March 26: Righteousness / Justicia

Matthew 5, 17 reads: “Jesus said, ‘Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets; I have come not to abolish but to fulfill.’” What could He have meant by “fulfilling the law?” Not its observance to the letter: He Himself defiantly broke the law on many occasions (as the law was understood in His time). The scribes and Pharisees adhered to the letter of the law, yet He accused them of “setting aside the commands of God and clinging to human traditions.” (Mark 7, 8). By fulfilling the law He meant fulfilling the purpose for which it was made: that is, justice (or “righteousness,” as the Scriptures call it – a word that includes a just relationship with God). 
A consistent feature of the Gospels is that Jesus taught that the traditional, legalist forms of religion would no longer do. They weren’t flexible enough to carry the full breadth of the Good News He had come to deliver. At the same time, He showed great respect for tradition itself, His own Jewish tradition, that which had been handed on from generation to generation. For example, the Scriptures of His people had nourished and inspired Him. Do we open our Bibles often enough to let them nourish and inspire us, too?
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¿Qué sentido tienen para nosotros los mandamientos de la Ley de Dios? Para algunos, son el resumen y la cima de toda moralidad. Para otros, regulaciones estrechas y fuera de moda. Y aún para otros, obstáculos para la libertad del Evangelio.
 Para nuestros antepasados en Israel eran la expresión de fidelidad a Dios y al pueblo entero, como parte de la Alianza con Dios. Los mandamientos eran el camino para liberarse de toda forma de esclavitud: como de los otros dioses, del egoísmo, del rencor, y de la explotación de una persona por otra. Eran el signo de pertenencia del pueblo a Dios, y de la cercanía de Dios al pueblo. Y testificaban que el amor a Dios y el amor al prójimo no pueden separarse.
 En Cristo, todo esto queda cumplido, y mucho más. Los mandamientos permanecen, y se convierten en un paso fundamental, no hacia la salvación por medio de observancias concretas, pero para buscar comunicación y comunión con Dios en Cristo y con nuestro prójimo ... y están animados por el amor.