Word to the Wise
Wednesday, March 11, 2015 - 3rd Week of Lent - Wed
[Deut 4:1, 5-9 and Matt 5:17-19]Therefore, whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do so will be called least in the Kingdom of heaven. But whoever obeys and teaches these commandments will be called greatest in the Kingdom of heaven. [Matthew]
The Gospel of Matthew was written after the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem by the Romans in 70 AD. It is difficult for us to imagine the extent of the disaster that this represented to many Jews of Jesus' time. The temple was the geographic and symbolic center of whatever unity existed for them. What was left? The "Torah" was all that was left. This means what we Christians call the "Pentateuch" or first five books of the Old Testament. The first scripture for today is taken from the fifth of those books, Deuteronomy, and speaks to the importance of the Mosaic Law. What saved Judaism after the loss of the temple was a refocusing on the Torah wherever they might happen to be. For this reason, those Jews who accepted Jesus as the Messiah were concerned about the continued role of Torah in their lives. Were they to simply forget about it or ignore it from then on? The Gospel of Matthew seeks to reassure them that Jesus was not "anti-Torah" but represented all that the Torah had been given for.
The difficulty that Jesus confronted in his ministry was the emphasis that some Jews, notably the Pharisees, placed on minute observance at the cost of human suffering and loss of human dignity. Furthermore, some Pharisees and scribes and elders found ways to manipulate the law to their own advantage. I have encountered the same attitude among Catholics who promote certain observances or gestures as if they were a matter of divine law and not simply human custom, even if approved by church authority. Some become a kind of "jailhouse lawyer" by reading canon law without understanding how it is to be applied in a given set of circumstances. Even the slightest departure from the rubrics of a given ritual comes under their notice. There are a lot a websites that debate these things! Jesus places love of God and neighbor at the top of the law. Everything else must be interpreted in the light of those two commandments. In Lent, it is worthwhile to ask if we err toward too much strictness or toward too much leniency. Jesus did not abolish the importance of a religious law. He gave us the means to properly understand and use it. AMEN