I know I harp on the importance of Jesus' two Great Commandments (love God with all your heart .... and your neighbor as yourself), but they are the most important words ever to come out of the entire Bible. These are the most important words ever to be uttered by anyone - ever! Why? First of all, they come from the very mouth of God, not by way of a prophet or other mortal, but from God, himself, as Jesus. Second, these words were in response to a direct question: What is the greatest commandment. He spoke these words in response, as these words, from God, are the single most Greatest words from God for the direction of our daily lives. These are not the words of a prophet trying to tell what he feels is most important, but God answering point blank, "What is THE most important comandment." These words are placed at the highest level of priority by Him. In addition, he tells us that "On this hang ALL the laws and the prophets," not mere summary, but the very source of all law.
In some circles, these great words are referred to as "The Summation of the Law." When I first heard this reference to God's greatest Commandment as a "summation," I was floored! Summation? A summation is that part of a text that takes all of what came before (good, bad, solid, weak, right and wrong) and rounds them all together in some lute warm ball of harmless highlights. Certainly in Jesus' "summation" there is no reference to working of the Sabbath - right or wrong. There is no reference to observation of the passover - form and doctrine. All that is contained in the Jewish Law, and not summed up by Jesus. Certainly there is a great deal of detail in the Jewish Law which cannot be "summed up" by Jesus' simple statements.
The Laws of Moses only begins with the Ten Commandments. Back then, just as now with our own Constitution, the Law has been amended, codified, statutized, defined, and broken down into the tiniest detail directing almost every aspect of our dealings with one another. Since the Mosaic Law is in addition a Religious document (not just a civil document) the detail was broken down to a person's home life and to his very personal life, habits, language, and occupation. Every detail of one's life was limited by some aspect of the law. Today, just as then, the law is confusing, and often conflicting. We aren't sure which right takes precedent over another right. Religion, Press, Speech, Arms, Assembly, and Equal Representation all battle for their turf, relying not on common sense or fairness, but on statue to define their behavior and limitations.
A central point of the "summation" belief of Jesus Commandments, is that Jesus' himself proclaimed that "upon (this idea) hang all the law and the prophets." Certainly, if every law and prophesy must "hang" from Jesus' words (and they should), then the Commandment of Jesus, MUST be the foundation, the root, the origin of all other law. If any law is made which conflicts with Jesus' (GOD's) law, then that law, MAN's law, must yield, as Jesus illustrated many times in his ministry. Certainly, today, NO church observes the detailed hundred of Mosaic laws laid out in the Old Testament. Why not? After all, the hundreds of laws were made to better observe the core Ten Commandments.
I am reminded of a march on Montgomery, Alabama, where blacks and whites joined shoulder to shoulder against state laws allowing racial segregation. Martin Luther King, Jr. was told that he was breaking Alabama state laws. It would have been totally accurate if King had responded "I am not here to BREAK the law, but to FULFILL it." How could this be? He WAS breaking Alabama law. The law was on the books. Well, the law that King was fulfilling was a HIGHER law: The Constitution of the United States of America whereby everyone is guaranteed equal justice. That Alabama law was contrary to the intent of the Constitution. Whatever the reason for the law, there was a higher law which was applied. And beyond the Constitution, beyond Mosaic law, there is still a higher law, and that is the Law of God.
It was this Law of God that Jesus was stressing as being above all other codes and statutes, often conflicting, which the Jews had created and become bound to. There IS a higher law. Jesus did not come to abolish the law but to fulfill it - to fulfill GOD'S LAW, not man's law. Repeatedly, Jesus violated the Jewish law, thus, by Jewish standards, he was a maverick, and outlaw, a sinner, a threat! But each time he violated Jewish law, he drew on God's own law and appealed to those who would listen to place God's law over and above any statue or codes created by men. If any law is to ever be violated, NEVER let it be the law of God, spoken from God's own mouth, and given to us as the very CORE of all other law, the foundation upon which ALL other law must square. If a law does not square with God's law, it is man's law, not God's law, which must yield.
