On Wednesday of this week, we read from MATTHEW 5:20-26 

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“You have heard that it was said to the men of old, 'You shall not kill; and whoever kills shall be liable to judgment.' But I say to you that every one who is angry with his brother without cause shall be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother shall be liable to the council, and whoever says, 'You fool!' shall be liable to the hell of fire.” 

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In the twelfth century, the patriarch of Antioch, Theodore Balsamon, was posed a canonical question about fasting, and whether it is necessary to observe certain of the fasts, such as the Dormition fast. He gives one of the arguments made by those who do not observe these fasts as: “’Whatever the law says, it speaks to those under the law; we are saved by faith alone’” (Romans 2:13). The argument being that the fasts of the Old Testament (Theodore Balsamon equates the feast of the Dormition with the Old Testament festival of booths) are no longer necessary to follow, that there is a lessening of expectations in the New Testament. Theodore Balsamon responds, however, that Christ says: “’Truly I say to you, that one iota, or one keraia, will pass away from the law until all these things come to pass; for I have come not to destroy the law and the Prophets, but to fulfill them’” (Matthew 5:18, 17). In today’s reading, we see Christ discussing just this, that the law is not abolished, but deepened, in the Incarnation.  

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There are, in fact, higher expectations for us in the New Testament than under the law! Not only is it still, as it was under the law, sinful to murder, but now the sin reaches beyond action and reflects what is in our heart. Anger, that from which murder arises, is treated the same way that murder is. This is one of the many reasons that the ascetical practices of the Church are so important in our spiritual lives. We might find it easy not to murder someone else, but to control our anger and frustration, this is far more difficult. When we fast, for example, we do something comparatively easy, we refrain from eating certain foods, meat, dairy, etc…, but in practicing the self-control with something “easy,” we strengthen our self-discipline to be able to control something difficult, anger, envy, etc… 

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A physician wishes to heal the cause of a disease, not just the symptoms. In the Old Covenant, the law helps to regulate symptoms of the disease, that is sin, but in the New Covenant, Christ heals us of our passions, of the cause of our disease. In the Old Covenant, the law regulated action, we were like little children whose parents lay out rules to follow. In the New Testament we are “big kids,” and so have been given greater responsibility.