Brothers and Sisters,

Today, we celebrate the sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time. We continue our journey with Jesus through the Gospel of Mathew. Thus far, we met Jesus as he was being baptized, identified and affirmed as the beloved son of God and empowered with the Holy Spirit; we heard John the Baptist’s testimony about Jesus being the one God sent to baptize with the Holy Spirit; we met Jesus leaving Nazareth, taking up residence in Capernaum to begin his ministry and beginning to call his disciples… Simon, Andrew, James and John followed him; we reflected on the most important, the central and the core of his message, the Beatitudes;  we heard the great command of Jesus to all is followers: “You are the salt of the earth…” and “You are the light of the world…” (Mathew 5:13-16)

After giving us the Beatitudes and the command of Jesus to be the salt of the earth and the light of the world, Mathew gives us an astonishing statement of Jesus: “Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets. I have come not to abolish but to fulfill.” (Mathew 5:17). Jesus lays down the eternal character of the law - the law shall he fulfilled.

This saying does not sound like Jesus - many would like to see it as coming from the author or the editor of the book than from Jesus himself. Jesus often broke what the Jews considered to be the Law. He did not observe many of the laws - in fact, he was condemned and crucified as a law-breaker. Yet, he seems to speak of the law with reverence, deep respect – “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.” (Mathew 5:18) Jesus seems to say that the law is so sacred that not the smallest detail of it will ever pass away. What does this mean?

The Jews used the expression "The Law" in four different ways: (1) The Ten Commandments; (2) The Pentateuch - the five scrolls; (3) The Law and the Prophets meaning the whole Scripture; (4) the Oral or the Scribal Law. In the time of Jesus the last meaning was the most common and it was this law that Jesus chose not to observe. For many generations this scribal law was not written down - it was the oral law, handed down in the memory of generations of scribes.

In the middle of the third Century A.D., a summary of it was made and codified - that summary is known as Mishnah - it contains sixty three tractates on various subjects of the law - a book of about eight hundred pages in English. Later Jewish scholars made commentaries to explain the Mishnah - these commentaries are known as the Talmud.  Jerusalem Talmud has twelve printed volumes; the Babylonian Talmud has sixty printed volumes.

To read more of this Sunday’s reflection, please click on the links below…..