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Gospel: Matthew 5: 17-19
Jesus said to his disciples:
“Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets.
I have come not to abolish but to fulfill.
Amen, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away,
not the smallest letter or the smallest part of a letter
will pass from the law,
until all things have taken place.
Therefore, whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments
and teaches others to do so
will be called least in the Kingdom of heaven.
But whoever obeys and teaches these commandments
will be called greatest in the Kingdom of heaven.”
The Gospel of the Lord.
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Jesus divides Jews from Christians the same way he divides the bible in two. There’s the Old Testament and the New Testament with Christ as the hinge. Jews are still awaiting the Messiah, while Christians say Christ is the Messiah, God in the flesh.
At the very center of the debate are his teachings.
As Jesus says in today’s Gospel, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets. I have not come to abolish, but to fulfill.”
So, what Old Testament promises does Christ fulfill and how?
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He fulfills the Law. In Mark’s Gospel, a scribe approaches Jesus and asks, “Which is the greatest of all the Commandments?”
To which Christ responds, “You shall love the Lord your God with all of your heart, mind, body, and soul.” The scribe affirms his response. Then the Lord adds, “And your neighbor as yourself.”
Jesus puts these two commandments into full practice as he dies obediently on a cross, asking his Father to forgive his neighbors, “for they know not what they do.”
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Secondly, Jesus fulfills nearly three hundred prophecies from the Old Testament, including prophecies about where the Messiah will be born; the miracles he will perform; how he will suffer; even the mode in which he will die.
As the prophet Isaiah foretells, “He comes to save you. The eyes of the blind shall see, and the ears of the deaf be opened. The lame shall leap like a stag, and the mute sing for joy.”
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Finally, the Lord fulfills God’s great promise that his people shall inherit the “land.” Pope Benedict said in so many words, “Wherever the will of God is done, God’s kingdom – thus his land – is present.”
As the Lord himself teaches us to pray, “Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”
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Whereas some may see a separation between the Old and New Testaments, Christians see Christ as the foundation – not only to make sense of either, but also the hinge on which both depend.
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Image credits: (1) Gutenberg Bible, Wikipedia (2) The BLB blog, Blue Letter Bible (3) Christ, Pantocrator, Sinai