“I have come . . . to fulfill.”

Matthew 5:13-17

“You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people's feet. You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven. Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.”

Tom Wright, Matthew for Everyone (Vol. 1)

This passage shows how Jesus himself . . . was, in fact, the reality towards which Israel’s whole life and tradition had pointed. . . . He had come to fulfill the law and the prophets. . . . Jesus wasn’t intending to abandon the law and the prophets. Israel’s’ whole story, commands, promises and all, was going to come true in him (39-41).

This was truly revolutionary, and at the same time deeply in tune with the ancient stories and promise of the Bible. And the remarkable thing is that Jesus brought it all into reality in his own person. He was the salt of the earth. He was the light of the world: set up on a hill-top, crucified for all the world to see, becoming a beacon of hope and new life for everybody, drawing people to worship his father, embodying the way of self-giving love which is the deepest fulfillment of the law and the prophets (41).