Wednesday in the Tenth Week of Ordinary Time, June 10, 2020

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.”

“Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets.  I have come not to abolish but to fulfill.”  The Lord does not do away with the Law which he gave through Moses, nor with the words of the Prophets, whose very mouths he opened and filled with his message.  Instead, he has fulfilled it and in so doing has transformed it.  The old Law was but the sign of the new.  The sacrifices commanded in the old Law could not take away sin or offer suitable thanksgiving to God, but were a sign of the Sacrifice of our Lord on the Cross, which fulfilled them and which now is continually offered in the Holy Mass.  The commandments against killing and adultery were fulfilled by the Lord in this very Sermon on the Mount, with the Lord showing that they were signs of commandments against hatred and lust.  The sign of circumcision was fulfilled by the reality of baptism.  The sign of the sabbath, likewise, was fulfilled by the reality of the weekly celebration of the Lord’s Resurrection on Sunday.

“Not the smallest letter or the smallest part of a letter, etc.” In the Greek, the text literally reads, “not an iota nor the smallest part of a letter”.  “Iota” is the smallest letter in the Greek alphabet.  It is transliterated as “i” in English.  The iota is smaller than the English letter “i”, being barely a mark between the other letters in a word.  It has a long “e” sound.  Very likely, Jesus would have said, in Hebrew, “not a yod, etc.”  The Hebrew letter yod looks a bit like a curved single quotation mark ( ’ ) and can act as a consonant or as a vowel marker.  As a consonant it sounds like the English “y”, as in “young”.  As a vowel marker it usually sounds like a long “e”.  It is a critical letter for writing God’s name in Hebrew, which is done only with consonants.  Without the yod, the name of  “God” becomes the word for “a living thing”, a creature rather than the Creator.  The scribes, at least, would have understood this deeper meaning.  To remove the yod would completely invalidate the Law because it would remove “God” from its center and replace him with a creature.  But the Law came from God, and had service to him at its core.  Jesus says that no part of the Law will pass away until “all things have taken place”, that is, until the end of the world: “until heaven and earth pass away”.

“Whoever obeys and teaches these commandments will be called greatest in the Kingdom of heaven.”  These are the commandments of which those in the old Law were but signs.  Note, the one who “obeys and teaches”.  The believer must learn to obey first and then teach.  The example of obedience is itself the best way to teach.  The one, on the other hand, who breaks “even the least of these commandments” and teachers others to do so by word or example, shall be called “least” in the kingdom of heaven, which is to say, he will not be found there.

Jesus announces his commitment to “fulfill” the Law at the beginning of his Sermon on the Mount.  Next he will show what he means by this.  No one had ever spoken like this before, not the Prophets, not the Pharisees, not even John the Baptist.  This is because only the One who instituted the Law could fulfill it, could complete it.