Doug
gulped a mouthful of tablets as usual before he retired to bed. The scholarly
old man just finished perusing the last documents of the new regulations of the
society. Poor health and constant late nights had caused him to feel more
lethargic as ever.
As
he began to lie down to bed, his phone rang. “Yes!”
“Oh
no! Prof., that idiot has done it again,” the other person on the line
muttered.
“Calm
down, Rex. What done it again?”
“Calvin
has changed some rules in our society! He wanted to change what you have done
over the last ten years!” Doug’s assistance hollered.
“What!
Calvin again?”
The
People-Choice-Awards Society was a powerful entity in the city, highly
sponsored by the corporate world and sanctioned by the government itself. Doug
with some prominent professors and business people had founded the society,
giving out awards for life-changing works either through a person or a group.
As years went by, there were added regulations to protect its awards until it
was almost impossible for common people to participate. No one dared to
criticize the Society because of its many high-standing patronages. Doug often
boasted, “My rules are chiselled on stone.”
Calvin
was a young successful businessman. He had done a great deal for society
especially among the poor and was named caring entrepreneur of the year by a
famous newspaper. Yet, he could not break in to Doug’s Society although he
submitted his work many times. One day, he thought to change things within and
was appointed into the board.
From
inside, he could see all the unbending extra regulations, making it extremely
difficult for anyone to win without help and intervention. The young
entrepreneur looked up to the sky and decided to change things so that the
original intention of the Society would be realised again.
After
many years heading the outfit, Doug had proudly added new laws to secure his
position in the Society and also to please the many opinions of various people.
“Calvin,
do you care to explain why you have to change some regulations which we had set
so meticulously by all of us?” Doug questioned his colleague.
“Yes!
I think we need a clarification from you,” Rex insisted.
Calvin
cleared his throat. “Listen to me, all my esteemed colleagues. I did not change
the regulations at all. I simply simplify them for the sake of better
following. Through the years, the laws have been too rigid and stiff.
Furthermore, the added regulations made them more impenetrable. We need to
guide the people who submitted their applications so that they could follow
along with us,” he explained confidently.
It
was Doug who roped in Calvin to the board. The plot was to have as many on his
side as possible. The longer the energetic young man was in, the hotter he was
to handle. In the end, Calvin managed to get more than half onto his side for
the change. Doug was losing the popularity and the majority vote.
“But...it
was agreed already our set of rules,” Doug argued.
“Do
you have better ones?” One influential board member spoke.
“Doug,
we have benefitted by your many years of service here. It’s time we need
fresher ideas from the younger generation,” opined another.
The
old man was smiling on the outside but gritted his guts. “I suggest we go for a
vote on this,” he suggested, hoping against hope to win.
As
the 10 board members began to vote, Calvin was praying for an overwhelming
support. The votes were counted, 9 to 1. Doug took a long hard look at Rex,
stood up and said, “I resign!”
The
Sermon on the Mount found in Matthew 5:17-20 was a history changing time for
Israel and for the rest of the world. The Law of Moses given by God at Mount
Sinai had always been the supreme laws of the Land. Kings would make or break
in regards to those laws. The whole nation rises or falls depending on them. God
desires His people to follow His laws to shout His fame but sadly, they fail and fail Him miserably!
The
laws of Moses first of all are good laws – scholars of the Bible argued that
they are more humane than the laws of Israel’s many surrounding nations. When
Jesus came upon the scene, He seemed like abolishing all those laws. Of course,
the Pharisees and teachers, strict guardians of Moses’ laws, especially the Ten
Commandments, were shoving and screaming at Jesus. They added many laws until
they reached 613 commandments. (According to Babylonian Talmud, Makkot 23b-24a,
the negative commandments number 365, which coincides with the number of days
in the solar year and the positive commandments number 248, a number ascribed
to the number of bones and main organs in the human body) One can now see the
impenetrable laws which evolve to become a trap for everyone. In fact, God
wants the laws to be an ‘X-ray’ to show that all have sinned and
fall short of God’s glory. A ‘wake-up’ call for all, that everyone needs a Saviour!
The
Son of God managed to stir up all kinds of emotions among the people when He made some
seemingly new alterations to laws that they were taught carefully to obey since
young. When we look a little closer at Scriptures, Jesus Christ neither
abolishes nor changes the laws of Moses. In fact, He upgrades them even
further. The people of Israel used to obey from the power of the will and when
Jesus came, He wanted them to obey from inside out. Murder stemmed from anger
and adultery caused by lust from the heart (Matthew 5:21-22; 27-28). Jesus
wanted a complete overhaul of the heart! In fact a new heart must replace an
old one and that would need divine intervention. This was not a
surprise if the people understood the Old Testament correctly! It was prophesied from Moses to the prophets!
The
LORD your God will circumcise your hearts and the hearts of your descendants,
so that you may love him with all your heart and with all your soul, and live
(Deuteronomy 30:6).
I
will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you
your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh (Ezekiel 36:26).
I
will give them a heart to know me, that I am the LORD. They will be my people,
and I will be their God, for they will return to me with all their heart
(Jeremiah 24:7).
Thus,
Jesus began to change the mindset of the people of His days that without God in
them to help them, they would fail miserably. Only after Jesus died and
resurrected, the people began this ‘new heart’ lives with the Holy Spirit in
them.
And
with that he breathed on them and said, "Receive the Holy Spirit” (John
20:22).
With
613 tangled and complex laws, it is unsurprising that the Jews were ensnared in
the circle of confusion. One can remember when at the Garden of Eden, there was
only one law – do not eat the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and
evil (Genesis 2:16-17).
Jesus then shortened 613 laws to two greatest
commandments which all the Law and the Prophets hung on (Matthew 22:34-40).
‘Love
the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your
mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it:
‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’’
No
one could and can fulfill or fully obey Moses’ laws except one Man – Jesus
Christ! He lived a perfect sinless life and no one could point a finger at Him or talk
a single bad about Him. Therefore He was worthy to die on our behalf for all
our sins. When He died on the cross for the sins of mankind, Jesus in essence
‘carried believers’ over to God! Not one person could or can earn himself or herself to be
restored to the relationship with God!
When
we go to heaven, God sees Jesus’ sacrifice as the seal of redemption! Not us!
We are all sinners condemned to hell if not for our Saviour!
Therefore,
there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through
Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law
of sin and death. For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened
by the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to
be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the
righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live
according to the flesh but according to the Spirit (Romans 8:1-4).
So,
we come back to the Person of the Holy Spirit. When Jesus left to heaven after
His resurrection, He sent the Holy Spirit to be in every believer. He was the
promise of God of how a ‘new heart’ believer should live from then on. The Holy Spirit
is working His way in us so that we can obey the two greatest commandments
mentioned above. From the inside out!
Next:
Anger and Murder (Matthew 5:21-26)
