Following the Law

The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary focus on the gift of the Law to the people of God. The Passage from the Book of Deuteronomy has Moses praise the gift of the Law to the Israelites as the evidence of a people who God wants drawn close to Him. The fear of the punitive and arbitrary actions of ancient gods would not be the experience of Israel. Friar Jude Winkler expands this thought in his commentary today. This Law will become a tradition as each generation will instruct the next. Matthew writes his Gospel about the life of Jesus to an audience of Jews who have decided to follow Jesus. The portion of the Gospel today is from the section devoted to the Sermon on the Mount. As Friar Jude points out, Jesus like Moses delivers messages from God on the mountain. Jesus message is that He is the fulfillment of the Law given to Moses. This link to the discipline of keeping the Law is a tension within Christians and Christianity. It is contrasted with the thoughts of Paul in the important domination of the Law by the Spirit. The Jew and Gentile come to Christ from different spiritual journeys. Today we may long for the discipline of being more observant of the Law. At the same time, the intimacy of the resonance of the indwelling Spirit with the Spirit of God which directs our desire to move closer to God in the moment is the Life in the Spirit. The tension is needed and is an opportunity to praise the Wisdom.