Rules
Wednesday of the Third Week of Lent
Daily Reading: Matthew 5:17 – 19
Focus Passage:
"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.” (Matt. 5:17)
Many contemporaries of Jesus would have heard these words and fought for a more rigid code by which to live. It is can be a good thing to have a code of ethics which orders life, distilling life down to some fundamental rules to keep and regulations to follow.
I am among the many who want someone to tell me what the rules are and what is expected of me. Then, I can work toward doing all the right things, thus bringing happiness and fulfillment. In my mentality, if you can show me what the expectations are, I can work to meet or exceed them. I can be a very accomplished rules-keeper!
But rules-keeping is not to be confused with a full and authentic life. In fact, in my efforts to do right by the regulations, I may in fact miss what is deepest and most real about life.
Jesus fulfilled the Law and the writings of the Prophets. He did so, though, not by keeping the prescriptions of the Hebrew Scriptures or by slavish adherance to moral codes. He “fulfilled” the Law by completing the essence of it, by getting underneath the prescriptions about behavior. Jesus got to the state of the human heart.
In his relationship to the Father, others, and the created world, Jesus fulfilled what it meant to be fully human. If the essence of the Law was to draw persons to God and to God’s life, then Jesus fully lived into the Law and its essence.
Further, his worth did not come from keeping the Law. God bestowed worth and value upon him, and then from that core Jesus filled out the intention of the Law.
Neither did Jesus pick apart the Law and say that it was unimportant. He did not “abolish” it. He would never say that connection to God did not matter. Rather he received his identity from the Father – an act of grace – and then lived fully into that identity. In living fully into his identity, connected intimately to God, Jesus fulfilled the Law’s intention.
God invites us to a much larger life than we tend to live. God prompts us to explore the depths of our personhood, to become fully the people we were created to be. We fill in all the unlived edges and live into God’s design for our lives.
A rigid concern for religious legalities will not connect you to God. It may make you more “moral” by societal standards, but it will not necessarily connect you to God. Neither abolishing the Law, nor keeping it will earn you a connection with God.
You are declared worthy already by God, apart from how you keep or do not keep the rules. Your life is a statement of grace. Only when we live in this grace-state do we have the inner freedom to “keep the Law” and not “abolish the Law,” to live into the essence of the Law as God-connection. Jesus shows the way to life fully connected to God.
For Reflection:
Do you tend to be a rules-keeper? A rules-respecter? A rules-flaunter?
Contemporary religious faith tends to have elements of rule-keeping and worthiness woven into it. Can you identify any of that mentality within yourself?
Today, rest in knowing you are loved as you are, where you are. Period.
Daily Reading: Matthew 5:17 – 19
Focus Passage:
"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.” (Matt. 5:17)
Many contemporaries of Jesus would have heard these words and fought for a more rigid code by which to live. It is can be a good thing to have a code of ethics which orders life, distilling life down to some fundamental rules to keep and regulations to follow.
I am among the many who want someone to tell me what the rules are and what is expected of me. Then, I can work toward doing all the right things, thus bringing happiness and fulfillment. In my mentality, if you can show me what the expectations are, I can work to meet or exceed them. I can be a very accomplished rules-keeper!
But rules-keeping is not to be confused with a full and authentic life. In fact, in my efforts to do right by the regulations, I may in fact miss what is deepest and most real about life.
Jesus fulfilled the Law and the writings of the Prophets. He did so, though, not by keeping the prescriptions of the Hebrew Scriptures or by slavish adherance to moral codes. He “fulfilled” the Law by completing the essence of it, by getting underneath the prescriptions about behavior. Jesus got to the state of the human heart.
In his relationship to the Father, others, and the created world, Jesus fulfilled what it meant to be fully human. If the essence of the Law was to draw persons to God and to God’s life, then Jesus fully lived into the Law and its essence.
Further, his worth did not come from keeping the Law. God bestowed worth and value upon him, and then from that core Jesus filled out the intention of the Law.
Neither did Jesus pick apart the Law and say that it was unimportant. He did not “abolish” it. He would never say that connection to God did not matter. Rather he received his identity from the Father – an act of grace – and then lived fully into that identity. In living fully into his identity, connected intimately to God, Jesus fulfilled the Law’s intention.
God invites us to a much larger life than we tend to live. God prompts us to explore the depths of our personhood, to become fully the people we were created to be. We fill in all the unlived edges and live into God’s design for our lives.
A rigid concern for religious legalities will not connect you to God. It may make you more “moral” by societal standards, but it will not necessarily connect you to God. Neither abolishing the Law, nor keeping it will earn you a connection with God.
You are declared worthy already by God, apart from how you keep or do not keep the rules. Your life is a statement of grace. Only when we live in this grace-state do we have the inner freedom to “keep the Law” and not “abolish the Law,” to live into the essence of the Law as God-connection. Jesus shows the way to life fully connected to God.
For Reflection:
Do you tend to be a rules-keeper? A rules-respecter? A rules-flaunter?
Contemporary religious faith tends to have elements of rule-keeping and worthiness woven into it. Can you identify any of that mentality within yourself?
Today, rest in knowing you are loved as you are, where you are. Period.
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