Old Testament: Deuteronomy 4:1–2,5–9
Gospel: Matthew 5:17–19
Psalm 78:1–6
“Law and Love”
God’s story centers on the relationship of God to creation. The foundation of relationship with God is love which pulls the two together. When relationship with God navigates through struggle, it is often the boundaries or rules that help recalibrate the love that unites the relationship. Relationships need both love and law to continually unite
Moses in our Old Testament reading exclaims that other nations will reflect on God’s nearness to Israel based on the statutes or laws God had given. The Psalmist celebrates the law and Jesus in Matthew addresses that the law is a necessary part of God’s plan and it will ultimately be fulfilled.
Jesus would go on to say in other teachings that love is the fulfillment of the law (love of God and our neighbor). I grew up in a very law-driven tradition of rules which I was told were necessary to merit God’s love. If I could make a checklist and check all the boxes that I was obedient, then God would be near to me, but when I disobeyed, God would be distant. The struggle inherent with Law and Love is sometimes we as humans miss the point. The rules are not what unites the relationship, it is love that creates the truly human and divine relationship. The apostle Paul would allude to one who could obey all the rules but without love as a dissonant noise, not making beautiful music. It is in understanding the place of rules that help make rightly relating to God, healthy. A relationship without rules will not last, for boundaries are what keep it healthy. A relationship without love will become cold and indifferent and over time create distance.
My prayer is that we, in our continued journey of relating to God and each other, may keep in mind the need for rules, but ever mindful that rules for the sake of rules are not the essence of relationship or closeness. Love is the completeness of the rules as glue which bonds objects together. May we endeavor to create beautiful music in understanding that law points us to our inherent need of rightly relating to God and love completes us in that relationship. The two are essential.
Colby Galloway
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