fulfilling the law - 3rd week lent wednesday 2019

What does it mean to fulfill the law?  Jesus did not come to abolish the law but to fulfill the law.  We know for example that Jesus in the eyes of pious Jews during his time violated the law of the sabbath by doing something prohibited on a Sabbath.  For one he healed on the sabbath.  In another he told the person he healed to carry his mat on a sabbath.  So, what does it mean to fulfill the law?

Fulfilling the law means to know the purpose of the law.  Why is there such a law?  For in knowing the purpose of the law, we can live out its intent.  Why is there a commandment against killing another person?  Because that person is a child of God.  Before he became a criminal or a drug addict or someone we find despicable, he or she is first and foremost a child of God who deserves respect and love.  A mother cannot even kill the child in her womb because that child is not hers but God’s own child.  

Keeping the sabbath day holy means to set aside the Sunday as a day sacred to the Lord.  It is a day of worship, a day of rest and a day of doing good to others.  A time set aside means we can have time for God, time for our families, time to really do something substantially good.

The commandment you shall not have strange gods before me means to put God at the center of our lives, allowing God to intervene or influence our business, our transactions, even to rearrange our priorities in life.  Many times our strange gods are no longer just anitos but our misplaced priorities in life.

Only by understanding the purpose of laws can we fulfill the laws like Jesus.