Jesus said to his disciples:”Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets.I have come not to abolish but to fulfill.Amen, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away,not the smallest letter or the smallest part of a letterwill pass from the law,until all things have taken place.Therefore, whoever breaks one of the least of these commandmentsand teaches others to do sowill be called least in the kingdom of heaven.But whoever obeys and teaches these commandmentswill be called greatest in the kingdom of heaven.I tell you, unless your righteousness surpassesthat of the scribes and Pharisees,you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.”You have heard that it was said to your ancestors,You shall not kill; and whoever kills will be liable to judgment.But I say to you,whoever is angry with his brotherwill be liable to judgment;and whoever says to his brother, ‘Raqa,’will be answerable to the Sanhedrin;and whoever says, ‘You fool,’will be liable to fiery Gehenna.Therefore, if you bring your gift to the altar,and there recall that your brotherhas anything against you,leave your gift there at the altar,go first and be reconciled with your brother,and then come and offer your gift.Settle with your opponent quickly while on the way to court.Otherwise your opponent will hand you over to the judge,and the judge will hand you over to the guard,and you will be thrown into prison.Amen, I say to you,you will not be released until you have paid the last penny.”You have heard that it was said, You shall not commit adultery.But I say to you,everyone who looks at a woman with lusthas already committed adultery with her in his heart.If your right eye causes you to sin,tear it out and throw it away.It is better for you to lose one of your membersthan to have your whole body thrown into Gehenna.And if your right hand causes you to sin,cut it off and throw it away.It is better for you to lose one of your membersthan to have your whole body go into Gehenna.”It was also said,Whoever divorces his wife must give her a bill of divorce.But I say to you,whoever divorces his wife –  unless the marriage is unlawful – causes her to commit adultery,and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery.”Again you have heard that it was said to your ancestors,Do not take a false oath,but make good to the Lord all that you vow.But I say to you, do not swear at all;not by heaven, for it is God’s throne;nor by the earth, for it is his footstool;nor by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King.Do not swear by your head,for you cannot make a single hair white or black.Let your ‘Yes’ mean ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No’ mean ‘No.’Anything more is from the evil one.”

Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets.‚I have come not to abolish but to fulfill.

These teachings on the sermon on the mount are often debated among modernists as jesus softening the law given in the ten commandments. I think this is because they directly follow the beatitudes. And those are indeed a very passive response to the trials and evils of the world. So where is the truth in all of this. Well the beatitudes are indeed a soft view of how we are to be in this world and the next. They speak to the meek nature of the lord, a nature that is primarily sacrificial, but also forgiving, and generous, and always wanting to be of service. This is not passivism, it is a state of mind that puts other people first, and makes sacrifice rather than taking what you want. And this bring us to today’s readings. Jesus is reviewing the Jewish law and saying that you jews have been lied to about the law from the Pharisees and the scribes. The keepers of the law, in order to keep from transgressing the law have made so many rules and loopholes to the law that no one ever thinks of why the law was given in the first place. Lets use the first one he mentions, “thou shall not kill”. This law was given to the jews to remind them that life is precious, and every person regardless of stature or status has infinite dignity and worth. Before this law, the world was run by strong men that took what they wanted and killed anyone that got in the way. Our lord reminds us that no one has the right to take another life, and only the lord gets to do that. So Jesus, not watering down the law, says that anyone that is even angry with his brother is liable to the same judgement. So we must confront the thoughts, feelings and actions that lead to the evil that the 10 commandments forbid. If we set up a rule for our lives that prevented us from even being angry, then we would never even get close to act of raising a hand against another. This is the true meaning and purpose of the law to prevent the greater evil. The act of murder can be accidental, but it is often the result of a very long line of much smaller sins, that built upon each other one after another, and that is what Jesus is doing here. Strengthening the law so that the greater evil never happens. So the beatitudes are the vision and plan that god has for this world and for heaven, they are the what the lord has always wanted for us from the beginning in the garden of eden, and they will be our rule of life when we get to heaven. But while he understands that most of us will fall short of that vision, he gave us the 10 commandments to prevent us from doing evil, but even under this law we found a way to commit evil in the name of the law. And so Jesus is tightening the law, raising the bar, and expecting more from us. We should seriously consider this gift, because it is the only way that we have to find our way to eternity with the lord.

Oh lord, help me today to follow your law, but. more embrace the beatitudes. I want to be with you lord in eternity. Please help me today to discern your law, and understand the life you want me to live. Amen.