I have come to Fulfil the Law

Imagine you're about to take a crucial exam, having studied diligently and feeling confident in your preparation. However, upon entering the examination hall, your memory vanishes. All you can do is scribble down a few lines, hoping they're correct. What good is a wise person who has lost their memory?

A similar scenario unfolded for the people of Israel. Through their journey and their relationship with God, Yahweh, they had absorbed numerous values and virtues that formed the foundation of their moral and religious strength. Yahweh had given them great and life-giving laws, such as "Love your God above everything and love one another". Israel was once a profoundly wise civilisation, boasting well-ordered traditions, sound laws, and customs. It offered solutions to its societal problems and provided purpose and meaning for its members' lives. This wise civilisation was in its prime.

However, this glorified civilisation, on a particular day, decided to lose its memory conveniently. The inevitable tragedy occurred: it lost its rich past. Everything precious, everything that supported its growth, was gone. Like a high school student who forgets everything before an exam, the Jewish people began to invent laws for every situation, laws that lacked the spirit of Yahweh or their own tradition. Despite this, they continued to boast about their laws and traditions. Many, especially religious leaders, exploited this situation. Laws and principles were manipulated to become ends in themselves, serving to perpetuate lives of convenience and petty pleasures.

The history of the Scribal laws of the Jews is truly astonishing. A group called the Scribes emerged, dedicating their lives to reducing the great principles of the law into thousands of detailed rules and regulations. For example, they spent countless hours debating what kind of work a person could do on the Sabbath. They argued over whether a tailor sinned by carrying a needle in his robe on the Sabbath, whether a woman could wear false hair, or if a man could wear artificial teeth on that day. These endless laws and regulations were considered by orthodox Jews to be true religion and service to God.

It is against this backdrop that Jesus, the master of justice and defender of the poor, declared, "I have come to fulfil the law" (Matthew 05: 17-20). This statement is perplexing, as Jesus clearly meant something different by "the law". He certainly wasn't intending to maintain a life of convenience and trivial pleasures for a privileged few under the guise of law.

Jesus was reminding the people of Israel of their forgetfulness. He was trying to impress upon them that they had abandoned or forgotten the true essence and authenticity of the laws and commandments they should have held dear. These laws were the source of their identity, purpose, and meaning in life. Jesus was initiating the return of this lost wisdom of laws. He was re-establishing the law that Scripture teaches to be the greatest sacrifice: "love your God and love your neighbour". The reverence for God and respect for humanity, which are the foundations of the Ten Commandments, are eternal and had to be fulfilled. Jesus was elevating the law to its ultimate meaning, purpose, and horizons. He was moving his people away from a mere love of the law and instead instituting a law of love. When love comes first, everything else naturally follows.

Consider this example: we often see "do not spit here" signs on streets, yet people, or even we ourselves, might spit as we read them. However, at home, where there's no such sign, we don't spit. The difference is simple: we love our homes, but we don't love our streets. We love ourselves, but we don't necessarily love the people on the streets. Laws are useless without love. This is the urgency of Jesus' law.

Traditionally, laws were seen as ways to enable people to "live with" others. Jesus, however, elevated the purpose of laws, declaring that they are made so one may "live for others". He transformed the negative into the positive. The law is no longer "thou shall not do," but "blessed are those who do". Blessed are those who forgive, those who give, and those who love. Jesus broadened the narrow scope of the law to wide horizons. The instrument of constraint became an instrument of liberation, a means to a higher existence. The love previously shown only to friends was now to be extended to enemies. Devotion once limited to one's own nation was now to be given to all humankind. Jesus was safeguarding and upholding the "law of love," which transcends personal considerations and earthly boundaries. If we forget this aspect of the law, we risk becoming like that wise civilisation that became wretched and useless by losing its memory.

Ironically, Jesus, the lawgiver and true upholder of the law, was condemned as a law-breaker. Heroes often face the ignorant mockery of the weak. Yet, Jesus, the Hero, in his agony, proved what authentic law truly is. When everything turned against him, for the first time in history, he uttered a prayer for his enemies: "Father forgive them for they know not what they do". This is the profound depth of genuine law.

Jesus didn't say he came to follow the laws, but to fulfil the law. Love and revere God, and love and respect your neighbours—and Jesus added, even your enemies. Heaven and earth may pass away, but not a single letter or stroke of this law will pass until all is accomplished. This is the revolution Jesus announces today. Join him to revolutionise our lives.

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