Wednesday, June 14, 2017 10th Week in Ordinary Time 1st Reading: 2 Cor 3:4-11 Gospel: Matthew 5:17-19
Jesus said to his disciples, “Do not think that I have come to remove the Law and the Prophets. I have not come to remove but to fulfill them. I tell you this: as long as heaven and earth last, not the smallest letter or stroke of the Law will change until all is fulfilled.
“So then, whoever breaks the least important of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be the least in the kingdom of heaven. On the other hand, whoever obeys them and teaches others to do the same will be great in the kingdom of heaven.”
D@iGITAL-EXPERIENCE
(Daily Gospel in the
Assimilated Life
Experience)
If laws are invented to domesticate the natural ferocity of creatures then all laws must be ruthless. The Jews didn’t believe so, yet their leaders crafted laws that were ruthless. That was because their laws were designed to observe the Ten Commandments that God gave to Moses at Mount Sinai. They punished those who did not observe these laws to the letter because such disobedience was frowned upon as direct disobedience to God.
Jesus gave a very liberal interpretation of the law. His interpretation was supposed to be the new way of interpreting the Law and the prophets. Yet the religious leaders, and the guardians of the Law, resisted preferring to stick to the old ways of literal interpretation. This was always the bone of contention between Jesus and the Pharisees and Teachers of the Law.
The Letter to the Hebrews tells us: “In the past, God spoke in partial and various ways to our ancestors through the prophets. In these last days, he spoke to us through a son whom he made heir of all things and through whom he created the universe” (Hebrews 1:1-2). The Jews could have done better by looking up to Jesus as the best interpreter of the law. The problem was that they did not believe he was that son referred to in the letter to the Hebrews.
Jesus restated the whole Law and the prophets in this way: “Love God with all your heart, with all your mind and with all your strength, and love your neighbor as yourself. There is no law greater than these.” Love then is the new way of fulfilling the Law. The distinguishing mark of Christianity is love. St. Augustine even said that we could do what we please if we love God. Anyone who loves God will never be pleased with anything that displeases God.
“All laws are an attempt to domesticate the natural ferocity of the species,” wrote John W. Gardner in San Francisco Examiner and Chronicle. The law of love brings such domestication to perfection. Only love can set a person free, totally free! –(Atty.) Rev. Fr. Dan Domingo P. delos Angeles, Jr., DM
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