“SPRINGS OF LIVING WATER”
Daily Spiritual Reflections
9th June 2021
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WEDNESDAY, TENTH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME
2 Cor 3: 4-11; Ps 99: 5-9; Mt 5: 17-19
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DID JESUS ABOLISH OR COMPLETE THE LAW?
A law system is a scheme of rules which a particular country or community recognizes as regulating the actions of its members and which it may enforce by the imposition of penalties. Likewise, God gave a law system – the Ten Commandments – to Moses on Mount Sinai. This was given to build the bond between God and his chosen people. God made a covenant with the people of Israel that he would be their God and they would be his people. And this law system became the basis of this covenant. Following it was understood as meriting God’s graces and blessings, and would certify their allegiance to God. However, to this divine law system were added many more man-made laws owing to various interpretations by the religious scholars over the years, such that during the time of Jesus, the Jewish law system contained as many as 613 laws. The laws multiplied on the one hand while on the other, they failed to strengthen the covenantal bond between God and the people of Israel.
We need to understand the words of Jesus in today’s Gospel in this context. Jesus did not come to abolish the divine law system – which was also confirmed by the prophets – but to complete it in its purest form – love. The very purpose of the incarnation was to fulfill the promises God had made to the people of Israel.
What greater love is there than to lay down one’s life for the other? Jesus, through his passion and death, purified the law, revealing the perfection of its core element, love. The Pharisees failed to understand Jesus. He seemed to be breaking many of their laws. Jesus indeed abolished the human law that impeded the living of the divine law. He reminds his listeners of the original law given by God and invites them to follow that original law with the original spirit. Let us also strive to follow the law of God so that we grow in our relationship with God and teach others to do the same.
Response: You are holy, O Lord our God.
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