Epiphany 5A: Not a Command, But a Promise
In our Gospel today, Jesus tells us that he is the fulfillment of the Law and the Prophets, that not a single part, not a single letter, not even a stroke of a letter will pass away until the law is fulfilled. And I think that when we hear those words, we can easily become fixated on rules and regulations. We hear “law,” and we immediately think about commands, obligations, and requirements. In doing so, I think that we risk missing what Jesus is really saying.
The entirety of the Old Testament tells the story of the Israelite people, and it tells that story through the lens of their relationship with God. That relationship is not a side note or a background detail: it is the foundation of the entire narrative. It is the reason the story exists at all. Without that relationship, none of it makes sense.
This is a story about a God who loves God’s people so deeply that God desires, above all else, to be with them — to dwell with them, to abide with them. And it is also a story about how often we forget that relationship, how often we neglect our role in it. Yet again and again, God keeps coming back to us, returning to us, calling us back, reminding us of who God is and who we are in relation to God. That was the promise God made to Abraham: I will be with you.
As we move into the time of Jesus, that promise has not faded. God is still calling us back, still seeking to be with us. In fact, the incarnation is the most profound expression of that desire. In Jesus, God chooses not merely to visit, but to dwell — to take on our humanity, to abide with us in our own skin.
So, when Jesus says in today’s Gospel, “I have come not to abolish the law but to fulfill it,” he is saying, I am the fulfillment of this story. I am the fulfillment of God’s desire to dwell with you. I am the living expression of the promise made to Abraham. And because of that, not one iota of this story — not one stroke of this relationship — will vanish. It cannot vanish, because it is embodied in me.
Frederick Buechner offers a beautiful reflection on this when he writes:
“The final secret, I think, is this: that the words ‘You shall love the Lord your God’ become in the end, less a command than a promise. And the promise is that, yes, on the weary feet of faith and the fragile wings of hope, we will come to love him at last as from the first he has loved us–loved us even in the wilderness, especially in the wilderness, because he has been in the wilderness with us.”
You see, God desires more than anything else to be with us–to dwell with us. That is the promise God made to Abraham, and it is a promise God continues to keep.
So, we might ask: how do we live into that promise? How do we live into this relationship? What does our part look like?
Isaiah helps us answer that question today, just as Micah did last Sunday. Isaiah tells us:
“Is not this the fast that I choose:
to loose the bonds of injustice,
to undo the thongs of the yoke,
to let the oppressed go free,
and to break every yoke?
Is it not to share your bread with the hungry,
and bring the homeless poor into your house;
when you see the naked, to cover them,
and not to hide yourself from your own kin?”
This is what God wants. God is not seeking mere rule-keeping for its own sake. God is seeking our faithfulness to the promise of relationship. God is seeking a way of life that flows out of abiding with God, just as we heard from Micah: to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with our God.
In the end, our relationship with God is meant to bear fruit. It is meant to give rise to justice–to break the bonds of injustice and to recognize the dignity of every human being as made in the image of God. It is a relationship rooted in compassion and kindness. It is a relationship of mutual abiding–God with us, and us with God–walking humbly together.
So, when Jesus tells us that not one part of the Law and the Prophets will be set aside, he is telling us that not one part of God’s promise will be abandoned. Not one part of our relationship with God will be ignored or forgotten.
Our readings today remind us that we are continually being called into relationship—a relationship whose fruit is justice and kindness, a relationship that calls us to walk with God in trust and humility. God’s promise is that God will always be with us, that God will never abandon us. God will abide with us, no matter what.
Our part is simple, and not easy: to seek justice, to love kindness, and to walk with God.
Are you ready to take that step?