A Call to Recenter Ourselves

At first glance, today’s Gospel lesson seems simple. Jesus says his mission isn’t to abolish laws—and asks us to just follow the rules. But in the Gospel of Matthew, he gives further and deeper account of what that means. His commandment isn’t to simply not commit adultery; it’s to not even relent to lust. It is about right relationships.

He’s asking us to reflect on the reason for the law. His purpose is not to “abolish but to fulfill” the law and the prophets. We often talk about the fulfillment of prophecies such as Isaiah’s “Servant Songs,” but are we missing Jesus’ message? What follows is not a discussion of how prophets foretold his coming, it’s a discussion of law.

Which brings us to our first reading, where we find the Hebrews in the desert. Moses not only delivers the law to the people but establishes the reason for the law, which becomes the refrain for everything that occurs thereafter. It is the very centerpiece of faith, repeated over and over in Hebrew Scripture, “love God” and “love your neighbor.” Moses foretells that the world will see the law of God as different from others: “For what great nation is there that has gods so close to it as the LORD?“ and again, “What great nation has statutes and decrees that are as just as this whole law?” If we live according to the Law of God, the world will see a just people living in right relationships with God and each other.

Jesus’ mission was not to do away with these ideals. Later in Matthew, Jesus asks what the two greatest commandments are. He quotes Deuteronomy, “Love the Lord, your God, with all your heart and with all your soul,” and Leviticus, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Jesus did not abolish the law, he recentered us in it.

Law in-and-of itself is not bad; it’s generally a pretty good idea to not murder and steal. Its beauty isn’t found in each statute but in its raison d'être—to help us love God, and love each other. As we journey through Lent, I pray each of us can recenter ourselves in the beauty of the law, to see it not as constraint, but as a calling back to our two most important missions: loving God and loving one another.

Author: Gina Progar, Theology Department