GO THE EXTRA MILE!
Gospel Reading: Matthew 5:17-19

I have come, not to abolish them, but to fulfill them. v. 17

Many depict Jesus as a radical revolutionary out to overthrow institutional religion and any objective concept of right or wrong concerning faith or morality but today's gospel reading affirms his support of the law of God. He never denied the law itself. He simply challenged the way the teachers of the law lived and taught it. It was only after the church spread to the Gentiles that the Jewish law was no longer mandatory for followers of Jesus.

THE HEART OF THE LAW IS MERCY

It is important to remember that the heart of the law is mercy. The eye for eye and tooth for tooth might seem harsh to us. When it was given, however, it was a way to moderate the vengeful pattern of Middle Eastern tribal life. Its intent was justice, but a justice moderated with mercy.

When Jesus taught, he did not destroy the law: He surpassed it. He fulfilled it by going beyond it. It is as if the "eye for eye" of the law was God's way of keeping the door from slamming shut on humanity by moderating the prevailing violence of humankind. With Jesus the door was not simply propped open, it swung totally open. An "eye for eye" might well have propped open the door, but "turn the other cheek" swung the door open wide for good. The same could be said for all the teachings of Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount.

GO BEYOND THE ACCEPTABLE

Do we simply fulfill the minimum or do we surpass it? Today's scripture teaches us to go beyond the acceptable and go to the exceptional! Go the extra mile. Then you will fulfill not only the law, but the higher way of Jesus Christ himself.

John Michael Talbot