The longest Psalm in the Bible (118/119) is a song in praise of God’s Law:
97 Oh, how I love thy law!
It is my meditation all the day.
98 Thy commandment makes me wiser than my enemies,
for it is ever with me.
99 I have more understanding than all my teachers,
for thy testimonies are my meditation.
100 I understand more than the aged,
for I keep thy precepts.
For the Psalmist the Law is not so much a set of regulations as a source of wise principles – God advising us on how to live in harmony with him and our true nature. For St Matthew Jesus is, above all, the teacher who comes to help us understand the Law’s true meaning and to bring us to the Father’s heart. This is why he depicts Our Lord giving his teaching on a mountainside just as Moses came down the mountain with the tablets of the Law. Jesus does not come to abolish the law but to fulfil it and lead us from a superficial to a deep understanding. Today we hear the Beatitudes – words that have made an impact on many who otherwise have no time for Christianity.
