The light of the divine Law fulfilled by and in Christ
Today’s Gospel continues and develops the talk of light that we heard last Sunday. In Christ, Christians, his followers, are called to become what they are: the light of the world. Now, a fundamental aspect of this identity-vocation to be light is exposed: the perfect fulfillment, like Christ, of the divine Law for a “higher righteousness” before God. Here, in order not to fall into the usual moralistic, or even worse, legalistic-casuistic interpretation of Jesus’ saving words, we need to keep in mind the totality of God’s and Christ’s teaching in the Scriptures, and above all, we need to ask the Holy Spirit to help us in our brief reflection, so that we may welcome into Jesus’ discourse not the “dead letters,” but that of his true spirit that gives abundant life in God.
1. The Light of God’s Torah Reaches Full Splendor in Christ
First of all, it should be remembered that in the Bible, the commandments of the Torah, that is, the whole of God’s Law, are praised as God’s perfect gift to refresh the soul and enlighten the eyes (cf. Ps. 19:8-9 [18B:1-3]). Therefore, the divine Torah is regarded as God’s light and wisdom for the salvation of the world (cf. Wis 18:4: “[through God’s children] the imperishable light of the law was to be given to the world.”). In such a perspective, the important aspect of the Servant of God’s mission will also be to bring to the distant islands the divine light, understood as the authentic teaching of God who saves (cf. Is 42:6-7; 49:6).
What is recalled helps us understand Jesus’ apologetic insistence on his faithful fulfillment of the Law and the Prophets: “Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets. I have come not to abolish but to fulfill. Amen, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, the smallest letter or the smallest part of a letter will pass from the law, until all things have taken place.” To use a play on words, Jesus is “Light from Light” who is God, and not Light separately or differently from Light!
In this view, if the Torah is already the light of God, it now reaches its full splendor in Jesus Christ who, in word and deed, gives fulfillment to all that God had given to his people through Moses on Mount Sinai. This is the intrinsic aspect of Christ’s mission, as it is declared in the formula: “I have come for….” He, God made Man, is the new Lawgiver on the new mountain, that of the new covenant (let us remember the solemn context of this Sermon on the Mount!). We must therefore, on the one hand, always thank God for the gift of the Law-and-the-Prophets, understood – I repeat – as the totality of divine teaching in the Old Testament, and then scrutinize it in order to observe it and pass it on with fidelity and reverence; on the other hand, we must always look to Christ to see and follow the genuine splendor of divine Law. As Christ, the Word of God, is the only revealer or literal “exegete” of God the Father according to what is stated in Jn. 1:18 (“No one has ever seen God. The only Son, God, who is at the Father’s side, has revealed Him.”), so He will henceforth be the only authentic interpreter of the precepts God has given to His faithful.
2. “But I say to you.” Christ – Authoritative Measure of the Observance of Divine Law
As the authentic interpreter of the divine Law, Jesus now indicates with authority what will be the true and faithful fulfillment of God’s precepts transmitted from “ancient” times. And he does so with a series of antitheses: “It was said…” and “but I say to you.” Indeed, the intention here is not to abolish, but to fulfill, and even to perfection (!), for “You [God] have commanded that your precepts be diligently kept” (Ps. 119; responsorial psalm). And the perfect fulfillment of the precepts will be that in the spirit of the Preceptor and Lawgiver, and not according to the letter and human explanations. Thus, specifically, the commandment not to kill also warns against “murderous attitudes” of hatred or contempt in words and in the depths of the heart. The same thing applies to “do not commit adultery,” which is meant to ask us to be vigilant already about the intention that will lead to the act.
By the way, it should be emphasized that, even in Christ’s words, one must follow not “dead letters,” but the spirit of the teaching that He gave often in the picturesque and hyperbolic manner peculiar to the master-teachers of Israel. Therefore, when Jesus teaches that “If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away” and “if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away,” He surely does not recommend a certain self-mutilation of the body, but rather a determination to have no compromise with the scandalous occasion of adultery. Jesus’ drastic words serve as an effective provocation to shake the mind and make people think about the true observance of the divine commandments. And for all cases, it takes intelligence and enlightenment to understand and observe the spirit of God’s teaching in Christ. That is, one must always ask with humility, “Give me discernment, that I may observe your law and keep it with all my heart.” (Ps. 119; responsorial psalm)
3. For a “Higher Righteousness” Before God and Men
Christ’s cordial invitation to his disciples, then, is to have a “justice/righteousness” that “surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees.” For clarity, the term “justice/righteousness” here is to be understood in the sense of “right attitude” toward God. It will have to surpass that of the scribes and Pharisees because it will be linked to the authentic fulfillment of God’s Law precisely according to the spirit revealed by Jesus and not according to the understanding of men, however pious they may be. Therefore, “higher righteousness” for entering the kingdom of heaven is not about a more detailed observance of divine precepts, even more detailed that is, than that of the scribes and Pharisees. Rather, it is about becoming more and more converted to Christ in order to accept and follow Him, the wisdom of God, in fulfilling and putting into practice the divine Law in the practicalities of life. St. Paul reminds us precisely of this “God’s wisdom, mysterious, hidden, which God predetermined before the ages for our glory, and which none of the rulers of this age knew; for, if they had known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.” (1 Cor. 2:7-8; second reading).
