My Dear People,

We find most extensive treatment on the relationship between Jesus and the Torah in all four Gospels. Jesus lays the foundational principles for his relationship with the Old Covenant law, then offers a series of examples that vividly illustrate the lofty conduct to which his disciples are called. 

Jesus speaks of the law and the prophets, a reference to the entirety of the Hebrew Scriptures. In saying that he has come not to abolish them, but to fulfill them, he claims to bring to realization all that the Old Testament anticipated. In Matthew the verb “to fulfill” is rarely used in the sense of “to carry out.” Most often it refers to Christ’s bringing Old Testament expectations to fulfillment. Jesus declares that “the law prophesied,” which implies that the law, like the prophets, pointed ahead to a future fulfillment. Jesu fulfills the law and prophets in one way through his entire life, death, and resurrection, as Matthew’s fulfillment quotations indicate. In another sense Jesus brings the law to fulfillment in his teaching, by showing the kind of life to which the law ultimately pointed (5:17).

“Amen, I say to you” is Jesus’ way of solemnly introducing an authoritative statement. It is used thirty-one times in Matthew. Here, it introduces Jesus’ teaching about the law’s enduring validity. Jesus sees himself and his teaching as being in continuity with Israel’s religious heritage. As 5:21-48 will make clear, Jesus is the authoritative interpreter of the Torah, transcending some traditional understandings of the law and revealing that to which the law ultimately directed. He explains that true faithfulness to God’s underlying purpose of the law sometimes demands an interiorizing of the legal precepts without diminishing their literal force (5:21-30). Sometimes faithfulness to God’s purpose requires following a higher standard than is expressed in the law—a standard that reflects God’s ultimate intention for his people.  It  even demands setting aside one’s rights under the law in order to practice charity in imitation of the father (5:43-48). In sum, the law itself is not abolished, rather its role as Christ brings forth its deeper meaning. It is in this sense that the smallest letter of the law remains until heaven and earth pass away and until all things have taken place. The law retains its status as God’s revealed word, and one must continue to teach and obey these commandments. But disciples must now follow the law in light of Christ’s authoritative interpretation.

Following Christ’s elucidation of the law, his disciples must pursue a righteousness that surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees.  In terms of external obedience to the law’s regulations, the scribes and Pharisees were known as model followers of the Torah. But Jesus’ teaching calls for “a radical interiorization, a total obedience to God, a complete self-giving to neighbor, that carries the ethical thrust of the law to the God-willed conclusion.”  Thus, the standard of righteousness demanded of disciples goes beyond that of the scribes and Pharisees. It requires much more than external conformity and obedience toward the heavenly Father that radiates God’s love to the world (see 5;48).

Jesus offers six vivid illustrations of the surpassing righteousness to which he calls his disciples. He sets up these examples with the phrase You have heard that it was said, or it was also said, introducing either a quote from or an allusion to the law, sometimes with a mention of how the law was understood and applied. This is followed by the words “But I say to you,” which mark  a solemn pronouncement by Jesus bringing forth the deeper meaning of the law and how it is to be lived out in the kingdom. Jesus presents his teaching with the same authority as that by which God gave the law to Moses. This must certainly have aroused the attention of his listeners.

Jesus calls his disciples to a higher standard than that of the scribes and Pharisees and he brings out the true meaning of the law. External conformity to the law is not enough. The law must be interiorized so that it penetrates one’s heart and leads one to live according to God’s ultimate intentions.

Yours in Christ,

Fr. Vincent Clemente