Matthew 5:17-20
In Jesus’ day the religious leaders, the scribes and Pharisees, believed that if every Hebrew kept the law perfectly for just one day, the kingdom of heaven would come. This was an impossible task since they meant not just the 613 laws found in the Torah but the hundreds of rules about what each law actually meant and how to keep each one. For instance, one of the ten commandments is to “honor the sabbath and keep it holy.” That’s a command to rest and reflect one day each week. But that one law devolved into rules about whether or not one could cook on the sabbath (not) or walk on the sabbath (only a few steps). In our time those who observe Judaism strictly have two kitchens to help them to observe all the rules of kosher cooking, automatic light switches so no one turns on a light on sabbath, and homes near the synagogue so they need walk (not drive) only a short distance to services.
There’s a good side to all these rules when they help people be conscious of the presence of God in their lives. There’s a down side when the focus on rules becomes obsessive. In Jesus’ time, some of the leaders were excessively focused on the rules, which were expensive to keep. They took time, which hardworking peasants or slaves didn’t have. They took extra cooking vessels, which were expensive. The rules separated religious from non-religious people and they made it impossible for those who were poor to be religious. Only the rich had the luxury of time and money to keep the rules and thus please God.
We know that Jesus was often critical of the Pharisees, so we’d expect him to say, “The law is a heavy burden. You don’t have to follow it.” Instead, he says people must keep every letter of the law. But there’s a twist…you must be more righteous than the Pharisees – who keep every letter of the law. Is Jesus contradicting himself? Is he making it even harder to connect with God than the strict leaders of his day? Or does he have something else in mind?
There’s a hint for us in Jesus’ statement that we must keep the Law and the Prophets. The law, before all the rules which expanded on it, was about how people lived with each other as a sign of God’s love:
Honor your father and your mother.
Don’t steal.
Don’t lie about your neighbor in court.
Welcome the stranger.
Care for orphans and widows who have no male householder to support them.
Forgive debt every seven years.
Every fifty years free all the slaves and give land back to its original owners.
When we read the actual laws at the heart of the Torah, it’s evident that the religious leaders weren’t really interested in following them. There’s no evidence that property was ever restored in a jubilee year, or that slaves were freed to go home. In Jesus’ time the world was full of people hungry and desperate and no one was making an attempt to feed or clothe or house them.
The prophets were more than folks who predicted the future, even a dire future of battles lost and nations conquered. They were the ones who pointed out when people weren’t following the law. The railed against economic injustice and abuse of power. They called rich folks and leaders to task when the bulk of the populace was poor and desperate. Just as the laws which were hard were ignored, the prophets were also discounted. No one wanted to structure society by God’s law because equality is hard. Economic justice costs rich folks money.
Two weeks ago we read the scripture called the beatitudes, which is part of Jesus’ teaching about what’s important. Blessed are the poor. Blessed are the meek. Jesus doesn’t talk about rules which reinforce the advantage of the rich over the peasants. He tells us, “Blessed are the peacemakers” in spite of living in a time when Rome was inflicting violence on every nation and people.
Jesus isn’t talking about following picky rules about what recipes you use or which plates you serve on. He was talking about shaping the very fabric of society by God’s vision. He would have been in favor of forgiving debt, returning land, feeding widows and orphans, welcoming strangers. Jesus was teaching people to take care of each other, forming communities of equality and dignity and compassion. In the decades after his death, his followers did just that. They gathered in small groups and took care of each other. They had a good time doing it. Of course they had bumps in the road, but they learned how to manage disagreements and watch each other’s backs.
On one had there are the religious leaders saying if you keep all the rules perfectly the reign of God will come. On the other hand Jesus is saying if you keep the spirit of the law and prophets, you’ll discover the reign of God is already among you. Love one another and figure out how to put love into practice every day. That’s the spirit of God’s vision for the world.
In our time it’s as tricky to follow the spirit of God’s law as it was in Jesus’ time. We’re constantly trying to figure out who our neighbor is and how to love them. Some folks want to tell us we just need more rules to make life work better. Rules about who can cross a border. Rules about who owns the land and the oil. Rules about who gets food and who doesn’t. Rules about how to fight wars. There’s no shortage of rules.
Remember how Jesus summed up the law when someone asked him? Which is most important? Love God. Love your neighbor as yourself. We make rules when love is in short supply. Rules are meant to protect us from those we fear. But love breaks down division and fear. Rules aren’t nearly so important when we really care about each other. It’s easy to make exceptions to the rules when we know the people involved and what they need.
We’re in the midst of asking ourselves questions about who we are as a church and how we should live in our world. It’s possible that only one question matters: What would love do? What is the most loving attitude we can hold; the most loving action we can take? How do we love one another well and love our neighbor too?
Keeping the law and the prophets isn’t about rules, it’s about love. If we’re going to heal the world, we’re going to have to love it back to health. That’s a big task. So we start small – with each other and our community. We love the best we can and hope that over time love is contagious. There’s talk all the time of things going viral. Let’s commit ourselves to infecting the world with the virus of love and pray that it spreads everywhere.