NOTES for Mat 5:17-19
Truly, nothing is hidden from the Lord, and He knows everything. The psalmist writes: “O Lord, You have searched me and known me. You know when I sit down and when I rise up; You understand my thought from afar. Whether I walk or rest, You surround me, and all my ways are known to You. Even before a word is on my tongue, You, O Lord, already know it completely” (Ps 138:1–4). Naturally, He sees both the good and all the evil in our hearts. Yet despite this, He continues to love us. He does not deny us His Kingdom even though He knows that at any moment we are capable of breaking His commandments. In the New Covenant, what becomes decisive is our aspiration, the direction in which the vector of our life points. It is this aspiration that is ultimately rewarded with the “Kingdom of Heaven” (Mt 5:19). If, in our search for God, we understand that “there is no limit to perfection”—that is, if we do not stop at what we have attained—and at the same time understand that we make mistakes but keep moving forward, then the Kingdom itself becomes our goal, rather than the place we will occupy within it.