Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets.
I have come not to abolish but to fulfill.
Jesus was about to move in to the part of the Sermon on the Mount where he would reference the law, saying, "You have heard it said" and then appear to change it saying, "But I say to you". But before doing so he gave this introduction to clarify what he planned to do. What Jesus was going to say about the law was not that his hearers ought to set what they had heard from Moses aside for something entirely different, but rather to bring to receive from Jesus the deeper hidden fullness of meaning that the law contained.
Amen, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away,
not the smallest letter or the smallest part of a letter
will pass from the law
The Pharisees probably regarded Jesus as lax when it came to the law. His disciples didn't observe ceremonial washings and even picked grain on the Sabbath. Yet their observations of Jesus and his disciples missed the point. Jesus himself always embraced the law as a harmonious whole, whereas the Pharisees got caught up in the details of the letter of the law. They divided and opposed different elements of the law in order to justify themselves, becoming judges of the law rather than submitting to it, in effect placing themselves above the law while still claiming to obey it.
for the letter brings death, but the Spirit gives life.
The law was a dangerous tool in the hands of prideful and fallen men. They often used it in ways that brought about literal death, to the degree that they opposed Jesus healing on the Sabbath, even going so far as to kill Jesus himself. Yet even before the full outpouring of the Spirit the law had some degree of glory, still raised Israel head and shoulders above the other nations, preparing them to be the people to whom the Messiah would come. Yet the glow of that glory, of the whole system of ritual and sacrifice was destined to fade. It was unable to bring worshippers to the truly fulfilled version of the Law that Jesus alone could offer. But that old system always pointed beyond itself and toward Jesus. Letter was always meant to give way to Spirit. Legal observance was meant to be swallowed up in the loving obedience of sons and daughters.
For if what was going to fade was glorious,
how much more will what endures be glorious.
Only the teachings of Jesus are a rock so solid that they will endure forever. The living letters of his word will never pass away. We are meant to allow the Spirit of Jesus to write this law in our own hearts. It means that we must give up control, and stop attempting to twist the law into the service of our selfishness so that the Spirit himself can begin the work of untwisting our hearts and molding them to be like that of Jesus.
No comments:
Post a Comment