SCRIPTURE READINGS TODAY, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 26, 2014 Scripture today: Deuteronomy 4: 5-9; Psalm 147; Matthew 5: 17-19 Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished. Anyone who 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 puts into practice and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. (Matthew 5: 17-19) REFLECTION ON CHRIST AND THE SCRIPTURES Christ and the Scriptures Let us think of that forlorn Sunday morning, the first day of the week following a most sombre Sabbath, when two men were walking from Jerusalem to the village of Emmaus. They were joined by a stranger. We know the sequel. The two explained to him that “Jesus of Nazareth, a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and the people” had been delivered up to death by “the chief priests and our rulers,” who had him crucified. This was a great prophet! It was a catastrophic Fr. Ted Tyleroutcome, and the light had gone from their lives. Now, what had led to this terrible event? Pilate, we are told, saw very clearly that it was due to envy that Jesus had been handed over to him. But we know from the pages of the Gospel that their accusation was that he was leading the people astray. Time and again he rejected their interpretation of the Law and the Prophets. They repeatedly attacked his flouting of what they required for the observance of the Sabbath rest. He did and said things which went counter to the inspired writings on God himself — he forgave sins, and he called God his own Father. He was looming as the very centre of revealed religion, claiming supreme authority in all that pertained to God. In a word, their charge — or pretext, for it was inspired by an implacable envy — was that he did not respect the Law and the Prophets. He was therefore a spurious prophet, with some saying he was in league with the demons. In Deuteronomy 18: 20 we read that the false prophet who presumes to speak in God’s name shall die. Now, to all of this — apart from the witness of his own manifest holiness — our Lord replies in the words of today’s Gospel, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished” (Matthew 5: 17-19). Our Lord loved the Law and the Prophets — they were the work of the Holy Spirit. As that walk to Emmaus continued, our Lord would use the beloved Scriptures to illustrate the true path of the Messiah. Our Lord’s love for and repeated use of the Scriptures ought inspire in us a love for the Holy Scriptures. Week after week at Nazareth during those years of his childhood, his youth and manhood, he went to the Sabbath to hear the reading of the Scriptures. Let us imagine him accompanying his mother and foster-father to the village Synagogue, listening to the readings and to the comment on them. Little did the people of the village know who they had in their midst! Then once his public ministry began, he in his turn Sabbath after Sabbath spoke in the Synagogues, reading the Scriptures and speaking on their meaning. We are referring here to his reading the Law and the Prophets, and commenting on their true meaning. Of this, of course, he was the Master without peer. Time and again his enemies fiercely pounded him with questions, attempting to trap him in what he was saying. Their questions ranged widely. Which among the vast number of commandments in the Scriptures is the greatest? He answered without hesitation, and won praise. How could there be a resurrection, if it meant that a woman could be married to as many as seven husbands in the life to come? It reached a point where, we are told, they asked him no more questions. He was unconquerable in the area of revealed religion. All that the Temple aristocracy and their associates could fall back on was secret scheming. Any confrontation with him in the presence of the people was hopeless. The point I am making here, though, is our Lord’s love for and absolute mastery of the inspired writings. Further, he situated his own mission within their tradition. There was no break from them, no replacement of them, no doing away with Moses and the Prophets. He was in their line, but he it was whose mission was to fulfill their promise. The mighty expectation which they had set in train under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit was to be fulfilled in him. They, then, illustrate him. They light up his person and his mission — and we know this because our Lord himself used the Law and the Prophets to explain himself and his life, death and resurrection. In principle, they foretold it all. Let us strive to know, love and to live by the Scriptures with the mind of Jesus Christ. St Paul writes, let this mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus. Christ prayed and taught with the Scriptures in his hand. We have in our hands both the Old Testament which Christ himself used, and the New Testament which is his word. Let us love the word of God, looking on it as Søren Kierkegaard once wrote, as a letter to us from a dear friend. That Friend is God, Father, Son and Spirit. Christ fulfilled the Old Testament, and the inspired record of this fulfilment is the New. Let us never take the Scriptures for granted, nor allow them to remain long unopened. (E.J.Tyler) ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Second reflection: (Matthew 5:17-19) Christ the perfect Man Our Lord tells us that he has not come to abolish the Law and the Prophets, but to fulfill them. He is the fulfilment of all that God has revealed for man. He is the perfect Man, the One in whom there is nothing lacking in respect to whatever God wants of us. The good news is that not only do we have this astounding model before us as a concrete historical figure, but he has given us the wherewithal to become like him at the level of our innermost being. Christ lives now, and we can be truly like him. The purpose of life is to be thus transformed. It is through the power of Christ’s grace and the Sacrament of Baptism that we become like Christ. The transformation has begun, but much work lies ahead. Let us take up the work of seeking perfection, seeking to be like the perfect Man. Now I begin! (E.J.Tyler)
Posted on: Tue, 25 Mar 2014 13:54:56 +0000
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