So let us renew our following of Christ who alone has the word of life for His disciples. Let us follow Him, who is our Light, to have the light of divine life in us. By putting His teaching into practice and by His grace, we can carry on the identity-mission of “salt” and “light” in a world that seems very much conditioned by the mystery of evil. It will be our life to speak the Gospel of Christ even if in the midst of a thousand difficulties. And for this arduous mission, let us hear again the words of Pope Francis in his Message for World Mission Day 2023: “Today more than ever, our human family, wounded by so many situations of injustice, so many divisions and wars, is in need of the Good News of peace and salvation in Christ.” And let us always keep in mind God’s own exhortation to his faithful through St. Paul: “God is the one who, for his good purpose, works in you both to desire and to work. Do everything without grumbling or questioning, that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine like lights in the world, as you hold on to the word of life.” (Phil 2:13-16a).
Useful points to consider:
POPE LEO XIV, Message for the 100th World Mission Sunday 2026, 18 October 2026
One in Christ, United in Mission
[…] In this context, the Church’s primary missionary responsibility is to renew and sustain spiritual and fraternal unity among its members. In many situations, we encounter conflicts, polarization, misunderstandings and a lack of mutual trust. When this occurs even within our communities, it undermines our witness. The evangelizing mission that Christ entrusted to his disciples requires, above all, hearts that are reconciled and eager for communion. Consequently, it is important to intensify ecumenical efforts with all Christian Churches, building upon the opportunities arising from the joint celebration of the 1700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea.
Last but not least, being “one in Christ” calls us to keep our gaze fixed on the Lord, so that he may truly be at the center of our lives and communities, the center of every word, action and interpersonal relationship, leading us to say with amazement: “It is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me” (Gal 2:20). By constantly listening to his word and through the grace of the Sacraments, it will be possible for us to become living stones in the Church. Today, the Church is called to take up the fundamental themes of the Second Vatican Council and the subsequent Papal Magisterium, in particular that of Pope Francis. In fact, as Saint Paul says, “we do not proclaim ourselves; we proclaim Jesus Christ as Lord” (2 Cor 4:5). For this reason, I reiterate the words of Saint Paul VI: “There is no true evangelization if the name, the teaching, the life, the promises, the kingdom and the mystery of Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of God are not proclaimed” (Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Nuntiandi, 22). This process of genuine evangelization begins in the heart of every Christian in order to reach all of humanity. […]
CATECHISM OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH
I. JESUS AND THE LAW
577 At the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus issued a solemn warning in which he presented God’s law, given on Sinai during the first covenant, in light of the grace of the New Covenant:
Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets: I have come not to abolish but to fulfil. For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth pass away, not one letter, not one stroke of a letter, will pass from the law, until all is accomplished. Therefore, whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches others to do the same, will be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.
578 Jesus, Israel’s Messiah and therefore the greatest in the kingdom of heaven, was to fulfil the Law by keeping it in its all embracing detail – according to his own words, down to “the least of these commandments”. He is in fact the only one who could keep it perfectly. On their own admission the Jews were never able to observe the Law in its entirety without violating the least of its precepts. This is why every year on the Day of Atonement the children of Israel ask God’s forgiveness for their transgressions of the Law. the Law indeed makes up one inseparable whole, and St. James recalls, “Whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it.”
579 This principle of integral observance of the Law not only in letter but in spirit was dear to the Pharisees. By giving Israel this principle they had led many Jews of Jesus’ time to an extreme religious zeal. This zeal, were it not to lapse into “hypocritical” casuistry, could only prepare the People for the unprecedented intervention of God through the perfect fulfilment of the Law by the only Righteous One in place of all sinners.
580 The perfect fulfilment of the Law could be the work of none but the divine legislator, born subject to the Law in the person of the Son. In Jesus, the Law no longer appears engraved on tables of stone but “upon the heart” of the Servant who becomes “a covenant to the people”, because he will “faithfully bring forth justice”. Jesus fulfils the Law to the point of taking upon himself “the curse of the Law” incurred by those who do not “abide by the things written in the book of the Law, and do them”, for his death took place to redeem them “from the transgressions under the first covenant”.
581 The Jewish people and their spiritual leaders viewed Jesus as a rabbi. He often argued within the framework of rabbinical interpretation of the Law. Yet Jesus could not help but offend the teachers of the Law, for he was not content to propose his interpretation alongside theirs but taught the people “as one who had authority, and not as their scribes”. In Jesus, the same Word of God that had resounded on Mount Sinai to give the written Law to Moses, made itself heard anew on the Mount of the Beatitudes. Jesus did not abolish the Law but fulfilled it by giving its ultimate interpretation in a divine way: “You have heard that it was said to the men of old. . . But I say to you. . .” With this same divine authority, he disavowed certain human traditions of the Pharisees that were “making void the word of God”.
582 Going even further, Jesus perfects the dietary law, so important in Jewish daily life, by revealing its pedagogical meaning through a divine interpretation: “Whatever goes into a man from outside cannot defile him. . . (Thus he declared all foods clean.). . . What comes out of a man is what defiles a man. For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts. . .” In presenting with divine authority the definitive interpretation of the Law, Jesus found himself confronted by certain teachers of the Law who did not accept his interpretation of the Law, guaranteed though it was by the divine signs that accompanied it. This was the case especially with the sabbath laws, for he recalls, often with rabbinical arguments, that the sabbath rest is not violated by serving God and neighbour, which his own healings did.