"Israel, take notice of the laws and customs that I teach and observe them that you may have life".
My wife and I were away for two weeks during which time I was able to complete an eight day retreat using a book called "Alone with the Alone". I've taken this eight day retreat many times before, and each time I seem to get more out of it. I find that this self-directed retreat gets me re-rooted back into my Christian faith and re-focused on Christ. It places on my heart a desire to begin anew, to recommit my life to the teachings of the Gospel as best I can. This retreat experience makes me aware and affirms that the law of Christ is written on each of our hearts. And as we discover this law in a deeper way, it brings life.
The law that I speak about is not a set of rules that we are expected to memorize and then apply rigidly out of some sense of obligation or fear of punishment. No, it's a law that changes our thinking as to what is important. It's a law that brings about a new sense of freedom to act in a certain way.
This was the law that Moses was speaking about to the Israelite people as they entered the new land and the new life promised to them by God.
"Israel, take notice of the laws and customs that I teach and observe them that you may have life".
This is the law that we read about in the Gospels, a law that Jesus came, not to abolish, but to fulfill. Jesus says that not one dot, not one stroke of this law will disappear until its purpose is achieved. And that purpose is our liberation, our freedom to live our lives as God's children, in union with Him now and in the time to come.
As you are aware, the scribes and the Pharisees grossly misinterpreted this purpose. They interpreted and practiced the law in such a way that it imposed a burden, lead to an arrogant form of self-justification for those who had some success with it, but a condemnation for those who did not. It was not liberating. It did not bring oneself or others to the love and service of God.
So what is this law that Moses was speaking about, that Jesus declared that He came to fulfill?
It is a law built on a reverence and respect for God and the life He desires for us to live. It is not something that we are able to fulfill by our own ego strength no matter how determined we may be, but is fulfilled through a power and a strength that springs from a life surrendered to Christ. It's a law that is born in the heart of those who recognize their poverty of spirit, and turn to Christ for the new life that flows from the Holy Spirit. This law required only three things of us: "To act justly, to love tenderly, and to walk humbly with our God."
Jesus says: " I stand at your door and knock. If you come to me, answer my call, and open the door, I will come in, and I will dine with you." Those of us who answer His call, who open the door of our hearts to Christ, they are the ones who will discover the law that brings life.
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