Matthew portrays Jesus as the true King who fulfills the Law the people of Israel have failed to keep. All things find new meaning in Christ. He gives the new law, establishes a new leadership, and builds a new Temple. The message of change in Matthew’s Gospel is difficult for the Jewish leadership to accept, but it is good news for God’s people and for the Gentiles as well. Jesus shows the people in his teaching that they have relaxed the Law because of their hardness of heart.
He “raises the bar” by changing the standards that will be used to judge the people after their return from spiritual exile. He introduces the new law that will accompany the New Covenant. This message is a timeless one.
When we examine our own lives, most of us see areas in which we expect less of ourselves than God expects of us. If we read this Gospel carefully, we will see that Jesus is challenging and empowering us to a new level of holiness. To live out the gospel, we must be thoroughly immersed in the kingdom of heaven on earth (the Church).
-Ascension Press
Ascension has a online access to 𝑴𝒂𝒕𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒘: 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑲𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑯𝒊𝒔 𝑲𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒅𝒐𝒎, that you might want to check out!
