URC Daily Devotion Monday 27th October 2025

‘Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets; I have come not to abolish but to fulfil. 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.

Reflection

Perhaps one of the most frustrating obstacles when striving to promote the gospel, and change lives, is the drag of tradition and the call to do things as they have always been done.  Nothing is more unhelpful in stymieing vision and derailing change than the insistence on following, often petty, rules to the detriment of achieving the important overall goal. It is the tyranny of the jobs-worth, one who uses the authority of their role in a deliberately uncooperative way.

This is the tension explored in today’s reading. The righteousness of the pharisees and scribes was founded on their unwavering focus on the Jewish Law and the prophets. Jesus was in a sense seeking to establish a new Israel and so could be seen as intent on abolishing the old Israel and all that the religious leaders held dear. However, although he criticised the fundamental interpretation of the Law given by the pharisees and scribes, his powerful message in these verses is that his overall mission is to FULFIL all that the law and the prophets intended.

In fact, the writer of Matthew rather over-emphasises Jesus’ commitment to the Law in aiming to reassure his readership among the many Jews embracing the teaching of Jesus in the early Church.  

The important clear warning that we have here is to beware of the often-cherished way of doing things, in our Christian and church life, getting in the way of the greater good of furthering the aims of the kingdom.

The ultimate response to the pedant that lies within all of us is not to ignore tradition, with its rules and regulations, but to embrace and fulfil their ultimate intention and commit to the ever challenging, ever renewing spirit of the gospel message.