God gave the Law to Israel to establish a holy people who would be a sign to all other nations of God’s presence and action in history and the world. Many in Israel treated to Law with respect but they had a minimalistic view – living only the letter of the Law. In addition to the Law given to Moses, many legal interpretations were added which supposedly helped people live out the Law. Responsibilities were reduced to defined obligations. The responsibilities, obligations and rules were so numerous and complex as to be impossible to live, especially for common folk. Many people gave up on trying to follow the complex rules. This attitude of reducing their relationship with God to the minimum letter of the law easily led to a “sort of holy” community that really did not give witness to anything. The community never really fulfilled the purpose of the law.
Today’s Gospel comes from the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus, being part of the Holy Trinity, speaks of the heart of the law, not just the letter of the law. The heart of the law is that each person live in communion with God, with others, and with creation. The Sermon on the Mount is an expansive and wide-open law that calls all to live the maximum. Whereas the traditional interpretation of the Law had been reduced to a minimalistic viewpoint.
Many people probably heard Jesus speak and thought he was proposing something new, something that went against their traditional interpretation of the Law. Jesus states today that Christians are called to live out a holiness that goes to the heart of the Law. That involves living a life of service to the maximum.
Take some time today to ask yourself about your own holiness – your relationship with God, others and creation. Are you living in a comfortable minimum? Or are you a living to a maximum as a witness of hope and joy.
I have come not to abolish but to fulfill….
But whoever obeys and teaches these commandments
will be called greatest in the Kingdom of heaven.
Image: https://www.heartlight.org/wjd/matthew/0217-wjd.html