Fulfillment of Jesus: Daily Mass Homily--Wednesday, March 11th, 2015

(Listen to this homily here).

            There was a very important word used in our Gospel this morning—fulfill.  Jesus said to his audience, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the law and the prophets.  I have come not to abolish but to fulfill.” 

            So what does fulfill mean?  Finish.  Complete.  Yes.  Jesus finished, or completed, everything in the Old Testament (referring to the law and the prophets means the OT). 

            Now I’ve often quizzed you.  Here is your chance to quiz me.  I would like you to tell me of a story or person in the Old Testament, and I will tell you this points to Jesus.

            Adam and Eve.  Good example.  Did you know that both Adam and Jesus were born without sin?  Jesus is known as the new Adam because he chose to be obedient to God, where Adam was disobedient.  And Jesus did this in a garden!

Next?  Noah.  Hmm…Noah.  Well for starters, Noah was saved on a what?  An ark.  And what was the ark made of?  Wood.  And how are we saved?  Jesus was crucified on a piece of wood for our sins—the cross.  Also, Noah and the great flood points to being saved through Baptism.

            What else?  David and Goliath.  There’s another good one.  Well what was David?  What did he do?  He was a shepherd.  And who did Jesus say he was—the Good Shepherd.  Jesus took on Goliath in the spiritual world—not a giant of a man but sin and death itself.  And Jesus, like David, won.

            One more.  Jonah and the whale.  Jesus himself spoke about Jonah.  He said, “Just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the whale, so too will the son of man be three days and three nights in the earth.”

            Everything in the Old Testament points to Jesus.  Jesus came to fulfill—to complete—every person and event that came before him.  This is who we come to in Mass this morning.