Law Breaker

They say laws were meant to be broken.

‘Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets; I have come not to abolish but to fulfill. For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth pass away, not one letter, not one stroke of a letter, will pass from the law until all is accomplished. Therefore, whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches others to do the same, will be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.' - Matthew 5:17-20

We are social animals and as such we tend to follow the examples we see in others, which can be good or it can be bad.

When we see someone take the law into his own hands, we either shake our heads and judge him poorly or we shrug our shoulders and think we could do the same.

Jesus warns us about setting the wrong example for others.  If we teach them to do wrong, we are as guilty of what they do as they are. 

That's radical, right? 

We tend to see Jesus as somewhat of a rule breaker because he cured on the Sabbath and because he challenged the righteous behavior of the Pharisees.  So we might think it is ok to challenge the law ourselves.  But Jesus says here that he is actually upholding the law. 

So there is something more to this than we see at first glance.  The Pharisees were using the law to their advantage, and were being hypocrites.  So they were the ones he says were teaching others to break the law.  They would never enter the kingdom.

At one point Jesus makes it easy for us.  He says all the law is wrapped up in one simple commandment, to love God with all our heart, mind and soul and love our neighbor as ourselves.

If we do that, and really stic to it, we will have no problems.  We will see the kingdom.

More to come...