I Have Come Not To Abolish (The Law) But To Fulfill

02-15-2026Weekly ReflectionFr. Manasseh lorchir, VC

The Old Testament Theology was developed among the people of Israel to hold that one gets saved through fidelity to the law. The First Reading at the liturgy this weekend begins with this understanding. “If you choose you can keep the commandments, they will save you.” (Sirach15:15). This is understandable especially when one considers that with the exile, most of the important aspects of their culture and religion, with the fortunate exception of the law, were lost.

Their land, monarchy, The Ark of the Covenant as well as the Temple in Jerusalem were lost with some of them recovered only a[ er the exile. Only the law became what they could hold on to before, during and a[ er the exile, and so a natural sentimental attachment was developed around the law of the Lord. With Jesus’ publication of the Beatitudes as His “manifesto” in the New Israel, He was gathering for a New Exodus. Jesus seemed to have threatened the place of the law in Jesus Theology. In the Gospel passage at the liturgy this weekend, itself a part of the long Sermon on the Mount contained in the fifth chapter of Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus addressed this fear.

With His coming God, and not the law, would be the object of faith, and Jesus, not the law, as the source of salvation. However, faith in God and in Jesus as the Saviour (John 14:1) is demonstrable only in evidence of inner conversion that is shown in fidelity to the commandments. “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.” (John 14:15). Thus, Jesus concludes, He did not come to abolish the law but to actually fulfil it by highlighting its original purpose, directing compliance to its demands and teaching others to show evidence of love of God through keeping rigorous and authentic observance of its spirit. Keeping the law of God should emanate from a deep love of Him and a holy desire to glorify Him in our deeds, it is not keeping the law that leads us to God, it is the conversion we experience from our love of God that should lead us to keep His commandments in gratitude for the righteous relationship we have with Him. With this understanding, our observance of the commandments will become a virtue that exceeds that of the Scribes and Pharisees who kept the law for its own sake.

Next, Jesus elucidated practical instances where our virtue ought to exceed that of the Scribes and Pharisees in the observance of the commandments. In each instance, Jesus recalls a commandment and then names the interior disposition that makes the behavior wrong. Thus more than simply an exhortation to avoid one bad behavior, internal promptings at odds with purity, are shown to contradict God’s intention behind the law.

Jesus’ explanation of the place and purpose of the law affords us a clearer understanding of how we should approach God’s law. Rather than resorting to sterile scrupulosity, we are encouraged to first effect an inner conversion that moves us to seek the underlying kernel in each commandment so as to give it life by practicing it as a loving response to the love of God for us and so achieve greater good. May God help us to respond positively to His invitation of a loving relationship with Him and with our neighbor.

Please be kind and may God bless you.

Fr. Manasseh Iorchir, VC