Today we see more of the crushing weight of God's Law. He is a consuming fire, the one who scares everyone off the mountain of his presence. He gives commands and we are to keep all of them flawlessly. He cautions us to be very careful. If we keep God's commands flawlessly we are promised a rich inheritance.
How will we keep these commands? If we look to ourselves for that ability we will either lapse into despair or into self-righteousness. We will either realize we cannot do God's command or we will deceive ourselves by saying that we in fact keep God's command and that it's everyone else who is some sort of a sinner.
This will not do. We realize we fail constantly. Yet we do not plunge into despair because our Lord has told us of his good favor, his love and kindness. He has reminded us that his desire is to bless those who turn to him in belief. And he has shown us that mercy in Christ. Which is easier? To forgive sin or to heal someone who can't walk? We can do neither, just as we cannot keep God's commands. But Jesus can do all of this with perfect ease. He shows his divinity in his ability to do what no human can do. And that includes taking on the penalty for all our failure to follow God's Law. We are crushed, but he is crushed on our behalf. We are in despair but we turn to him in hope. We realize we cannot be righteous in ourselves but we turn to his perfect righteousness.
Christ has delivered us from the curse of the Law.
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