Beyond the Surface

 

Wednesday, June 10, 2026

From the Gospel of Wednesday of the 10th Week in Ordinary Time (Matthew 5:17–19).

"Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets; I have come not to abolish but to fulfill" (Mt 5:17).

This statement of Jesus can be read as a response to those who misunderstood His mission. Some accused Him of being too close to sinners and therefore of weakening God's law. Others might wonder whether the way He proposes for His followers—the way of the Beatitudes—is practical at all in a hostile world. It is this second question that I would like to consider today.

Yesterday, we reflected on how we are still needed in that world, and how we are to continue allowing ourselves to be consumed in it whenever He asks us to. Someone may ask: when does He not?

I would like to call to mind an idea I shared previously about laws being made to guide and protect us who have already been saved, so that we may arrive safely at our destination.

I was happy yesterday while reading someone share her experiences on Facebook. She spoke about living among two younger couples who understood what partnership was about. Statements such as, "We will look into it," "I am yet to discuss it with my partner," and "We will get back to you," were common in their conversations.

This is not just about married couples. I am not married, but I have friends and have collaborated and worked with people at different levels. I can tell you how easy and fulfilling it is to live and work with people who do not run away from the Beatitudes.

Those people who are poor and therefore not attached to their offices, wealth, successes, gifts, beauty, and so on.

Those people who are meek, merciful, pure in intention, and sincere in their dealings with others.

Even those of us who struggle with selfishness, manipulation, jealousy, pride, and other weaknesses still desire genuine friends. We all want sincerity from others, even when we ourselves are still learning how to be sincere.

I hope these few examples help us understand better the deepening—and therefore fulfillment—our Lord is bringing to the laws we already knew.

As we will see in the next section of the Sermon on the Mount, He leads each of us beneath the surface, to the roots, intentions, and motivations from which our actions spring.

The fulfillment of the law is not simply stricter obedience. It is the transformation of the heart from which obedience flows.

Most of us have experienced being snubbed or treated with indifference by someone who claimed to be our friend. On the surface, the person may not have said or done anything wrong. Yet we deeply feel the weight of what is happening. Something inside us recognizes that there is more to reality than what can be seen externally.

From the next passage onward, the Lord will invite us to examine what we truly carry within ourselves. It is like someone going to a laboratory for medical tests. The outward appearance is not always the reality.

The truth is that most of us are afraid of such examinations. We prefer not to know. We would rather continue managing appearances than discover what is actually happening inside us. Yet the Lord does not invite us to look within ourselves so that we may condemn ourselves. He does so because He already knows what is there and still loves us.

The patient who avoids the doctor because of fear only delays healing. I still remember how terrified my siblings and I were of doctors and nurses when we were very small.

Therefore, when He calls our attention to what is inside, He is not abolishing the law. Rather, He is bringing it to its fulfillment. He is leading us away from appearances and inviting us to present our real selves before God.

The beautiful thing is that what He asks us to bring is not our perfection but our reality.

He already knows what is within us.

He knows our anger, jealousy, fears, lust, disappointments, wounds, pretenses, and struggles. He knows the parts of us that we would rather hide from others and sometimes even from ourselves.

The sooner we stop hiding and allow Him to meet us there, the sooner healing can begin.

Perhaps this is what makes the Gospel both frightening and liberating at the same time. Frightening because it refuses to allow us to remain on the surface. Liberating because we discover that the God who sees what is hidden is not waiting to destroy us but to heal us.

So when Jesus says that He has not come to abolish the law but to fulfill it, He is not simply demanding more from us. He is inviting us to stop pretending before God.

And perhaps that is where true peace begins.

Ifeanyichukwu Joseph Ezemba