Christ fulfills the Law

On the 6^th Sunday of Matthew, we hear a short excerpt from Christ’s Sermon on the Mount (Matth. 5, 14-19). In it the Lord explains the relationship between his teaching and the Law of the Old Testament. The Gospel reading tells us that Christ wishes to fulfill the Law, which is the ten commandments given by God to Moses. The divine legislation is very brief and clear. And from ancient times down to this day, it hasn’t changed. In this extract, Jesus Christ tells the Jews that he won’t abolish this Law, but that he’s come to fulfil it.

Human laws are written, interpreted, analyzed, some of them are abolished after a time, and yet others haven’t been amended, though they ought to have been. Naturally, since we’re human, we create a lot of problems, both personal and social, which is why we need limits placed upon us all the time, so that we don’t step out of line. This is achieved through laws.

When legislators draft laws, they’re inevitably influenced not only by the conditions and conventions obtaining at the time at which they live, but also the social and political grouping to which each of them belongs. Some laws have loopholes and others are seriously flawed, perhaps deliberately. These can then be tested in practice and, after a period of time, can be amended and perhaps improved.

Here we see how different matters are with God’s laws. The Ten Commandments of Mosaic Law retain their value and have to be observed to this day, millennia later. And, indeed, in ancient times, in those primitive societies, observance of the commandments would have made social life more harmonious and peaceful, as is still true to this day.

With the coming into the world of Christ as God and human person, the old Law was perfected, but not abolished, and society then moved on to another level, it ascended another rung on the ladder of progress. Christ’s proposals for the improvement of human life were unheard of for his day and age, which is perhaps why it was so difficult for them to be accepted by everyone. Misunderstandings arose, there was, of course, fierce opposition on the part of the establishment of the time and, in the end, Christ was put to death.

We know that, in his earthly life, Christ fulfilled and observed the Law punctiliously, as it was kept in his time. And in this way he left us an example to follow. Can we, or more importantly, do we want to follow this example with all our heart?