Christ said
that He didn’t come “to abolish the law or the prophets.” (Matthew 5:17-19)
The law and
the prophets, as found in the Old Testament, consists of three types. First, there are the moral laws, such as the
Ten Commandments, that are primarily based on the natural law of God. By “natural law,” we mean that our human
reason can understand their truthfulness, such as with “Thou shall not kill,
steal,” etc. Second, there were many
liturgical precepts that were laid down and practiced as a preparation for and
prefiguration of their ultimate liturgical fulfillment. The fulfillment is now found in the
sacramental life of the Church. Third,
there were various legal precepts that gave specific directions on daily
living. These laws include instructions
on food, relations with others, how to treat foreigners, cleansings,
purifications of utensils, tithing, and much more.
In these three
verses I reflected on today, Jesus essentially says two things. First, regarding the legal and liturgical
precepts, He says that He came to “fulfill” them. Thus, Christians are no longer bound by these
Old Testament legal and liturgical laws, in that we’re now called to a much
higher fulfillment of them all. But as
for the moral laws, especially those found in the Ten Commandments, not a
single precept taught is abolished. Instead,
these Commandments are deepened, and the call to moral perfection is now much
clearer. It’s for this reason that Jesus
goes on to say, “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. But whoever obeys and teaches these commandments will be
called greatest in the Kingdom of heaven.”
I’ve
realized that over time my goal in life has become to serve God and others. This can only be accomplished through
responding to the truth of God and Christian love towards others. The commandments for me, are not a set of
negative rules, but a set of truths that I attempt to live by. A few decades ago, I made a commitment to my
faith and began to walk deliberately with the Lord. Through that time I’ve found that when living
by the commandments, my relationship with God and others just seems to go
better. Luckily for me Christ came to
fulfill the law and I’m only here to do the best I can. Only with His grace and my response to that
grace is it possible to “abound in righteousness and glory.” (2 Corinthians 3:4-11). The journey so far has been fun and filled with
unexpected turns. I can only hope that more
is yet to come.
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