Daily Mass Gospel Reflection - Fulfill, Not Abolish

Word on Fire Ministry ^ | 03.23.22 | Aux. Bishop R. Barron

[MurphsLaw]

THIRD WEEK OF LENT

MATTHEW 5:17-19

Friends, in our Gospel today, Jesus declares that he would not undermine the Law and the prophets but fulfill them.
Jesus himself was an observant Jew, and the themes and images of the Holy Scriptures were elemental for him.

But what is he going to fulfill? Protestant theologian N.T. Wright has pointed out that the Old Testament is essentially an unfinished symphony,
a drama without a climax. It is the articulation of a hope, a dream,
a longing—but without a realization of that hope, without a satisfaction of that longing.

Israel knew itself to be the people with the definite mission to become holy and thereby to render the world holy.
But instead, Israel fell into greater and greater sins, and instead of being the catalyst for the conversion of the world,
the world was continually overwhelming and enslaving Israel.

And then came Jesus, who turned out to be, in the most unexpected way, the fulfillment of the dream.
From the beginning of his ministry, Jesus effected the gathering of the tribes of Israel
through conversion and the forgiveness of sins.

[MurphsLaw]

+++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.”

[ebb tide]

Protestant theologian N.T. Wright has pointed out that the Old Testament is essentially an unfinished symphony, a drama without a climax.

Boobie Barron has a penchant for resorting to non-catholic sources in his endless "reflections".