The Law and the Prophets

Fulfillment is a key theme in Matthew. With the arrival of the Messiah, the time of fulfillment had commenced. But what were the implications for the Law of Moses? In his ‘Sermon on the Mount’, Jesus provided clear answers. He did not come to adjudicate the interpretive disputes between competing Jewish sects over the details of the Law but to FULFILL the “Law and the Prophets.”

Mercy, not Sacrifice

When Jesus pronounced the paralytic’s sins “forgiven,” he offended the Scribes and Pharisees, the allies of the Temple authorities. He alienated them even further by reaching out to “sinners” considered especially unacceptable by more scrupulously religious Jews. Seeing Jesus eating with “tax collectors” and other “sinners,” they insinuated that he also must be a notorious sinner.

The Greater Moses

In Matthew, the life and the deeds of Jesus echo key events in the history of Israel; not that he reenacts them, but rather that he brings the things that God began in the past to their intended fulfillment. He is the Greater Lawgiver foreshadowed in the story of Israel’s Exodus from Egypt. By presenting parallels between Moses and Jesus, Matthew sets the stage for the teachings of the “Coming One,” especially as represented in his ‘Sermon on the Mount’.