Reading
Matthew 5:17-19
17 “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. 18 For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished. 19 Therefore anyone who sets aside one of the least of these commands and teaches others accordingly will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.
Comment
The iota is the ninth letter of the Greek alphabet, corresponding to the tenth of the Hebrew alphabet (jod), which is the smallest. The Greek term keraia, translated as "sign", means "horn", "apex" and probably indicates the small sign added for decorative purposes to numerous consonants of the Hebrew alphabet. The meaning of Jesus' words is that no detail of the law can be neglected, but it must come to fulfillment.
Jesus is an observant Jew, but at the same time he makes all things new: he reaffirms the ten commandments, but enriches them with the "Sermon on the Mount"; he observes the Sabbath, but does not exempt himself on that day from performing miracles and healings; he defends the ritual purity of the Temple, driving out vendors and money changers, but proclaims the new cult "in spirit and truth"; he celebrates the Jewish Passover, but with his Cross he inaugurates the new Passover, of which the old one was only a prefiguration.
The "fulfillment" of which Jesus proclaims himself as the maker is the fulfillment of ancient prophecies; he not only brings the moral law to perfection but realizes in himself the incarnation of the ceremonial law, the symbol of his full, perfect and sufficient sacrifice, made on the cross.
The reference to the law and to the prophets is present, a little further on in Matthew's Gospel, in Jesus' enunciation of the "golden rule": "'So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets'" (Mt 7:12).
Jesus affirms the authority of the Old Testament Scriptures as the word of God. This implies that the New Testament does not supplant the Old, but completes it and explains its meaning. The truth hidden in the ancient scriptures remains valid and now shines in the light of the gospel.
Natura non facit saltus affirmed the ancients: nature does not proceed by steps, but through an inclined plane, by progressive integration. So it is for some pages of the Old Testament, which can be "scandalous" for the man of today, steeped in violence, deceptions, and full of precepts that we struggle to understand. But there is a progressiveness of revelation, which leads to the epiphany of Christ.
Those who keep and teach the word of God will be considered great in the kingdom of heaven (v. 19): "Therefore every teacher of the law who has become a disciple in the kingdom of heaven is like the owner of a house who brings out of his storeroom new treasures as well as old" (Mt 13:52).
In Jesus we have the fullness of revelation. He does not propose himself as a simple interpreter of the law but places himself above it, as the source of it. Jesus is the Word who became flesh (Jn 1:14), to let us know the code of love, whose yoke is sweet and the load light.
Prayer
O Lord Jesus Christ, help us to recognize you as the norm of life and to conform to you, to progress in love and bear witness to your righteousness. Amen.
- Rev. Dr. Luca Vona
