The Gospel
Jesus said, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets; I have come not to abolish but to fulfill. For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth pass away, not one letter, not one stroke of a letter, will pass from the law until all is accomplished. Therefore, whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches others to do the same, will be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.”
The Offering
From Mack Knopf
I cannot tell what Jesus means the law to be. The Beatitudes, in the same speech, are not laws. They are blessings, good things that will be given to us by God. “Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth,” says Jesus.
A law must tell us what to do or what we should not do. They can prescribe what we should do, like a doctor tells us what to take to get well. Laws can tell us what not to do, and how we can be punished for wrongdoing.
Laws are written down. We must be able to find the laws and know how to follow them. How do we measure what is meek, or what else God wants? I don’t know where I can find every law and prophecy to follow them. Doesn’t that include all the other law the Jewish people knew, not just the Ten Commandments?
We must know where all the rules are, and we must be able to understand them. The rules we follow cannot be just some. They must be everything, because nothing can pass from the law until “all be fulfilled.”
Show me how we can understand all the law.