DAILY GRACE
June 10, 2020, Wednesday of the Tenth Week of Ordinary Time
Scripture: Matthew 5:17-19
‘Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets; I have come not to abolish but to fulfil. For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth pass away, not one letter, not one stroke of a letter, will pass from the law until all is accomplished. Therefore, whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches others to do the same, will be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.
The Word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.
Meditation
“Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets; I have come not to abolish but to fulfill.”
Jesus has just begun his public ministry in Galilee. Now he begins the Sermon on the Mount, teaching his disciples. They have followed him up the mountain and are sated before him, eager to hear all he has to say. Unlike other teachers they have heard, he speaks with real authority and conviction
Jesus speaks to them of the Law, something with which every Jew is familiar, for the Law guides and directs their lives. It is for them a summary of all wisdom, a sure way to God. Jesus tells his eager and attentive audience that he has come not to do away with this guidepost, but instead to fulfill it. “Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets; I have come not to abolish but to fulfill.”
This is startling news! In what way does he fulfill the Law, the Law given through Moses on Mount Sinai, this Law that has guided their people for centuries? How can he possibly deliver on this amazing claim?
Jesus does so first by living the Law perfectly himself. He is a faithful and observant Jew. He goes to the synagogue each week on the Sabbath and to the Temple for all Jewish feasts. But Jesus does more — he not only lives the Law perfectly with all of its prescriptions and rituals, but he also is himself the Law. He is the Law because he is “the Way,” the revealed face of the Father, who is love. And it is in allowing this God of love to live and act in us that the Law is fulfilled in our own lives.
Prayer
Live in me, Lord. Live and love in me so that you Law will be will be fulfilled in and through my life. You are our Way to the Father, be my Way and sure guide. Give me the grace to model my life on yours.
Contemplation
“I have come not to abolish but to fulfill.”