Not One Word Falls

Jesus says that He has not come to abolish the Law or the Prophets. Not an iota, not a dot, not a single stroke of a single letter of these holy texts will pass away until all is fulfilled. He does not explain them away or minimize them, in fact He intensifies them. It is not enough, says the Lord, to withhold your hand from striking in anger. You must also restrain your speech and even your thoughts. Hatred in the heart is already murder in God’s sight.

When we Lutherans speak of "the Law," we often mean it in a narrow sense: God's commands as opposed to the Gospel promises. But here Jesus refers to the Torah, a broader term that includes both the moral law and the first five books of Moses. In fact, by saying "the Law and the Prophets," Jesus means the entire Old Testament, the Scriptures that reveal both God's demands and His promises.

This matters because we sometimes fall into what we might call a "functional Marcionism." Marcion, an early heretic who died around 160 AD, famously rejected the Old Testament and claimed the Old Testament God of Israel was different from the God Jesus. While it is relatively rare to hear someone say this outright, it is unfortunately true that some treat the Old Testament as if it is less authoritative, less useful, less from God. Jesus teaches the opposite, the whole of Scripture matters. The entire Bible is God’s Word and is given for our learning. St. Paul wrote to Timothy, "All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness." Jesus is calling us to honor all of Scripture, not just the parts that are easy or familiar.

Find out more in this sermon from St. John's Lutheran Church of Oakes, ND!