Mathew 5:17 to
20
“Do not
think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to
abolish them but to fulfill them. Truly
I tell you, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the
least stroke of the pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until
everything is accomplished. Anyone who
sets aside one of the least of these commands and teaches others accordingly
will be called the least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and
teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you that unless your righteousness
surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law, you will certainly
not enter the kingdom of heaven." (NIV)
The Law and
the Prophets began as the spiritual adventure of one flawed man in an obscure
land four thousand years ago. Abram
listened and responded to a voice, some believed to have been an inner voice or
others believed to be a voice from the heavens, telling him to move his family
to an unknown land. This inner and outer
adventure continued through the lives and spiritual struggles of his family, led
by himself and his sons, Isaac, Jacob and Joseph. Finding the promised land inhospitable for a time, the
family settled in Egypt where the Pharaoh quickly relegated these adventurers to
slavery building bricks for four hundred years. Life became hard and short lived.
God had a
plan to preserve the family by raising up Moses to bring his people out of
slavery and out of Egypt and back into the promised land of their forefathers. This adventure is awesomely documented in the
Bible, books, movies and story tellers through the centuries. The people reluctantly trade Egyptian slavery
for a probable death in the desert but the invisible God comes to their rescue
in the nick of time, time and again through the faith of Moses.
Despite the
repeated demonstrations from the heavens, the family demanded more from Moses than
the simple fluid faith adventure that was the Law and the Prophets on the heart
or inner soul of the family. Instead of, or in addition to, the fluidity of
faith, the people demanded a predictable religion that ministers mostly to the visible
outer man.
In
desperation Moses climbs a mountain to meet with God. The people waited and Moses returns with
stone tablets written by God with the words of eternity. Again, the family was not happy, Moses got
angry, dashing the stones to pieces against the mountain. The people were not
ready for the whole story.
After
cooling off, Moses returned to the mountain for a copy of the broken tablets. Moses again returns to the family with
version two of the Law as given to Moses.
Were the two versions of stone tablets written with the same words, were
they somehow different? I would like to
read those original words from the first set of stone tablets but, then, we all
would and eventually we all will read them. For now, Jesus was sent by God to tell us the
rest of the story which should not diminish the beginning.
There is a
logical inconsistency with the words of Jesus as recorded by Saint Mathew in
his gospel, 5: 17 to 20. Jesus
preached that right living or righteousness gained from a spiritual
relationship with God, exceeds the righteousness of the written Law handed down
from Moses to the ethically motivated Pharisees and turned into religious
doctrine by the teachers of the Law (Sadducees). However, the words of Jesus warn us that we must
still respect the written Law and not set it aside while giving spirituality the
focus. The consequence for such disrespect
is that we shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven. If one is respectful of the written Law as
given to Moses while searching for the spiritual Law, this one will gain a
reputation for being the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.
The logical
inconsistency is that no matter your respect level for the religious Law or the
spiritual Law written on the heart, all parties are within the kingdom. If Jesus was a spiritual crusader inviting
all to drink from the fountain of God, why is spirituality presented in such an
optional manner? This is hard to wrap my
head around. Even more confusing is
verse twenty in which Mathew records Jesus as saying that unless your faith is
greater than the Law, you certainly shall not enter the kingdom of heaven. One might ask, which is it, the Law or the Law
written on the heart that qualifies one for the kingdom of Heaven? Is it either or both? I wish there was a Bible expert out there
that could fix this seeming inconsistency but as yet I have not heard back so I
shall advance my own amateurish opinion.
Fully recognizing
that adding to the words of Jesus is overtly dangerous, I believe that a few
words at the end of verse 20 will untangle the inconsistency. The verse would then read, “For I tell you
that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers
of the Law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven” in this life. Those
three little words at the end of the verse, “in this life”, are so necessary
that they can almost be assumed clarity.
Chances are that during the 1000 years that the Bible was hidden in the
church and repeatedly copied by hand, these three words were accidentally left
off and lost to us.
Early in his
ministry, the attitude of Jesus toward religion, the religion of his birth, seems
to be, if you are not against me, you are for me. This says to me that Jesus understood God as
being inclusive and God honors anyone who walks a God path. Religion alone, however, is about qualifying
people for the journey as was the case with the religion of Israel at the time
of Jesus. In spit of this reality, Jesus
had a positive expectation that “we are all in this together”. Such an optimism is difficult to understand
considering the turn that religion was to take in the coming months of his
walk.
Despite the
turn that became dramatically adversarial, Jesus never picked up the sword even
though he was tempted in the Garden of Gethsemane. This high road decision was and is more than
most of us can muster, giving up our own personal defense, trusting the God
who gives us the credentials for the kingdom, both now and forever.
G.Goslaw
Landers, CA
