Master·evangeli.net
Today's Gospel + short theological explanation
From “Moses’ Law” to the “Messiah’s Law”
EDITORIAL TEAM evangeli.net (based on texts by Benedict XVI) (Città del Vaticano, Vatican)Today, after asserting His commitment to Moses’ Law, Jesus Christ explains what its «observance» is about: this observance requires something more and not something less than justice. Is it a matter of a greater strictness in the observance of the Law? What is this "greater justice" about?
If at the beginning of the "Sermon on the Mount" the emphasis is placed on extreme fidelity, now we are struck by Jesus’ presentation of the relationship of “Moses’ Torah" with the "Torah of the Messiah" in a series of antithesis: "it was said to them of old… but I say to you… Jesus’ “I” is accorded a status that no teacher of the Law can legitimately allow himself. The crowd feels that Jesus Himself is on the same exalted level as the Lawgiver, as God.
—What of the Law did Jesus leave out? Nothing! So what then did He add? The answer is “Himself”. The centrality of Jesus’ “I” in His message redirects everything.