Many people, both inside and outside the Christian faith, tend to regard Jesus as one who stood athwart the Jewish traditions and laws. Before him, there were the numerous commandments detailing how Israel was to worship the Lord; after him, we are given the Beatitudes, the law of love. Were these not entirely separate things?
Today’s Gospel reading, however, highlights the deep continuity between the two. Shortly after pronouncing the Beatitudes, Jesus declares, with startling insight into the hearts of his Jewish listeners, “Do not think I have come to abolish the law or the prophets. I have come not to abolish, but to fulfil.”
Jesus reveals here that we cannot understand him rightly if we see him in opposition or in tension with the Mosaic law. Rather, he brings fulfillment of the law; he is the culmination of salvation history.
In years past I used to stumble upon this passage. What to make of all those statutes concerning the sabbath, or circumcision, or ritual cleanliness, just to name a few? Surely, we were meant to ignore those old commandments, and hold simply to the new ones.
Here, today’s Old Testament reading from Deuteronomy sheds light on the underlying spirit of the law. Moses exhorts the people of Israel to follow all the commandments of the Lord diligently, “for this will show your wisdom and discernment to the peoples.” We do well to remember that following the exodus from Egypt, Israel was a nation being formed in the midst of many other peoples who worshiped other gods. The law, with all its hundreds of commandments, was meant to set apart Israel as a holy people, consecrated to the one true God. They were not meant to blend in with the pagan cultures around them, but to stand distinct, priestly, and blessed in the nearness of their God. Israel was to be a light to all the nations.
Just as children require a foundation of rules that help to bind them to their parents’ authority, so too Israel, under the law, was a people being formed by the Lord. At a certain point, however, children learn to follow the rules of their parents not simply externally, but from the heart, out of abiding trust in their parents. The commandments learned in childhood become fulfilled in the character of young adulthood. Similarly, in the fullness of time, Israel was called out beyond simple exterior obedience to a deeper, interior obedience rooted in love.
When asked by one of the scribes, “Which is the greatest commandment?”, Jesus offers this twofold yet single answer: Love the Lord Your God with all your heart, and love your neighbor as yourself. All the other commandments were to be lived out through this organizing reality of love.
As we reflect upon this truth of the law’s fulfillment in Christ, I invite you also to step into the scene put forth in the reading. Consider the words Christ was speaking to his listeners, and you will realize the astonishing nature of what he was revealing. “I have come not to abolish the law, but to fulfill it.” Who could pronounce such a statement of fulfilling God’s law, but God Himself? Any man could attempt to abolish, yet none but God would dare to fulfill the divine law. Certainly, the explosive power of these words was not lost on Jesus’ listeners. Here was not merely a teacher, but one who professed theauthority of God.
Let us give thanks today, friends, for the gift of Our Lord, who comes to us not as one among many, but as the very fulfillment of the law.
