Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets.
I have come not to abolish but to fulfill.
The law of the Lord, the Psalmist said, was perfect, giving wisdom to the simple (see Psalm 19:7). Yet to many Jesus and his Gospel seemed to come out of left field, different from the teachings of the scribes, the Pharisees, and the Sadducees. Their accusation that he was going to destroy the temple was a symbolic representation of how they felt he was reacting to their religious traditions more generally. His approach to marriage, to the Sabbath, and to other traditions seemed at ends with how the Torah was commonly understood on such subjects. At the same time there were perhaps those among his followers that were ready and excited for this. The law was, after all, burdensome, when obedience was attempted without the corresponding grace. Jesus may have felt the need to assure disciples that were too eager to be rid of the law that they too misunderstood his message.
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,
until all things have taken place.
The underlying intention of the law would remain perennially valid. Getting stuck at the level of the letter of the law and its external form would be a risk because "the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life" (see Second Corinthians 3:6). The law was not to be read is merely pertaining to external conformity that could be attempted without a simultaneous internal change of heart. Thus Jesus pointed to the heart of the matter, the heart of the Spirit in which the law was intended, as well as how the heart of the believer was meant to change in response to that movement of Spirit. And although the approach of Jesus to the law led he and his disciples to act in great freedom, as children of a trusting Father, his interpretation of the law made deeper demands than that of his contemporaries.
It was possible for the religious leaders in the time of Jesus to imagine themselves to be perfectly observant of the law of Moses even while their hearts were full of pride, envy, and the like. Their interpretation of the law left the door wide open to hypocrisy. But Jesus insisted that the law was always meant to lead to interior conversion. Still, it is no wonder that the world never achieved this conversion prior to the coming of Jesus. His coming was the necessary key that unlocked the inner intention of the law, his presence was itself the fulfillment that made true conversion, spiritual rebirth, possible.
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.
There was a perpetual risk for those so taken with the new and real freedom that the Gospel proclaimed, the risk that they felt free to abandon not only old and outdated rituals but even morality itself. We can see that this was still a risk for those in Galatia to whom Paul wrote.
you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another (see Galatians 5:13).
An implication of the continuing relevance of the law is that it should not be an embarrassment to us, as though more enlightened people would have moved on to a more flexible and tolerant system of moral teaching. The modern world does not appreciate being told that much of what it values is not only a possible mistake or bad idea but actually objectively wrong and sinful. They are, however, willing to insist on some values of their own within the narrow sphere of their priorities. We don't suggest we ought to go beat down their door with the ten commandments. Obviously such an external approach to the law runs counter to what Jesus himself taught. But neither should we be embarrassed to found our lives and the life together called society upon genuine moral truth. Beginning in the family and spreading out in increasingly broad concentric circles such an approach can truly transform the earth.
the rules of the LORD are true,
and righteous altogether.
More to be desired are they than gold,
even much fine gold;
sweeter also than honey
and drippings of the honeycomb.
Moreover, by them is your servant warned;
in keeping them there is great reward (see Psalm 19:9-11).
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