THE WORD IN LENT: Wednesday, 3rd week in Lent
March 10, 2021: Deuteronomy 4:
1,5-9; Matthew 5: 17-19
The Commandments were nothing but the expressed wish of the Lord who brought the people up to their status of God's people. It was actually the human side of the covenant that God made with us: on God’s part God loves us forever without end, and on our part, we are called to keep the commandments as a sign to say we love God!
The Old
Testament people felt assured that when they walked in the path of the
commandments, they were on the right track. At times this assurance, and the
anxiety to hold on to this assurance, made them even highly legalistic. However,
their respect for the law of the Lord, their zeal for the commandments and the
attachment to the Word of the Lord was always commendable.
Though Jesus stood tooth and nail against legalism, he too respected the commands
of the Lord and taught his disciples how to make it humanly possible to abide
by those commandments. The expressed wish of the Father, was something sacred
and holy to Jesus and he declared that they are never changing, eternal and
foundational for our faith.
Our faith,
that is, our rapport with the Lord, our faithfulness to God has to be based
firmly on something. And Jesus offers the right solution: the Word of the Lord.
The Word which contains the expressed wish of the Father, the Word that will
never perish, is the Rock foundation on which our faith has to be
established! Whoever obeys and teaches these, will be called greatest in
the kingdom of heaven.
Let us uphold
our rootedness to our foundations!