Keys of the Kingdom

QQUICK

QUIZ 1 What is the highest mountain in Wales? 2 Who played the title role in the 1994 film Forrest Gump? 3 Which health minister introduced the NHS in 1948? What is a group of dolphins called? Which broadcaster wrote the memoir The Power of Hope about how Covid-19 has impacted her family?

6 A ANSWERS 1. Snowdon. 2. Tom Hanks. 3. Aneurin Bevan. 4. A pod. 5. Kate Garraway. 6. Leonardo da Vinci. Who painted the Mona Lisa? 4 5

In this occasional series, Nigel Bovey unlocks the mystery of the Kingdom of Heaven, which Jesus speaks to his disciples about in Matthew’s Gospel Beyond the letter of the Law

BEFORE Jesus began his ministry, his cousin, known today as

John the Baptist, had been calling his fellow Jews to turn back to God’s way of living. Later, when Jesus teaches his own followers, he explains that they’re living through a time of change in God’s relationship with humankind. As he asserts in a saying not recorded in Matthew’s Gospel: ‘The Law and the prophets were proclaimed until John. Since that time, the good news of the Kingdom of God is being preached’ (Luke 16:16 New International Version).

Jesus warns that ‘anyone who sets aside one of the least of these commands and teaches others accordingly will be called least in the Kingdom of Heaven’ (Matthew 5:19). He also says that he has come ‘to fulfil’ the Jewish Law and the prophets, not to abolish them (5:17).

However, when he quotes from the Law, Jesus broadens its application beyond the letter to its spirit. For instance, he cites the commandment ‘Do not murder’, but then warns Something that anger itself can make someone ‘subject to greater is judgement’ (5:22). Jesus’ emphasis is not on keeping the individual laws but on obeying the required spirit of the Law – a spirit governed by love. He tells a rich young man: ‘If you want to enter life, keep the commandments’ (19:17). When asked which is the greatest commandment, he points to a wholehearted love of God and loving one’s neighbour as oneself. He concludes: ‘All the Law and the prophets hang on these two commandments’ (Matthew 22:40).

The Law includes punishments, but contains no mechanisms of prevention. The Law lists deterrents to constrain actions, but has no power to change attitudes. The Law points out a person’s wrongs, but cannot put a person right.

The Law does not provide the means of salvation. For that, something greater than the Law is required. That is why Jesus came into the world. He could make atonement for humankind’s sinfulness by making himself the sacrifice required by the Law.

Followers of Jesus are not required to keep the dietary, dress or hygiene regulations of the Law. Committing the likes of murder, adultery or theft, though, is difficult to reconcile with a Christian lifestyle, because the Kingdom that Jesus builds is based on the law of love.