Statutes, decrees, laws—oh my! What’s a faithful Christian to do? The readings for Wednesday of the third week of Lent focus on God’s commandments, first proclaimed by Moses, the Old Testament lawgiver, and renewed by Jesus, the New Testament fulfillment of the law. For some of us, of a certain age, the language of the law may be recalled as “Thou shalt not . . . . . “ As we mature in our faith and progress on our spiritual journey, is there another way to understand what the Lord, our God, is asking of us?
Today’s readings may be seen as mirror images: both exhort the faithful to keep the commandments, as our response to the covenant relationship God has established with his people; both instruct us to teach God’s law to others, and to pass on this tradition to future generations. In our first reading, Moses tells us that Israel’s observance of the law reveals a people wise and intelligent, whose God is closer to them, when called upon, than any other nation’s God. Israel’s statutes and decrees are more just than those of other nations and he concludes by urging his people to keep this sacred tradition and transmit it to their children’s children.
In the gospel reading from Matthew, Jesus cautions us that he has not come to abolish the law but to fulfill and perfect it. He invites us to look not at the stone tablets, engraved with the statutes, given by Moses to the Israelites, but to look within. . . . Into our hearts. “I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they will be my people.” What does it mean to have the law written on our hearts? I suggest that the law of love, the spirit and not the letter of the law, is written on our hearts when it is intuitive, instinctual and comes naturally to the faithful disciple. It becomes a part of who we are, it centers our very being. Jesus, like Moses, counsels us to teach others his law of love, and those who do will be greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Jesus’s law will become the inheritance of Christians throughout the ages. Have you ever noticed that when you are called upon to teach something—a math equation, a poem, a prayer—you more firmly believe in the truth of what you are teaching? You become animated, you inspirit the content you strive to give to your student. How do you teach the truth of your faith to others?
The psalmist sings “The law of the Lord is perfect, refreshing my soul.” How does the law refresh my soul? I think when we have internalized God’s law, when it is written on our hearts, then, and only then, is our soul content, at peace, indeed refreshed.
On this day twenty-five years ago, my husband received a new, transplanted heart to replace his own—worn out from loving and serving others. What is written on your heart? Is it legible to those you encounter by your words and actions?
At this mid-point of our Lenten journey, we pray “Create a clean heart in me, O God,” and refresh my soul with your perfect law of love.
