1 Kgs 18:20-39
Mt 5:17-19

In the gospel reading, Jesus the Jew shows himself to be respectful of his own Jewish tradition, ‘don’t imagine that I have come to abolish the Law and the Prophets’.

However, he also declares that he has come to complete the Law and the Prophets, to bring their true intention to fulfilment. Jesus valued the good in his tradition but was also open to the ways that God was working to enrich that tradition. We too are called to value the good in our own tradition, but also to critique the shadow side to that tradition and to be open and receptive to the ways that the Lord is constantly renewing and enriching that tradition.

God is like the potter who takes what is there and reshapes it so that it serves his purposes more fully. God is always ahead of us in that sense; our task is to keep up with what God is trying to do. Amen.

Fr. John Peter
Kigoowa Parish.