I have come not to abolish but to fulfill.

10TH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME

I have come not to abolish but to fulfill. 

It’s a common theme in romantic novels and movies: after experiencing many ups and downs, a young man realizes that a certain young woman is the “missing piece” he had been searching for all along. She completes him in a way that no other person or possession ever could. So he professes his love for her, and the story ends with the couple married and living happily ever after.

This image of the missing piece can help us understand Jesus’ words in today’s Gospel. Speaking to the crowd during his Sermon on the Mount, he says that he has come to fulfill the law and the prophets. In Judaism, that phrase, “the law and the prophets,” is shorthand for the whole history of Israel: from Abraham and Moses, down to prophets like Isaiah and Jeremiah, all the way to John the Baptist. Jesus fulfills all of it! Every hope and desire his people ever had can be satisfied in his teachings and miracles, in his cross and resurrection. He is the “missing piece” for Israel, the One who gives full meaning and purpose to their identity as God’s chosen people. He completes them!

This same is true for each of us. Every one of our desires and hopes and dreams finds its fulfillment in all that Jesus said and did while he walked the earth. He completes us! His love can bind husbands and wives and children together as a family. His mercy can banish the guilt and shame of all of our sins. His call to “Come, follow me” can give new purpose and meaning to all we do (Matthew 19:21). His healing power can cover and sustain us in our suffering. And his teaching—especially in the Beatitudes—can point us along the way to a happiness that the world can never take away.

Jesus didn’t come to “abolish” your life (Matthew 5:17). He didn’t come to overpower you or to condemn you. He came to complete you. He is the “missing piece” we all long for and the only One who can make full sense of our personal history. Why would we ever look anywhere else?

“Jesus, you are the missing piece in my life!”

2 Corinthians 3:4-11
Psalm 99:5-9
Matthew 5:17-19