Fulfilling the Law

The psalmist today, in the texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary, praises the law of the Lord whereby he knows wisdom, joy, enlightenment, truth and a direction in which to live to avoid great transgression. The address of Moses to the Israelite people calling on them to behave like God is a marvelous leap, according to Friar Jude Winkler, for people of the time who understood the "gods" to be capricious and likely to treat humans according to their moods and passions. The behaviour of the people according to the Law is given some examples in the text from Leviticus. Friar Jude comments that it has both vertical, toward God and horizontal, toward people aspects. The Gospel of Matthew, who presents the return of the Son of Man to the world at the end times, reveals the aspects of the judgement of the way in which we have lived according to the will of God. Jesus focuses on the actions of those He calls blessed. They are referred to as sheep who are moved to His right hand. They have acted to be compassionate, selfless, inclusive, patient and respectful to others. Jesus declares they have ministered to Him. To the goats, on His left, He explains that they have rejected Him as they failed to minister to the members of His family. They are dismissed. The surprise of Matthew 25 is that the fulfillment of the Law is relationship and not rules. Another surprise is that many people have lived and continue to live as His sheep in the love and care they give to children, parents, friends and society. Without deep knowledge of the Law, Prophets and Tradition they are welcomed as "blessed of my Father". Praise God!