[ Today's Readings ]
Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets.
I have come not to abolish but to fulfill.
Jesus doesn't come to abolish the law. The law exists to keep us faithful to the LORD, the one true God. It helps us not to lose our senses in the first place and come back to them if we do.
We often lose our senses. We chase after Baal in the hope of freedom, but we find him to be powerless. Our false idols can't satisfy our deepest desires. They leave the world broken and hurting. Nothing but God can truly satisfy us. The law exists to help us turn from idols to serve the living and true God (see First Thessalonians 1:9).
The law tells us not to seek what the only the Spirit can give in the fulfillment of fleshly desires. It is not arbitrary. It is meant to keep us from futility.
Therefore, whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments
and teaches others to do so
will be called least in the Kingdom of heaven.
The commandments help conform our hearts to heaven. They train us to be a people who can truly find joy in the presence of God. They teach us not to fall for the tricks of the world. They teach us to find fulfillment in the LORD alone.
O LORD, my allotted portion and cup,
you it is who hold fast my lot.
I set the LORD ever before me;
with him at my right hand I shall not be disturbed.
They point but they do not empower. We need the fire of the Spirit for the commandments to do what they are meant to do in our lives and in our hearts. Without the Spirit our attempts at keeping the commandments, even if not idolatry, are at best a watered down and wet sacrifice rotting on the altar, not doing the good it is meant to do. But when the Spirit falls on hearts that have the commandments in them, that know the need to put God first, the commandments are fulfilled:
The LORD’s fire came down
and consumed the burnt offering, wood, stones, and dust,
and it lapped up the water in the trench.
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