Wednesday of the
Third Week of Lent
(Deuteronomy 4:1.5-9; Matthew 5:17-19)
Fifty years ago the words law and order had a connotation of severity. Politicians, sensing public disgust with civil
unrest, promised “law and order” if elected.
Today, however, perhaps because of a popular television show with that
title, law and order has a more
congenial tone. This change parallels
the development of the term law that
is seen in the readings today.
The Book of Deuteronomy presents the law as the lifeline
of Israel. Its purpose is to regulate
the ways of the people to conform to a public vision of holiness. It emphasizes the importance of remembering
and teaching to posterity the code. Jesus
says that he comes “to fulfill,” not to change and much less to abolish, the
law. He goes beyond outer behavior to inner
motives so that people may truly become holy.
It will seem to some that Jesus is exhorting strictness, but that view
is narrow-minded. Jesus means to
liberate the human heart from attachments to worldly desires. In this way people can freely and easily live
holy lives.
It is our purpose in Lent to be freed from excessive worldly
attachments. In part this comes about by
our efforts to abstain from material goods and to assist those in need. It also requires prayer – constant and
sincere – that the Holy Spirit displace the material desire with a desire for
genuine holiness.
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