First there was the Ten Commandments, but because people could not obey the Ten Commandments in SPIRIT, other laws were created to assure that those commandments were indeed observed. But even then, the law dictated what ACTIONS one was to follow or refrain from. None of the laws spoke to the SPIRIT with which one was to observe these laws. No doubt many followed the law in SPIRIT as well as deed, but because there were those who misused the law, allowed themselves to do whatever was not EXPRESSLY forbidden by the letter of the law, then, new, even stricter laws had to be created. It was the hope that anyone, including God I presume, who could see the outward observance of the Jewish people, might conclude that these people were humble and dedicated servants of God is Spirit as well as deed. But that casual observation would be WRONG, because there was still loopholes in the law. There was still those who would take advantage of those loopholes, and still others who spent their lives finding the loopholes and creating even stricter and stricter laws.
So what Jesus did was to subordinate all written law to law of God. That was nothing new, for all Jewish law had its origins in the Ten Commandments, the law given by God to Moses. But what had happened since Moses is that people had forgotten that fact. The law took on a life of it's own.
Jesus calls each person AWAY from the written, codified, statutized rules for governing our behavior, and instead, calls us to focus our hearts on the spirit and love BEHIND the Law. If the Old Testament is a book of Law and Prophesy, then the New Testament is a book of the SPIRIT. The Spirit is found in the Old Testament, but only here and there, forgotten, buried under a mountain of distractions: pseudo-history, pseudo-science, Mosaic Law, genealogies, poetry, prophesy. What was truly important - but what was forgotten, what we drifted away from - was the INDWELLING of the SPIRIT within us.
Jesus turned our attention BACK to the very BASICS. Paul later wrote that the "Law" is obsolete. Obsolete? Can we now BREAK the law? NO! We can now live the kind of life which God intended for those with Pure Spirits. Those with pure spirits, observe the law as a consequence of a clean heart. Many "Christians" today believe that BECAUSE they are now "Christian" that the law, the rules for behavior, for fairness toward our fellow man, that Law no longer applies to them. They believe that they can do whatever they want and their "sin" is already forgiven, past, present, and future. The "Freeing" from the law does not mean that at all. Under the law, right behavior was imposed upon us in all things, by codes and statues. Right behavior came outwardly from the Law and controlled out behavior.
Free from the law, we do what is good, Not because of some external law which forces us to do good. We do good because we First have the right SPIRIT. Our behavior is an extension of that Spirit within us, not some Law outside us. We observe those laws as a consequence of observing God's law first. If by so doing, we find ourselves in conflict with a statute or code, then we can take courage in the faith that God's law if paramount to all other laws, even if we must suffer because we would not compromise God's law.
People sin. Children make mistakes, but LEARN from their mistakes. Eventually, the child insists that he is ready to be set free, to go out on his own. Maybe so, maybe not. In our Christian lives, there comes a point where we say to God: "I DO now understand!" And when God places His trust in you, He gives you His Spirit to guide you. He places that FIRE within your heart, that fire that cannot be put out. Then you are finally freed from the law.
Then to ABUSE that freedom, is far worse than never having been granted that freedom in the first place. The abuse makes a mockery of God, of Jesus, and violates the very TRUST that you sought so long, and finally attained.
A "Christian" is NOT merely one who observes the ceremonies, holidays, rituals, and codes of the church. He is not one who merely reads his weekly reaffirmation of faith from a book. A "Christian" is instead, one who is RIGHT with God - who lives in love for others, who is fair (as he would want others to be fair toward him). He is compassionate (as he would seek compassion from others). He is patient, kind, honest, merciful. He is a good listener. He truly loves others, ALL others, and serves God by that love. he is NOT bound by ritual, or restrictive religious barriers, but lives for God. The Church is where he may gather on Sunday, but he serves God, not merely the Church.
In summation, the Old Testament is filled with laws, hundreds of laws. Laws which govern everything from diet to laundry. If there were not those who seek to take advantage of others, there would be no need for laws. Laws therefore try to restrict the behavior of those who cannot restrict their own behavior. But as a consequence, those same laws, also restrict the behavior of those who do genuinely love others. Those same laws focused attentions not to others needs, but correct behavior. Needs went unmet, as the law precluded helping others in some cases. People began to loose sight of what the law was intended to do. Jesus sought to refocus our attentions to what the law was meant to do, promote love and trust in God, and caring, compassion, mercy and fairness toward our fellow man. That was what the original law was intended to do. People lost sight of that, and instead used to law to guide and direct behavior and actions, NOT to guide their hearts. Jesus reopened our eyes to motives, to intent, to our Spirit, and it was this very Spirit, this Fire for the Heart, that Jesus left for us in the form of the Holy Spirit.