Word to the Wise
Wednesday, June 8, 2022 - Wednesday in the 10th Week in Ordinary Time
[1 Kgs 18:20-39 and Matt 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 fulfill." [Matthew]
Each of the four evangelists composed his gospel portrait of Jesus for a particular audience at the time. The Gospel According to Matthew was clearly written for a community of Jewish background that accepted Jesus as the Messiah but continued to live as Jews in daily life and worship (with the addition of the "breaking of the bread.") This community would have been concerned about the status of their way of life and the sources of revelation that shaped it - the Torah, the prophets and the psalms. Indeed, their way of life would gradually give way to a new expression in Christianity with the acceptance of Gentile converts from all over the Mediterranean region of the Roman Empire. However, at the time of the composition of the Gospel According to Matthew, the issue of Jewish observance was a live one. The evangelist quotes Jesus as saying that he has not come to abolish the Jewish sources of revelation, but to accomplish what they promised. Indeed, the Gospel According to Matthew presents Jesus as a "new Moses" with a new law. The gospel itself seems easily divided into five books, which would parallel the five books of the Torah (Pentateuch).
All of this can serve as a vivid reminder of our roots in Judaism. The Eucharist is the source and summit of Catholic worship, but it is rooted in the Jewish Passover tradition. The "Old Testament" is considered the inspired Word of God alongside the New. Anti-semitism is a terrible sin against our own faith! The evangelist Matthew sought to bring assurances to a community that had lost the temple in Jerusalem when the Romans destroyed it in 70 A.D. and were trying to cope with the non-Jewish interest in Jesus. His gospel portrait of Jesus ultimately transcended the issue he was trying to address and gives us a fundamental catechism of Christian faith in the Sermon on the Mount (Chs. 5-7) among other treasures. AMEN