Makkos Chapter 3, Mishnah 17 - the final mishnah of Maseches Makkos.
The text of the Mishnah:
"Rabbi Chananya ben Akashya omer: ratzah HaKadosh Baruch Hu lezakos es Yisrael, lefichach hirbah lahem Torah u'mitzvos, shene'emar: 'Hashem chafetz lema'an tzidko yagdil Torah v'yadir'" - Rabbi Chananya ben Akashya says: The Holy One, Blessed is He, wished to grant merit to Israel, therefore He gave them Torah and mitzvos in abundance, as it says: "Hashem desired, for the sake of his righteousness, to make the Torah great and glorious."
These words come to include mitzvos of the kind discussed in the previous mishnah, such as the prohibition against drinking blood. Even though a person has no natural desire to drink blood, the Holy One, Blessed is He, came and established a mitzvah in the matter. Once the prohibition exists, the very act of refraining from it - a refraining the person would have practiced on his own anyway - earns him the fulfillment of a mitzvah. It emerges that the Holy One, Blessed is He, increased the number of mitzvos in order to grant merits to all of Israel.
Explanation of the verse:
The verse teaches that the desire of the Holy One, Blessed is He, is to make Israel righteous and to grant them merits, and therefore "yagdil Torah v'yadir" - He expanded and enlarged the Torah and strengthened it, and increased the mitzvos within it, so that a person would have many merits.
In summary: The mishnah that closes the tractate reveals the inner meaning of the abundance of mitzvos: they are not an additional burden but a gift, since every prohibition and every command - even those a person would avoid on his own - becomes a source of merit. This is the meaning of "The Holy One, Blessed is He, wished to grant merit to Israel."
Thank you very much for joining in the study of Maseches Makkos. We look forward to learning Maseches Shevuos together with you.