Jots and Tittles

Matthew 5:18: For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke (KJV: jot or tittle) shall pass from the Law until all is accomplished.
John 19:30: Therefore when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, “It is finished (accomplished)!” And He bowed His head and gave up His spirit.

It is my belief that Jesus Christ was in himself the fulfillment of the Law and did what no human could do: the work of his life, death and resurrection was (as A well puts it) complete, sufficient and includes you and me. That means whatever demands the law placed upon us have been fulfilled by him, making it not only unnecessary but indeed counter-productive for me to futilely try and measure up to a requirement already met on my behalf. I may go into this theme more in another post sometime, but this is the basis from which I work in the musings that follow.
However, the fact that the law has been fulfilled, or completed, or its demands met, does not mean that it has in itself become irrelevant. Wrong has not become right, nor has right become wrong. It's still wrong to murder your neighbor, covet his goods, lie and steal. It's still right to love one another and feed the poor. Life is still better for all human beings and societies where these precepts are followed, than where they are not. In this sense, so long as heaven and earth remain, there remains a moral standard above man's reckoning. This will not be abolished until "heaven and earth pass away", because as long as there are human beings, there is need for a moral standard.
That established, let us move on to the least essential part of this discussion: jots and tittles.
That phrase --like "flotsam and jetsam"-- has always delighted me, though I long had no idea what it could mean. I realize that both written Hebrew and Greek are so very other than any languages I understand, it could mean practically anything, including scribal error, ink blots or a slip of the pen. But when I learned German I finally got a window of understanding on jots and tittles.
One thing about not only learning a new language but actually living in the culture from whence it developed, is that you learn humility very, very quickly. Especially if you're a person who, in their native tongue, is accustomed to being well-read, speaking correctly and having a wide range of vocabulary to express a particular meaning precisely, it's quite a comedown to be reduced to the language level of a 3-year-old (and to not pronounce even THAT very well).
I remember in the first weeks of residence in Austria gathering all my courage to accompany our hostess to the farmer's market down the street. It was quite a sight. 30 years ago farmer's markets were like stepping back into the 1950's; many of the women wore dirndls, men were often in lederhosen and/or blue cotton work shirts; flies alighted upon the fruit, the meat, the people. Cheese was cut from huge wheels. Meat (some very unfamiliar bits indeed) hung from hooks twisting in the breeze. I couldn't speak much German at that time, but I did think I knew my numbers. After all, how hard can it be?
So when I chose my vegetables and hesitantly asked the burly farmer, in my best High German, "Vee-feel kostet das?", I was quite taken aback when his barked reply was "Tsvoh unt tsvotzg!" What on earth was THAT?! I tremblingly held out my hand with a bill and hoped he was honest enough to give me the right change. The dialect farmers spoke was quite different from the city dialect I had heard up until then (not understanding much of that) and both differed dramatically from the High Northern German I had learned in school and in missions training. How was I to know the farmer had said the equivalent of "Tsvai und tsvan-tsig"??? (22)
That was "just" dialect. With time, I felt my way into many differing dialects of German, since in the first years we worked primarily with University students who had come from all over Austria to study in Graz. But there are also (drumroll, please) the dreaded UMLAUTS.
I've had to do with many other Americans in my 30 years here. The biggest problem most of them have had is learning to pronounce words with an Umlaut in them, because an Umlaut changes the sound of a vowel to something that does not exist in the English language. The British have less trouble with it for some reason; perhaps because their accent is much softer in places, and many of them have learned French which has similar sounds in it.
An Umlaut is just two small dots placed on top of certain vowels: ä,ö,ü. The best way to demonstrate how it works is to pronounce the vowel as you always would but then, still speaking the vowel out, move your lips to a different position; this changes the sound of what comes out. Don't ask me why this started in the language. Nobody has been able to tell me anything but guesswork. One common usage is to denote a diminutive; adding -chen or -lein to a word makes it a smaller version thereof, and in that case an Umlaut must be added to the vowel (for example, Blume --flower-- becomes Blümchen --little flower). But that's not all. These two tiny marks can change not only the pronunciation, but the very meaning of a word, entirely.
And that can be tricky!
For years I inadvertently described humid weather as homosexual, because I simply couldn't get it through my head that the word was "schwül" and not "schwul". My dear friends (whose smiles could not always remain hidden) did not correct me because they thought it was so cute. (Grrrrr!) If you order a burger at McDonald's, do not order a Bürger, because you will be asking for a grilled citizen. And so on. Such a small detail, yet with such big consequences!
I was thinking about this one day when the penny dropped: In the above passage, Jesus is not dissing the law. He is not saying it never mattered, now that we live on this side of the Cross. In fact there are probably nuances within it which we will never grasp, never "pronounce correctly". But as the letter to the Romans emphasizes. the law is only actually necessary for children, as a tutor until they are mature. It is never invalid (right is still right, wrong is still wrong), but its job is to establish a standard within us that, as we mature, renders the law outside of us superfluous.
Adults don't need to be told the oven is hot and it is a no-no to touch it. They know the oven is hot and if they do touch it, they have chosen to do so knowing full well it is hot. The oven has not stopped being hot (the law is still in effect), but the adult is not bound by the law not to touch it if he chooses, for his own considered reasons, to do so. The law is there for his protection, but there are times he will override it for a purpose he finds sufficient (perhaps another human being is in more danger of burns than he, or perhaps there is simply no time to grab a potholder before the casserole burns). In any case, as long as the adult has the laws of the Kingdom in his heart (love God, love his neighbor), his actions will be reflected in his choices and he doesn't need a tutor standing over him with a whip.
As we grow into maturity as adults, we will make mistakes in our choices, but that eventuality too has been paid for. No jot or tittle of Dad's original intentions in his moral law (I am not including such things as dietary proscriptions for a desert tribe in this!) can ever be considered unimportant to the heart of God. But as a schoolmaster for the human race, its purpose has been accomplished through Christ. Now we are challenged "no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming; but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ, from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by what every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love." (Ephesians 4:14-16) I like the way JB Philiips has translated this passage: "We are not meant to remain as children at the mercy of every chance wind of teaching and the jockeying of men who are expert in the crafty presentation of lies. But we are meant to hold firmly to the truth in love, and to grow up in every way into Christ, the head. For it is from the head that the whole body, as a harmonious structure knit together by the joints with which it is provided, grows by the proper functioning of individual parts to its full maturity in love."
I see this as Dad's ideal community: the phrase "in love" occurs twice here, and as John the beloved apostle reminds us: "Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love." (1 John 4:7-8) He goes on in vs 16: "God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him."
Abiding by the only two laws of the Kingdom (love God, love man) fulfills all other law, there being no law against love. Jesus did this perfectly. In our feeble efforts to learn to do this, we will sometimes harm ourselves and others, and will most certainly break a rule or two. But children only grow when they are given room to do so. Adults only become mature when they make choices and learn from them. Dad has constructed the universe in such a way that it runs best on love. When we "slot in" to his way of living, it goes well with us and with those whose lives we touch.
I don't need to worry about the jots and tittles; Jesus took care of that for me.
Now if I could only get a handle on the Umlauts!