March 15, 2023 - 10:49am

Lenten Meditation: Wednesday, March 15, 2023

Lenten Meditation: Wednesday, March 15, 2023

Matt. 5:17-19

Jesus today tells us that he is the fulfillment of “the Law and the Prophets.” “The Law” is a shorthand for the first five books of the Hebrew Bible (also called the Pentateuch or the Torah). “The Prophets” includes the books of Joshua, Judges, Samuel, and Kings, as well as the books attributed to a prophet, for example, Isaiah and Ezekiel. The Hebrew Bible includes other material, for example, the Psalms. Jesus does not mention those books, but the Church has always understood that he is the fulfillment of those writings, too.

In Jesus, then, everything God promised the Jewish people had appeared among them. Everything they valued had appeared. Jesus was freedom, justice, love, truth, righteousness, and all the rest. If you want to know what true freedom is, look at Jesus. If you want to know what true justice is, look at Jesus. If you want to know what true love is, look at Jesus. And on and on.

After Jesus was taken into glory, his Holy Spirit filled the Church so that the Church could become Jesus’ Body on earth. Our call as his Body is to let him continue to be all those things through us. How well are we letting Jesus live through us? Do people say, “If you want to know what true freedom is, look at the Church. If you want to know what true justice is, look at the Church. If you want to know what true love is, look at the Church.”

Today, spend some time thinking about your experience of the Church. Do you experience the Church as a community that fully embodies Jesus’ life: freedom, justice, truth, love, godliness, courage, tenderness? How are you doing your part to make the Church the embodiment of Jesus, the fulfillment of all that anyone could ever hope for? How could you do more to let the Church show forth more fully the life of Jesus?

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