In today's gospel we hear Jesus say that he has come not to abolish the law but to fulfill it. As Christians we recognize that the OT and its associated covenant were a first step in a process that God began we he created the first human being. We were created to be in relationship to one another and to God. By misusing the very freedom God gave us we disrupted those relationships and yet God did not abandon us.
He forged a covenant with Abraham and through Moses he gave the Law. The centerpiece of the Old Testament Law are the Ten Commandments. And if we know nothing else from the Old Testament, we should know these.
Then God took another step forging a New and Eternal Covenant in Jesus Christ. The new covenant is captured in the New Testament. But where is it's "ten commandments", its centerpiece? For Christians the very heart of the teaching of Christ is captured in the Sermon on the Mount, chapters 5-7 of Matthew's gospel. Here we have the law of God in its fullest form. In these three chapters of the Bible Jesus provides us with the most clear and concise explanation of what it means to be Christian.
We all know the phrase Sermon on the Mount, but when was the last time you sat down and really read it, mediated on it, prayed about it? In this season of Lent, as we prepare to celebrate the great events that brought about the salvation of the world, perhaps now is the time to take out the Bible. Open it to Chapter 5 of Matthew's gospel, and read. Read these three chapters as if for the first time. Allow the words to sink into the depths of our hearts. Use them as an examination of conscience.
Beyond the Beatitudes how much of the Sermon do we really know, and more importantly how much of it do we really live.
