The WORD in LENT - Third week, Wednesday
March 15, 2023: Deuteronomy 4: 1,5-9; Matthew 5: 17-19
The Word today speaks to us of the Commandments - what were they but the expressed wish of the Lord who brought the people up to their status of God's people. This was indeed the way that the Lord taught them to be real people of 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.
On his part, Jesus, though he stood tooth and nail against legalism, 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.
Now therefore comes the central question - how to understand the law, the commandments and their significance, without falling into the trap of legalism? That is the mind of Christ, the way of Christ, the Christian approach to law! To understand the commandments, the law, as an expression of our faith, a manifestation of our rapport with the Lord, our faithfulness to the love that God has towards us, and never considering it as an oblgation or a burden or an instrument to judge the other.
It is fundamentally the relationship that we have with God - that which determines the value and the right place of every other aspect in our life. It is this relationship that will fill us with peace - in our hearts, in our families, in our society and for the entire humanity. The right relationship that is never failing and all illumining. We are called to obey these, and teach generations to do the same! We are called to realise its value and remind and instruct each other about it. Whoever obeys and teaches these, will be in peace and will fill their world with peace!
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