Word to the Wise
Wednesday, June 11, 2014 - Wednesday in the 10th Week in Ordinary Time
[Acts 11:21b-26 and Matt 5:17-19]Do not think that I have come to abolish the law and the prophets, I have come not to abolish but to fulfill.
JUNE 11, 2014 ST. BARNABAS, apostle
Each of the four gospels paints a different portrait of Jesus, even while three of them share a lot of the same materials! In the Gospel of Matthew, which is featured now through the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus is portrayed as a "new Moses" who is the fulfillment of the law and the prophets. He does not come to abolish them but to personify them and inaugurate a new stage in God's plan of salvation - the ultimate stage!
Each of the four gospels was also written to address the concerns of a particular audience at the time. For Matthew, that audience as primarily Jews who had accepted Jesus as the "Messiah" but who had concerns about their way of life which was shaped and governed by the dictates of the Mosaic Law. Jesus gives the law and the prophets a new meaning in the "Kingdom" which he is bringing. The Sermon on the Mount is an instruction on how a disciple must live in that kingdom and proclaim it! I find it helpful to note that in the incident called "the Transfiguration," [Matt. 17:1-8], Jesus appears on an equal basis with Moses [the Law] and Elijah [the Prophets] as companions.
We Catholics should never forget our spiritual roots in Judaism. Jesus did not abolish those and the Old Testament remains the inspired Word of God. Anti-Semitism is a terrible sin with disastrous consequences, as history shows. We have accepted Jesus as the fulfillment and personification of the Law and the Prophets. The Sermon on the Mount as well as the life, death and resurrection of Jesus pushes us to be worthy disciples of so great a Kingdom. AMEN