Matthew 5:17-19
Jesus said to the crowds, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets; I have come not to abolish but to fulfill. For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth pass away, not one letter, not one stroke of a letter, will pass from the law until all is accomplished. Therefore, whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches others to do the same, will be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.”
One of the things that people look for in life is fulfillment. That is an interesting word that has at its root the word fulfill. According to Dictonary.net, fulfill means–. To fill up; to make full or complete. As humans, we want completeness. We want wholeness. We want to know that we have accomplished something with our lives that will make a difference in the long term. We want to be fulfilled and to experience fulfillment.
In the passage from Matthew, Jesus talks about the fact that he has come “…not to abolish, but to fulfil. (the Law)” The Law given to Moses in the Ten Commandments and further expanded by God through Moses, was the basis for the Jewish relationship with God. The Covenant was the deal that God struck with the people that said, basically, “If you obey my laws, I will be your God and bless and protect you.”
The only problem with this scenario is that the people were a stiff necked people that continually broke the Law. They were unable to follow it and so God had to resort to plan B. He had to send his Son, Jesus, the Christ, into the world. His job was not to do away with the Law. Rather, he came to fulfill—to make complete the Law. The Law provided a good basis for relationship with God, the only problem was our ability to keep the Law.
Jesus gave us a completion of the Law. He was able to keep it. He was able to make it complete and full in his life. Through his fulfillment of it, we were offered a new covenant. Through his death, he made the ultimate sacrifice that fulfilled the Law and ushered in a new relationship, not based upon the keeping of commandments, but centered, instead, on the grace of a God that so loved the world, that he was willing and able to give his own son to the world as a sacrifice for the sins of the entire world. This was the fulfillment. God made everything right between us—through Jesus Christ.
If you are not a Christian, I am sure the following paragraphs have many words, terms, and phrases that make no sense to you. If you want to respond to this blog with your questions, I will be more than glad to try and answer them.
