Thursday March 14

Matthew 5:17-20

Michael Jordan

“Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets; I have come not to abolish but to fulfill. For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth pass away, not one letter, not one stroke of a letter, will pass from the law until all is accomplished."

From many of the stories in the Gospels, we tend to see the Pharisees and scribes as the “bad guys.” They are the ones always trying to test Jesus, get him arrested, and they constantly work against Jesus and his followers. However, Jesus lifts them up in today’s devotional passage. The scribes and Pharisees – for all their many faults – were exceedingly well versed in all of the religious laws of the time. As Jesus states, he is not here to abolish those laws, but rather he wants to truly fulfill them.

The issue that Jesus kept running into (and not just with the Pharisees), was that people couldn’t understand what fulfilling these laws truly looked like. The laws of the time had gotten to a point where people were able to leverage them for their own personal gain. When these laws were first created, they were intended to help us truly love God and truly love our neighbor. The idea would be that when a law conflicted with this simple phrase, “Love God, Love your Neighbor,” that law would need to be reinterpreted so that it would be in harmony with loving God and neighbor. Unfortunately that was no longer the case, which continues to even to this day.

Questions for Reflection:

• How are today’s rules and laws helping you better love God and your neighbor, and how are they hindering that?

• Who are the unexpected leaders and teachers in your life that have something valuable for you to learn?

Prayer:

Dear LORD, help me to truly fulfill your word as I work to do your will today. Amen.