The Law in Matthew’s Spirituality

By depending upon Deuteronomy, Matthew features Jesus as the obedient son who fulfilled the law. Unlike Moses, whose disobedience prevented him from leading Israel to obey the law and realize covenant blessings in the land, Jesus fulfilled the law, thereby restoring land and people. He embodied the covenant promise, “blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the land” (Matt. 5:5; 11:29), and the fulfillment of the prayer, “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, in the land as it is in heaven” (6:10). By extending the mercy of God to those banned from worshipping God in his temple, the unclean were able to obey the law of Moses and offer the proper sacrifices (8:4). But the embodiment of obedience to the law of Moses was rejected by the priests. The only obedient son of Israel, Jesus now claims, “all things have been handed over to me by my father” (11:27). Jesus is the law that must be obeyed, his yoke defines covenant obedience. His law is neither land-locked nor ethnically bound. And so, the end of Matthew’s Gospel marks the end of Moses and the beginning of our spirituality, when the resurrected Lord with all authority in heaven and in the land commissions his disciples to teach his commandments beyond Israel, both land and people. For Matthew, then, faithful obedience to Christ reveals the fulfillment of the law of Moses.