Wednesday, Third Week of Lent

There is often a human tendency to abolish, to throw out, what is seen to be flawed in some way. That is true of both material things and spiritual realities. We focus only on the negative and fail to see what is good and worthwhile in something. Jesus could see that the way the religious leaders were interpreting the Law of God as found in the Scriptures was flawed in many ways. They had turned the Law of God into a burden for people. In the first reading, the author does not see the Law of God as a burden but as full of wisdom and understanding, and Jesus would have agreed. That is why he says at the beginning of today’s gospel reading, ‘Do not imagine that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets. I have come not to abolish but to complete them’. In spite of the burdensome interpretation of God’s Law by the religious leaders, Jesus could see that there was great good there and he wanted to highlight the good and to build on it. He proclaimed the Law of God, the will of God, in a way that gave life to people and made them more hopeful. He interpreted all of God’s law in the light of the two great commandments to love God with all our being and our neighbour as ourselves. It was love and mercy that governed how he interpreted the Law of God in the Jewish Scriptures and in that way he brought God’s Law to completion. Jesus encourages us not to turn away from something because it is flawed but, rather, to see what is good there and to allow what is good to rise to the surface and nurture us. The same is true of people. We don’t turn from someone because of their flaws and weaknesses. We try to see all that is good in them, and even help them to bring what is good within them to completion.