Wednesday of the Third Week of Lent - March 6, 2013
Wednesday of the Third Week of Lent
Matthew 5:17 – 19
“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished. Therefore anyone who sets aside one of the least of these commands and teaches others accordingly will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.”
The Law and the Prophets both represent the Hebrew Scriptures in general. They have, however, very different tenors about them.
The Law has a strict sense of code, mandate, and obligation. The Prophets take a step forward in faith development, applying the Law to life-situations with more humanity and less rigidity. The wisdom and ethical emphasis in the Prophets represent a huge step forward in Hebrew spirituality.
And Jesus stood in this line of a growing, evolving spiritual connection with God. I tend to call this a relationship of “becoming.” In continuity with both Law and Prophets, Jesus neither repeated the Law nor mimicked the Prophets. In Jesus, the possibility for a grownup faith came to fullness. That faith came not from changing the Law and Prophets, nor by trumping them. The faith Jesus modeled came through more fully living into Law and Prophets, and carrying their truth into a transformative relationship with God, self, others, and the world.
Matthew 5:17 – 19
“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished. Therefore anyone who sets aside one of the least of these commands and teaches others accordingly will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.”
The Law and the Prophets both represent the Hebrew Scriptures in general. They have, however, very different tenors about them.
The Law has a strict sense of code, mandate, and obligation. The Prophets take a step forward in faith development, applying the Law to life-situations with more humanity and less rigidity. The wisdom and ethical emphasis in the Prophets represent a huge step forward in Hebrew spirituality.
And Jesus stood in this line of a growing, evolving spiritual connection with God. I tend to call this a relationship of “becoming.” In continuity with both Law and Prophets, Jesus neither repeated the Law nor mimicked the Prophets. In Jesus, the possibility for a grownup faith came to fullness. That faith came not from changing the Law and Prophets, nor by trumping them. The faith Jesus modeled came through more fully living into Law and Prophets, and carrying their truth into a transformative relationship with God, self, others, and the world.
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