Epiphany Week 6

Psalm: Psalm 119:1-8

Old Testament: Deuteronomy 30:15-20

 or Sirach 15:15-20

Gospel: Matthew 5:21-37

Epistle: 1 Corinthians 3:1-9

Today all of our passages concern the Law of the Lord to the Israelites. In Christian circles the Law tends to get ignored, belittled, or just studied as a historical reality that some people once followed. Of course in the scope of this blog I can't explore all the facets of the Law in Israel's day and especially not all the ways Christians are to relate to it. So I will offer some brief observations based on the four texts and hopefully we can gain some relevant insights.

First, Psalm 119 as you may know is an acrostic Psalm. Every 8 verse grouping starts with a sequential letter of the Hebrew alphabet. Thus, our verses today all start with the first letter Aleph, א. These first 8 verses set the tone for the rest of the Psalm and they begin and end mentioning the Law: “How blessed are those...who walk in the law of the Lord…(vs. 1) I shall keep Your statutes (vs. 8). Those who follow the Law of the Lord and obey him will experience blessing. The Old Testament system can sometimes present itself in a very simplistic way. Follow God, blessed. Disobey God, damned. Indeed we see this simple logic at work in our passage from Deuteronomy.

Deuteronomy 30 is the summation of all that has come before in the book. Deuteronomy is essentially a long sermon from Moses delivered to Israel before he commissions Joshua his successor and dies. Israel is on the cusp of taking what has been promised to them for centuries and their leader, Moses, will not be join them during the final stage. This could lead the people to despair, to abandon their plans, or to trust in their own strength rather the Lord Moses relied on.
 

Moses takes this last message to the people very seriously and throughout the book he has been telling the whole story of Israel: The good, the bad, and the ugly. But throughout the story, the Lord is the key actor leading Israel. In verses 15-20 Moses lays it out for the people, “See, I have set before you today life and prosperity, and death and adversity.” Following the Lord and his statutes will lead to life, blessings, and possession of the land. The alternative, brought about by disobedience to the Lord and idolatry, is loss of Promised Land, shortened life, and ultimately death. Unfortunately, one chapter later the Lord reveals to Moses that the people will fall away and fail in covenant faithfulness.

Turning toward the New Testament, our verses today are found in the Sermon on the Mount. My NASB bible has the heading “Personal Relationships,” which is interesting because this passage is really about the Law. 4 times Jesus says, “you have heard that it was said...but I say to you.” Certainly all the examples use personal relationships so the heading is appropriate, but I think Jesus is getting at something deeper. First, however we need to say that Jesus is not abolishing the Law. Right before this Jesus says, “Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish but to fulfill.” Jesus was a Jew and followed the precepts of the Lord as revealed in the Law. Jesus was perfectly obedient to the Lord and that meant he perfectly followed the Lord’s Law.

However, what Jesus was reacting against was the man made, artificial and additional traditions, the Jews had built around the Law. He was calling the people back to follow the Law for the right reasons. Indeed, the guidelines he lays our go deeper and farther then the Law ever could. Jesus doesn’t just look at outward behavior, he goes to heart and motivation of the individual.

Finally, the reading from 1 Corinthians doesn’t necessarily relate to the Law, but it does relate to personal relationships and thus does fit into the weekly theme. It is hard to get away from the personal conflict and disunity that was present at Corinth. Paul just keeps coming back it. Paul returns here to the conflict from chapter 1 and which he set aside in chapter 2. The church was wracked by division and factions, which probably were deeper than just names and who was the man who discipled them to Jesus. There were probably deep theological, socioeconomic, and class divisions. The names, Paul, Apollos, Cephas, and even Christ, may have just been shorthand for the various factions and their various beliefs. But Paul says they all need to unite and return to the basics of the faith, namely Christ crucified. Until they get the basics right, “milk” Paul calls it in 3:2, they can never move on to deeper things, or “meat.” Our relationship with others affects our relationship with God, Paul is saying. But our relationship with others must come under, and be modeled on the authority and example of the Crucified Messiah.

I started this post by saying we were going to explore the Jewish Law, and that is where we started. The fact is, as Gentile Christians we no longer live under the Law and this caused a lot of strain in the early church between Jews and Gentiles. But the Church decided that the Law was not the most important to part to relationship with God. Jesus fulfilled the Law and in doing so he set us free from it. But in turn, he called us into a deeper relationship with God and our fellow humanity. He asked us not just to follow outward behavior, but to also have pure motives, and a pure heart and mind. This can only happen as we rely on the Spirit and look to Christ.

In conclusion, the Law was about setting up the parameters for Israel to relate and maintain relationship with the Lord. In Christ, and by his Spirit, that relationship has been taken deeper. Each one of us now has the potential of the Holy Spirit to be in us. The Law has been fulfilled and now we can have a relationship to the Father in Christ. In all things and in all times, God has been trying to maintain relationship with his creation, especially humanity. May we respond to that calling and participate in that relationship with him.

Grace and Peace.