Working with the Word

Focusing the Gospel 

Key words and phrases:    law ... fulfill, until all things have taken place, kingdom of heaven, righteousness surpasses

To the point:  What does it mean for Jesus to fulfill the law? Jesus sees in the law the means to the fulfillment of time (“until all things have taken place”), when the law will be replaced by righteous relationships within the kingdom of heaven. The fundamental law is gift of self to others. When self-giving is lacking in any act of keeping the law, the law in fact is not kept. We are to keep the law as the way to enter a manner of caring for and relating to others that leads to fullness of Life. Our model for so doing is Jesus.

Connecting the Gospel …

… to the Second Reading:  Keeping the law as an act of love (Gospel) is a matter of “life and death” (First Reading). We have only to make the choice.

… to experience: We don’t choose to fall in love, it just happens. But staying in love requires constant choosing, that what just happened by chance and grace becomes pattern and commitment. The same is true for the fundamental law of self-giving, which is really a fundamental law of love.

**From Saint Louis University