In the Old Testament, the Law is everything. God calls Israel to be his chosen people, his Light to the World. But God is so holy that for a sinful human to look upon him means death. He manifests himself in thunder, lightning, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions. The reaction of his people is to throw themselves upon their faces on the ground for fear of looking upon him. How, then, did this totally holy God communicate with his people?
He did it by giving them a Law. “Be holy, for I, the Lord your God, am holy,” is its essence. By obeying this Law, his people become pleasing to him. He made his presence felt in the Tent of Meeting in the middle of the Israelite camp, where the leaders and elders could consult with him. God intended his Law to bring his people to holiness. By living its provisions, their hearts could be changed, they could achieve the sanctity he desired for them.
But the Law, unfortunately, degenerated into an outward observance. People did what it said, but did not allow it to change their hearts or their lives. And gradually it became less and less influential amongst God’s people. The prophets at first thought to bring Israel back to God’s Law, his Covenant with them. Later, they came to realise that the Old Covenant had broken down irretrievably, and that their only hope was a New Covenant. Of this New Covenant, Jeremiah said, “Deep within them I will plant my Law, writing it on their hearts.” And Ezekiel: “I will take out of your chest your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh, and cause you to walk in my commandments.”
The New Covenant, which Christians know as the one sealed with the Blood of Christ, who died to take away our sins and rose from the dead to bring us eternal life, is one signalled by repentance and baptism. It is inside us from the very beginning of our Christian lives. A change of heart; that is what Jesus requires of us. He has strong words for his contemporaries in today’s gospel: “This people honours me with their lips, but their heart is far from me…you leave the commandments of God, but hold fast to the commandments of men.”
Jesus wanted the actions of humans in their religious observances to lead to a change of heart, not mere external observances. For a Christian to do this is even worse than for Jesus’ contemporaries, the Pharisees, because we know better. For a Christian, the most fundamental act of worship is a turning to God from sin, a change of heart. Our religious observances count for nothing if they do not lead to this.
As we worship God in this cathedral today, let our minds turn to this powerful reality; that he really can and wants to change us, that he can place his laws, his commandments into our hearts if we invite him into our lives. Let us do this, and leave this place today as changed persons, filled with his love, seeking holiness and ready to do his will in all things.
Fr Phillip.
