Gospel: Matthew 5:17-19
Jesus said to his disciples: “Do not think that I have come to abolish
the law or the prophets. I have come not to abolish but to fulfill. Amen, I say
to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or the
smallest part of a letter will pass from the law, until all things have taken
place. Therefore, whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments and
teaches others to do so will be called least in the Kingdom of heaven. But
whoever obeys and teaches these commandments will be called greatest in the
Kingdom of heaven.”
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Reflection:
Do we obey, teach and live the laws of the Lord?
Jesus in our gospel for today speaks about Himself as the fulfillment of
the law. In effect Jesus was telling the disciples I am now the fulfilment of
those commandments from the Old Testament.
For example, the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20:1-17) which God gave to
Moses in the mountain of Sinai. Jesus summarized these ten to become the two
greatest commandments which states: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your
heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and
greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as
yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments (Matthew
22:37-40).”
Jesus summarized the Ten Commandments thus it became the two greatest
commandments of love. Indeed, if we really have Jesus in our lives there would
be no room for hatred, condemnation, self-righteousness, bigotry and
narrow-mindedness.
What would remain in our hearts is love for love is the advocacy and
language of Jesus. Jesus love for us is so unlike the love that we have. This
is for the reason that Jesus’ love is not a selective kind of love but love for
everyone of us no matter who we are.
This is therefore the exercise of love that we have to emulate: To love
everyone no matter how they loved us and no matter the sins that they’ve
committed against us. – Marino J. Dasmarinas
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