“I have come not to abolish but to fulfill.”

Written for a predominantly Jewish audience, the gospel of Matthew is infused with the theme of promise and fulfillment—God’s covenant promise to Israel and its fulfillment in the coming of the Messiah. Today’s passage from the Sermon on the Mount introduces a series of examples in which Jesus teaches the importance of going beyond the basic parameters of the law.

For example, murder is forbidden, but so is the anger that incites it (5:21-26). We must love not only those who love us but also those who hate and persecute us (5:43-48).

Like all observant Jews of his day, Jesus was taught and lived according to the tenets of the Mosaic law. To confirm the truth of his Good News, it was vital for him to clarify to his fellow Jews that he was not advocating a radical departure from the foundational guidelines that they had studied and observed all their lives. As the very Messiah proclaimed by the prophets, Jesus developed the full potentialities of that law throughout his teachings and public ministry.

This passage anticipates the story later in Matthew’s gospel of the rich young man (19:16-22). He observed all the commandments, yet he was too attached to his “many possessions” to embrace the promised kingdom of heaven. In other words, he failed to move beyond the letter of the Mosaic law to Jesus’ higher ethic of discipleship.
Ultimately, whether we are rich or poor, our lives are journeys back to the God who created us and loves us. With the help of the Holy Spirit, may we use our time on earth to detach ourselves from whatever worldly cares burden us to anticipate more fully the eternal kingdom of heaven that God has promised.