P ♰ C

by Jean Allen

Hillel the Elder, a contemporary of Jesus, was once asked by a pagan to teach him the Torah while standing on one foot. Hillel said, “What is hateful to you, do not do to your neighbour. The rest is just commentary.”

When Jesus stated that he did not come to abolish the law but to fulfill it, this was the law he was talking about. In fact, Jesus himself said that the two greatest commandments were to love God and love your neighbour as you love yourself. He said that on these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. So, in this Gospel where he said that not one stroke will pass from the law until all is accomplished, he was not speaking of all the man-made laws that had accumulated over the centuries that were the Jewish purity code; he was talking about the essence, the heart of the law: love God and love your neighbour. This is the law Jesus lived. It is the law he fulfilled. 

This Gospel directly follows the beatitudes and the salt and light teachings and Jesus was still teaching what the essence of the law really meant. It is not outward observance – it is inner transformation. One scripture scholar said that by fulfilling the law, Jesus brings it (present tense!) to maturity by revealing its deepest purpose, which is a right relationship with God, with one another and with all creation. For this scholar, fulfillment does not mean tighter rules but expanded awareness of the heart of God. (Michael Morwood)

To Jesus, this law extends to the minutiae of life. It’s not enough to refrain from killing somebody; we are called, through inner transformation, to refrain from even resenting anyone and to be conscious of the need for forgiveness of and reconciliation with those who offend us. It’s not what everybody else can see you doing, like attending Mass or saying your prayers regularly, that creates inner freedom; it’s paying attention to the health of your inner person while doing those things.

If you ask, Jesus will bring your inner being to maturity. It’s what he does.