What Did Moses Command You?
Christianity does not negate Judaism. In the words of Jesus, “Do not think I have come to abolish the law or the prophets. I have come not to abolish but to fulfil.” (Matthew 5:17) Thus, Jesus did not come to abolish the laws of Moses. So what does Jesus mean when he says, “I have come to fulfil the law and the prophets”? When we survey the salvation history as recorded in the Old Testament, we see that God loves us and has created a universe suitable for us to thrive. Out of jealousy, Satan came and our First Parents fell and lost the Original Grace. Since then, the world has unceasingly been infested with sins. In the first attempt to cleanse the world of its sins, God made use of the Deluge which symbolizes the sacrament of Baptism in the future. Then God built up a people, the Jews from which a Saviour would be born.The salvation project is elaborate. Firstly, God made friend with Abraham and went into covenant with him, promising him land and offspring. Starting from the 3rd generation, the children of Abraham, the Israelite, about 70 members, migrated to Egypt and multiplied for more than 400 years. Then, God called and made Moses a liberator to deliver some 600,000 Israelite (Exodus 12:37) and led them to the land promised to Abraham. The story of Exodus is pregnant with symbols pointing towards the Sacraments of the Catholic Church in the future. For example, crossing the Red Sea, the rock which gave water, manna and the serpent on the wood etc. And the most important of all, the Israelite who were the Chosen People of God! Among them, there were righteous ones who were able to enter the Promised Land in the end. There were also wrecked ones who died in the wilderness. Of course, there was also the mysterious Moses whose entry into the Promised Land was denied by God! When the Catholic Church re-examined her role during Vatican II, she came to the renewed understanding of herself as the People of God on earthly pilgrimage.
The 12 tribes of Israel would never become a people were there no Sinai Covenant and the 10 Commandments. Let’s go through the 10 Commandments one by one. First of all, worshipping one true God, the 12 tribes were united as one people who have the dignity of their Creator whose name should be honoured. Observing Sabbath, this Chosen People of God are free from slavery. They are holy (Exodus 19:3, Leviticus 11:44-45; 1 Peter 1:16) because they respect family, life, marriage/body, private property and truth. All these qualities were cast in the 2 stone tablets of the Commandments. No wonder, the 10 Commandments have become a universal blueprint of nearly all legal systems in subsequent ages all over the world.
Obviously, the 10 Commandments would have been sufficient to guide our daily life had the world not been contaminated by sins. Men were created in the image of God and had inherited intelligence from Him. However, motivated by concupiscence, men would look for loopholes in the letters of the law to evade responsibility. Soon, the 10 Commandments have expanded into 613 laws and getting more and more elaborate as time goes by! Thus, however detailed a law might have been written, it would be outwitted by wrecked people. It is futile to engage in a legislation race with them. So instead of sending another Deluge, God decided to change their stony hearts into hearts of flesh. (Ezekiel 11:19, 36:26) That’s why Jesus Christ, the Son of God, came not to abolish the law and prophets but to fulfil them by honouring God’s pledge to change our stony hearts into hearts of flesh.
When the Pharisees who were supposed to be teachers of Israel, the Chosen People (John 3:10), came to trap Jesus with the question of divorce, “Is it lawful for a husband to divorce his wife?” (Mark 10:2) they did not know to what they were coming up against! The first response of Jesus was simple and to the point, “What did Moses command you?” (10:3). When they talked about the law, Jesus engaged them on the legal level. Their laws came from God who might be too aloft, too intimidating and inaccessible for most people. Therefore, Jesus asked them a better known person, Moses instead. For most of the Jews, their laws came from Moses, not from God because like most peoples, they would be satisfied as long as there are concrete tangible things in hand to hold on to. So, they believe that they could obtain security and prosperity as long as they have laws set up in the land they reside. They don’t bother seeking the spirit, the original intention of the Author of the law! In short, they have forgotten God! So, the Pharisees replied, “Moses permitted him to write a bill of divorce and dismiss her.” (10:4)From this point on, it would be a waste of energy and time to debate over the letters of the law with these legal experts simply because their intention was not to enhance the life of the people but to set traps to secure their standing among the commoners. It would be irresponsible for Jesus the one Master (Matthew 23:10) not to point out the spirit, the original intention of the Author of the law, but to compromise God’s position for the sake of stability and prosperity! Thus, Jesus went to the beginning, not only to the first chapter of Genesis which is a cosmological narrative as well as a hymn to praise God, but also to the second chapter which narrates the creation story from a socio-psychological perspective. Therefore, Jesus engaged the legal experts in a revision of the process of self-awareness of men in a community as well as the evolution of the visible universe from which human beings emerged on the cosmic stage.
Jesus’ choice of passages from Genesis is worth meditating. Instead of saying, “The Lord God said: It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suited to him.”(Genesis 2:18), or “built the rib that he had taken from the man into a woman”(2:22) Jesus quoted “God made them male and female” (1:27, Mark 10:6)! Jesus’ intention is obvious. He did not come to the first century to abolish the patriarchal system but to fulfil it by advocating sexual equality! Jesus did not invent sexual equality. It has always been there but for political motives, the teachers seldom mention it!
It was not necessary for Jesus to quote the original intention of the Author, viz. “It is not good for the man to be alone” because it is well known and well understood. Why did God take the trouble to establish the institution of marriage in the first place if marriage were no good for man or if marriage should end up in divorce? Marriage is definitely good for the individuals as well as for the good of the society. We have to accept that in real life every couple is happy or unhappy in different ways. Some are successful and some are less successful. But no matter how much men want to deny it, the root of the problem is the “hardness of your hearts” (10:5). That is to say, they refuse to give anybody a chance, including God and even themselves! Thus, between adultery and murder, Moses decreed a lesser evil and provided a safety valve! No! A safety valve is not the real thing. It is unable to make people’s lives fulfilled because safety valves can only ensure people’s survival, but not enjoyment and fulfilment!
Brethren! What Moses commands is already sufficient. On the other hand, no matter how detailed legislation may go, wrecked men would always be able to unearth or even create loopholes. Therefore, the only reasonable approach is to rebuild people’s faith in God and in the marriage He decrees.
God bless!
2018 Homily
Video Credit: "Rowan Atkinson: Toby the Devil - We Are Most Amused and Amazed" on youtube.com
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