The Law of the Kingdom
Many of us have a complicated relationship with God’s law. To begin with reading sections of the law like Leviticus can be tough. It can convoluted, feel dated, and hard to understand how it applies to us. Then add ontop of that, that the law includes really tough passages about execution, exile and all kinds of punishment and it just increases the struggle. What if I was to tell you that if we come at it from that angle, we have the law all wrong? The law for Jesus and his Jewish counterparts was actually of the first five books of the bible, including Genesis. On top of that the law isn’t primarily about rules that we need to follow, it is about shaping our hearts and society for a fulfilled relationship with God. So, God’s law is all about creating his kingdom in our midst.
This shouldn’t surprise us, because only a few verses before Jesus has been showing us the kind of people that live in and experience the kingdom of God - the poor in Spirit, the meek, those that hunger after righteousness, the merciful, the salt of the earth and more. Now, he directly follows up by telling his disciples that he is not abolishing the law, but fulfilling it. So somehow, what we just heart is so tied into the law of God that it does not do away with even the smallest aspect of the law, rather it accomplishes it.
One small note: whenever you hear the phrase the law and the prophets, they are not just referring to a set of rules and those that wrote prophetic texts, it is actually referring to the whole Old Testament. That means for Jesus that the narratives, the poems, the proverbs, the songs, the diologue, are all together a kind of law that points our way forward.
This is not the normal way we think about law, but it goes deeper than that. Did you notice that Jesus talks about the law being fulfilled or accomplished? How can you accomplish the law? You can abide by it, live up to it, but to complete it means that the law has to be something else. The law has to have a purpose that is far bigger than the law, that then can be established, created or completed. We can imagine with the two most important commandments, love the Lord your God with all that you are and love your neighbor as yourself, that we could reach a place where this love is just natural and a part of us, so we can kind of imagine its completion, even if it might seem far away.
There are a few hints in the text. Jesus says that until heaven and earth pass away, neither will the law, until it is accomplished. This tells us that the law we read and hear is somehow so fundamental to nature, to the way the world exists and holds together that it is essential to our current reality. If you look back at the first pages of Genesis, you would see that God ordered things, the light and the darkness, the water and the land, all so that life could flow. This should point the way for us to see that all of God’s law is meant to order things for life, for life to come in abundance and for us to join God in creating and promoting life.
At that moment, God’s perfect law lead to the garden, but for us when God’s law is accomplished it will lead to God’s heavenly Kingdom, which this passage points us to as well. A place where we are filled, where justice and mercy reign, where our every sorrow is comforted, and where we live in the bounty of God’s presence.
If you are like me, you probably are still struggling with the idea of the law. There are things in the bible that I really struggle with and I have prayed over a lot. This struggle is important and okay. Remember the name Israel means the one who wrestles with God. The struggle means that we still haven’t thrown it to the side. It is important that we don’t put the law to the side, because if God’s law leads to life, we need it too.
The interesting thing is that Jesus does not condemn those that put aside an aspect of the law, even if they teach others to do the same. He does say they are the least, but he still says that they can be in the Kingdom of God. Somehow, even when we don’t do what God shows us leads to life, we can still live in His Kingdom. This is immensely comforting and merciful, because that means that even us, while we are far from perfect, can already begin to live in God’s Kingdom. None the less the use of least in this context is trying to show us that accomplishing God’s law is really important and that the closer we get the better.
The use of least and great as applying to the kingdom of heaven is quite interesting. In God’s new order when everything, life, joy and peace is adundantly accessible to everyone how can someone be less or more. I think in terms of the riches of God’s kingdom no one is less or more. The way I understand it is that the natural consequence resulting from our not living into God’s law that leads to life and teaching others to do the same, is that we are not trusted with the same level of leadership, authority, influence, gifts that help to shape the kingdom for life.
This leads to the pharisees. These were basically people who had become professional practicers of the law and teachers. It would have been immensely intimidating for most people to hear that their righteousness must be greater than that of the pharisees to ever enter the Kingdom of heaven, but most of the pharisees were missing some really important things that Jesus shows us throughout the narrative.
They did not make their relationship with God their primary purpose, instead, through the law, they turned righteousness into self-righteousness. Our righteousness is a gift from God, not our own. They were whitewashed tombs - death that looked good, instead of an outpouring of God’s life.
They often interpreted the law in such a way that made it out to be just specific practices to follow. There are things to follow, but this method ignored the laws purpose. The law turned it into a burden for all those that listened to them. The law was not something that lead people to a relationship with God, or prepared them to live in and create his Kingdom, the law instead became the goal and so in what they taught they rejected God and stopped others from entering it. They lifted up human law, instead of God’s.
