burdened to come to you for rest (cf. Mat. 11:28). Jesus, you reveal the true purpose of the law. Only you can bring it to fulfillment for each of us individually. It is to make us fit and able to live in the promised land. It is to make us worthy citizens of the Kingdom of heaven. It does not condemn us to failure or to constant effort because you yourself give us the strength we need to fulfill it. You bring it to fulfillment in us by the power of your Spirit.
He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant--not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life (cf. 2 Cor. 3:6).
You want us to move from the letter to the Spirit today. You want to bring us from condemnation to life. You want to fulfill the law not in the abstract but for each of our hearts today.
Fulfill the law in us by your Spirit, O LORD!
"The truth is, of course, that the curtness of the Ten Commandments is an evidence, not of the gloom and narrowness of a religion, but, on the contrary, of its liberality and humanity. It is shorter to state the things forbidden than the things permitted: precisely because most things are permitted, and only a few things are forbidden."
- G.K. Chesterton
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