February 7, 2023 at 5:13 p.m.
Jesus comes to fulfill the law and the prophets
Jesus comes to fulfill the law and the prophets
Jesus fasted in the desert so that he could spiritually be closer to our heavenly Father. In the same way, we fast from meat and from eating one hour before we are going to receive Holy Communion not because it is some legalistic regulation that we must fulfill under the pain of sin. We do it not out of fear of punishment but out of love for God. For Jesus himself suffers and dies on the cross for love of the Father and love of humanity. Now I used two relatively benign disciplines of faith to illustrate the point that God’s law cannot be reduced down to some legalistic practice. Rather our entire lives need to be given over to loving the Lord and that becomes the prime motivator for us following the Lord’s commandments. Jesus tells us in the Gospel from Matthew 5:17-37, which is a continuation of the Sermon on the Mount from the past two Sundays: “Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets. I have come not to abolish but to fulfill them.” (Matt. 5:17)
In many ways one can see the Sermon on the Mount as the new law or new standard which Jesus gives us to guide and order our lives as people of faith. Like Moses who gave us the law (the Ten Commandments) at Mount Sinai. Jesus too in the Sermon on the Mount comes to give us this new law, this new standard to live our lives by. Jesus tells us in this quote that he has not come to abolish the law, rather he has come to fulfill the law.
In the conclusion of the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 7:12), Jesus gives us the Great Commandment which sums up the entire Sermon: “Treat others the way you would have them treat you: this sums up the law and the prophets.” Simply put, love your neighbor as yourself. Only love can motivate us to follow Jesus’ Great Commandment and everything else that is summed up by the Great Commandment is a reminder to us all that the way we would want to be treated — with respect and dignity — is the way we should treat others. Jesus tells us that we should never conduct ourselves out of anger and vengeance toward others, otherwise they will treat us in the same way. “You have heard the commandment imposed on your forefathers, ‘You shall not commit murder.’ I say everyone who grows angry with his brother shall be liable to judgment.” (Matt. 5:21-22) We most likely are not committing murder but are we causing the destruction of others due to our anger, hatred and gossip? This is the new law, the new standard lived out not by obligation but out of love of God and our neighbor.
Paul tells us in First Corinthians (2:6-10) that God’s wisdom is beyond our understanding, it is mysterious and hidden and so too is God’s love for us. “What eye has not seen, and ear has not heard, what has not entered the human heart, what God has prepared for those who love him, this God has revealed to us through the Spirit.”
Love of God calls us to turn over our entire lives to the Lord and this means we must be pure in heart and intentions. That is the reason Jesus says in the Gospel, “You have heard the Commandment, you shall not commit adultery, what I say to you is anyone who looks lustfully has already committed adultery.” (Matt 5:27-28). We live in a society that objectifies all people through pornography, human trafficking and other means of denigration of the human person.
The gift of human sexuality is treated as a hedonistic pursuit whose only goal is self-gratification. None of these commands were new to Jesus’ time and they are not new to us, but they still plague us now as they did then, and the only remedy is love of God. For by loving God, we can realize we are loved ourselves and in turn we have the ability to love others. The First Reading from the Book of Sirach (15:15-20) tells us, “If you choose you can keep the commandments, they will save you. If you trust in God, you too shall live.” We are given new life through Jesus’ suffering on the cross which is an outpouring of God’s love. Without this love of God in our hearts, we will continue to reduce God’s commands to mere legalistic requirements and by doing so, we will not be able to love as God loves nor will we be able to love our neighbor as ourselves. As Psalm 119 proclaims: “Blessed are they who follow the Law of the Lord.”
Father Anthony F. Ligato is assistant vice rector, director of Pastoral Formation and formation advisor at Pontifical North American College in Rome.
250 X 250 AD
250 X 250 AD
Events
250 X 250 AD
Comments:
You must login to comment.