The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today invite us to contemplate how we act in response to the gift from God of the fulfillment of the Law and Prophets in Christ.
Crossing over
In the reading from the Book of Deuteronomy, Moses commands obedience.
* [1:1] The entire book of Deuteronomy is set “beyond the Jordan,” in the land of Moab (cf. v. 5; Nm 36:13), on the eve of the Israelites’ crossing of the Jordan (Jos 3). The Arabah: the valley of the Jordan and the depression south of the Dead Sea.1
Psalm 147 is praise for God’s care for Jerusalem.
* [Psalm 147] The hymn is divided into three sections by the calls to praise in Ps 147:1, 7, 12. The first section praises the powerful creator who restores exiled Judah (Ps 147:1–6); the second section, the creator who provides food to animals and human beings; the third and climactic section exhorts the holy city to recognize it has been re-created and made the place of disclosure for God’s word, a word as life-giving as water.2
In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus speaks of fulfilling the Law and the Prophets in the Sermon on the Mount.
* [5:17–20] This statement of Jesus’ position concerning the Mosaic law is composed of traditional material from Matthew’s sermon documentation (see note on Mt 5:1–7:29), other Q material (cf. Mt 18; Lk 16:17), and the evangelist’s own editorial touches. To fulfill the law appears at first to mean a literal enforcement of the law in the least detail: until heaven and earth pass away nothing of the law will pass (Mt 5:18). Yet the “passing away” of heaven and earth is not necessarily the end of the world understood, as in much apocalyptic literature, as the dissolution of the existing universe. The “turning of the ages” comes with the apocalyptic event of Jesus’ death and resurrection, and those to whom this gospel is addressed are living in the new and final age, prophesied by Isaiah as the time of “new heavens and a new earth” (Is 65:17; 66:22). Meanwhile, during Jesus’ ministry when the kingdom is already breaking in, his mission remains within the framework of the law, though with significant anticipation of the age to come, as the following antitheses (Mt 5:21–48) show.3
Larry Hopp comments that during this season of Lent, we need to consider our own individual commitment to knowing God’s Word and to living our lives to point others to Christ.
Dear Heavenly Father, I look to you to help me in my weakness. Help me to remain committed to delving into your Holy Word each and every day. Help me to stay focused upon cleansing my life and using it to point others to you. Forgive me when I have so often neglected this reason for my existence. In the name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus the Christ.4
Don Schwager quotes “Making daily progress towards God,” by Saint Augustine of Hippo, 354-430 A.D.
"As Christians, our task is to make daily progress toward God. Our pilgrimage on earth is a school in which God is the only teacher, and it demands good students, not ones who play truant. In this school we learn something every day. We learn something from the commandments, something from examples, and something from Sacraments. These things are remedies for our wounds and materials for our studies." (excerpt from Sermon 16A,1)5
The Word Among Us Meditation on Matthew 5:17-19 can help us understand Jesus’ words today about his mission to fulfill the Law and not abolish it. Jesus was speaking primarily about a fulfillment that comes from the heart, not from reluctant but dutiful acts of sacrifice.
In other words, loving Jesus and knowing Jesus will increase our desire to follow him and to make sacrifices for him. In the story above, Bill fasted from his lunch and spent time in prayer instead. And that act of sacrifice helped him love Jesus and want to continue this practice even when Lent was over. That’s sacrifice from the heart. Let Jesus do something similar for you this Lent. Yes, he loves to see you striving to stay faithful to your sacrifices. But even more, he wants to bless each step you take toward him so that you are doing them more and more out of love. “Lord, thank you for this season of Lent! Let me be moved by my love for you in what I do.”6
Friar Jude Winkler describes the great gift of ordinances that allowed the Israelites to become a community of the Law. In the very Jewish Gospel of Matthew, Jesus takes the role of the rabbi to interpret the Law. Friar Jude notes the demographic development of the Church after exclusion from the synagogue, favoured the interpretation of the Law taught by Paul.
Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, once shared a happy dinner with the beloved Irish poet and philosopher John O’Donohue (1956–2008). When he passed away, Fr. Richard imagines he was immediately welcomed into the communion of saints, living in the “circle of eternity” he describes in this passage.
The Celtic Irish tradition recognizes that the eternal and the transient worlds are woven in and through each other. Very often at death, the inhabitants of the eternal world come out toward the visible world. . . . Your friends who now live in the eternal world come to meet you, to bring you home. Usually, for people who are dying to see their own friends gives them great strength, support, and encouragement. . . .7
Our pursuit of goodness, truth, and beauty in relationship with the Trinity is guided by the Law and enhanced by the spiritual traditions of our ancestors.
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