Jesus said, ‘Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets; I have come not to abolish but to fulfil’ (Matthew 5.17-20). What did it mean for Jesus to fulfil the Law? After all, he debated aspects of the Law, criticised the Pharisees for their interpretation, and excused his disciples from certain aspects of the Law.
The Law received by Moses introduced a system for the sacrifice of animals but also did two other things. First, in the Ten Commandments, it gave minimum standards for the maintenance of good relations within society – do not murder, do not steal, do not covet etc. Second, in the greatest commandment, it set love for God, others and oneself as the goal to which all the other laws, including those concerning sacrifices, pointed. The Law was given not that people became of obsessed with the keeping of its minutiae but that people moved from the base point of not harming others to the point or goal of the Law, to love God, others and oneself.
A helpful illustration for the way in which he wanted his disciples to learn to use the commandments is that of learning to drive a car. As part of learning to drive, we should quickly come to do most things ‘automatically’; changing gear, using the brakes, etc., and also develop the “virtues” of a good driver; looking out for other road users, not allowing ourselves to be distracted, etc. This equates to taking on board and applying the positive commandments (the ‘thou shalts’ which are primarily to do with respect for others). These are virtues for us to learn and practice in order that they then become second nature.
Then, continuing our driving analogy further, the Highways Agency also construct crash barriers which, if we don’t drive appropriately, ensure that damage is limited; and rumble strips, which make a loud noise on the tyre if we drift to the edge of the roadway. The negative commandment (the ‘Thou shalt nots’) are like those crash barriers and rumble strips. Ideally, we won’t need them because we will have learned to develop the virtues commanded by the Law and will drive down the moral highway appropriately. But the rules are there so that when we start to drift, we are at once alerted and can take appropriate action.
The Law, then, is there to keep us safe. The ‘Thou shalt not’s’ of the Ten Commandments are all to do with limiting the harm we do to others; do not murder, commit adultery, steal, bear false witness or covet. These are minimum standards of behaviour which enable society to function because respect and toleration exist. If we all abide by the Law, then we do not harm each other. That is good, but, by itself, it is not enough because the Law also wants us to learn to love one another. That’s where our learning the virtues – the positive commandments – comes in; but that can’t be simply about learning by rote or following the letter of the Law. To genuinely love we need to obey the spirit of the Law, not simply the letter of the Law.
Jesus taught that the heart of the Law is found in words from the Book of Deuteronomy: ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’ and, ‘Love your neighbour as yourself.’ The intent of the law is that we live well together. The best way in which to live well together is that we love; therefore love fulfils the intent of the law. But the law cannot legislate for love therefore we must go beyond the strict letter of the law in order that we truly love. On the basis of Jesus’ liberating teaching, St Augustine was able to write: ‘Love, and do what you will’ because when the ‘root of love be within’ there is nothing that can spring from that root, but that which is good.
To understand the way this model of learning and law works, another road based illustration is helpful; that of parents teaching their children the rules of the road. Take a moment to think back to when you were a very young child. To begin with the rules of the road are very restrictive; we would never cross a road without a responsible adult and would always cross at a crossing while holding someone’s hand. As we grew, however, we were taught new rules for crossing the road; for me, that was the Green Cross Code with Tufty – which taught us to stop, look and listen. Now, the aim was that I would begin to judge for myself when it was safe to cross the road. Eventually, the rules with which we began – don’t cross on your own, don’t cross unless you are at a crossing – are left behind because we have learnt how to cross the road safely using our own initiative; initiative meaning that we do ‘the right things without being told’.
We learnt to use initiative because we not only learnt the rules but also learnt to apply them in our lives and situations. From that point onwards, we are no longer restricted just to crossing the road at specific crossing places but can cross wherever we judge it to be safe to do so. So, we have gone beyond the rules by learning and applying the rules. In other words, we have found the true purpose of those rules which our parents enforced when we were young. In the same way, we need the Law to prevent harm but prevention of harm, by itself, does not guarantee good relations. For that, we need to genuinely love others and love takes us beyond the laws which prevent harm.
When we understand the purpose of the Law in this way, we are then able to improvise responses to situations not specifically covered by the Law on the basis of the virtues we have practised and the parameters which the Law sets.
Jesus is the supreme example of someone faithfully improvising on the basis of the true purpose of the Law. When the practices of his day would have prevented him from healing on the Sabbath, he went ahead and healed anyway. When the practices of his day discriminated in favour of husbands over wives, he taught a tightening of the Law in order to give added protection to women. When he was asked, ‘Who is my neighbour’, he told a story about love for those who are our enemies.
As we have heard, he was clear that he had not come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; instead he had come to fulfil them by enabling us to live according to the spirit of the Law, rather than the letter of the Law. He embodied everything the Law of Moses was designed to do, by embodying love in all its forms and depth; even to the extent of sacrificing his own life that we might live and love. As Jesus embodied the law of love himself, it is as we come close to him, loving him and learning from him, that we too can embody the law of love. Jesus is a person and a relationship and any law that doesn’t have that will end up becoming arbitrary but, with Jesus, the Law becomes truly loving and truly lively.
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Mike Scott - Bring 'Em All In.
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