They did not see how God’s law throughout the whole Old Testament holds together. They did not see that God’s presence was essential. They did not understand how love is infused in all of it. They did not live out God’s mercy that is greater than judgment.
This finally leads us to look at the law itself. And Jesus starts with a law that almost no one would argue with: “You shall not murder”. We all know that killing is wrong, but murder is even worse. Of course, someone that murders should be judged, right? But Jesus leapfrogs off of this and says, but don’t you know that it is just as bad to be angry at someone? Jesus goes on to say that saying Raca or showing contempt for someone is even worse and that calling someone a fool is even worse than that, as they are in danger of hell.
Jesus is trying to show us that we murder people everyday. Maybe not physically, but spiritually and this can be just as dangerous. Even if our anger doesn’t lead to physical violence, it still is violent, it lashes out, it pushes away, it degrades and belittles. Even if it feels like the opposite, our anger is actually our sin against the other person. It hurts the relationships that are fundamental to the kingdom - as it also pushes away God’s image in ourselves and others. Contempt is to disregard someone, hold a grudge or to account them as nothing. What is this but to kill them in our heart and separate them in life from a part of God’s bounty. An insult like “You fool”, degrades everyone’s perspective of that person including that person themselves. It especially degrade’s their potential to understand and be God’s gift. Now, we are not just cutting them off from us, but from much much more.
You see the way we live together is a very serious thing. How we abide and live into God’s law, shapes our lives, those around us and the world for life or for death. Jesus ends this section with two examples: 1st) the need to seek reconciliation with others before we offer a gift to God, which tells us that our relationship with others has a huge effect on our relationship with God. 2nd) their is a need to find forgiveness from our adversaries before we get thrown into prison, which is a way of telling us that our bad relationship with others is something that can actually stand in the way of our living and knowing life.
This is important for every relationship, but Jesus emphasises that we must never be angry, disregard, insult or belittle a fellow believer, or as he terms us brothers and sisters. How we relate to one another in this church and faith is especially important, because this is the primary place where we experience, explore, grow and create God’s Kingdom. This place is meant to be a little pocket of another world, of God’s Kingdom, where people can come in and see something different. It is here and in these relationships that God’s love must reign and that his will should guide our every thought, word and deed. Let us together seek that righteous closeness with God. Let us participate in fulfilling God’s law and order, so that life may result. AMEN
Notes on the passage (Matthew 5:17-26):
Everything Jesus just said (the beatitudes, what kind of people we are meant to be) ties into the law
We don’t always like the law, but we can’t abandon it - or abolish it - We have to wrestle with it
What is the law and the prophets? It is the whole bible, the laws as well as the narratives, the poetry, the songs and more
- but the law is also the order that leads to life and creation (ordering the light and darkness, the land and the sea, the heavenly lights, etc.)
Jesus uses the words accomplished and fulfilled - The law has a purpose, a goal. It is not just something to be lived out, but it can be accomplished and fulfilled. He is going to show us what the law was pointing to (and he already has been point us there)
The law seems to be built into this created order - because they will stand until creation (heaven and earth) changes
Least in the kingdom? - Setting one aside is not a reason we are kicked out of the kingdom, but it is bad - untrusted with leadership, authority, influence, gifts?
But if you live into them and teach others to do the same you are Great! in the Kingdom
Righteousness - again a right relationship with God
Pharisees were basically professional law interpreters and keepers, so this idea would have been quite intimidating, but they were not actually righteous
1st Problem is that they had a lot of human law and interpretations
2nd problem was that they would teach others not to obey a law if it seemed to get in the way of another law (The example Jesus gives is that honouring your father and mother was less important to them than giving to the temple)
3rd problem is that they rarely understood how the law held together as a whole
4th their primary purpose was not to have a relationship with God
Your anger or contempt is actually acting against someone (it is your sin against them) - now they have something against you
Even insults are very dangerous (you are in danger of hell)
Anger, Contempt, and insult are parallel with murder - destroying a relationship
In relation to the two greatest commandments - belittling God’s image - not loving your neighbor.
10 commandments - idol of yourself or a certain way - misusing his name - coveting - stealing - lying
Brothers or sisters - refers to those in the church or followers of Christ - so how we act in here and in these relationships is even more important
The two closing parables show us that:
Somehow your relationship with another person stands in the way of you and God
In fact, your relationship with another person can stand in the way of you actually living
