“Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets. I have come not to abolish but to fulfill.”
It would really be unthinkable if someone, with such great power, would suddenly abolish God’s Ten Commandments. Imagine the chaos. Imagine the unimaginable – sins, in its truest and purest form, reigning over the land, consuming every being, until the generation we know now vanishes from this earth, completely. This is the reason that even Jesus, who is the greatest man that ever lived, did not even bother to abolish the law. And He has no intention to do such thing. He came not to abolish, but to fulfill.
Of course, the law Jesus is talking about is the law that God gave to Moses on Mount Sinai: the Ten Commandments. And these laws are still valid today. And they will always be valid because they are part of the natural law, the conditions necessary for human beings to live together in society in peace and in justice. We all are barbaric human beings – from the time Moses received the law and up to now. We need laws in order to effect order and put the barbarism in our hearts in check.
And how did Jesus fulfilled them? He tells us that love is the fulfillment of the law. When he was asked what the greatest commandment in the law was, he said, “You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. The second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments (Matt. 22: 34-40)”. Not killing will not fulfill the law – if you see hungry children dying everyday, and doing nothing about it. Not stealing will not fulfill the law – if you steal the future from these children by doing nothing to alleviate their plight. We are commanded to love God, our self and our neighbor. And it is the indissoluble bond between the love of God and love of self and neighbor that is the key to making love the fulfillment of the law.
Lord Jesus, You are the personification of love and the fulfillment of the law. You are the fullest expression of the love of God for us, and the fullest expression of the human response to that love. Teach us to follow Your example and be the fulfillment in the life of others. For only through a committed relationship with You and others could we fulfill the law.
In the sight of the nations, He has revealed His justice.
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