March 23

 Wednesday in the Third Week of Lent

Matthew 5:17-19

Friends, in today’s reading, Jesus declares that he did not come to abolish the law but to fulfill it, countering his critics who accused him of being cavalier to the Torah, God’s law written by Moses. Jesus makes this declaration in his Sermon on the Mount, his manifesto about living God’s heavenly kingdom on earth.

What does it mean to fulfill the law? One meaning is to obey it. But a second, more profound meaning is to achieve the purpose of the law. Jesus was more interested in this meaning of fulfilling the law, or word of God, as in Isaiah 55:11:

“So shall my word be that goes out from my mouth,
it shall not return to me empty
but it shall accomplish that which I purpose
and succeed in the thing for which I sent it,”

Jesus is the ultimate Word of God, the Logos, through whom God spoke and created the heavens and the earth, and who was sent to accomplish the saving purpose of God. God’s salvation begins with Jesus’ arrival on earth, and is fulfilled in the new creation and union of a new heaven and a new earth. Then “all is accomplished.” 

Take this one step further – as disciples of Jesus possessing his Spirit, and as his Church, who is his hands, voice, and feet, how well do we listen to Jesus, the ultimate Word? And how well are we, as agents of the Logos, in transforming the world?

Reflection by Keith Tan