The Nature of Fulfillment

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Published on Monday, 02 April 2018 07:14

Written by Stewardship Today Staff

“Love is the fulfillment of the law” (Romans 13:10). St. Paul echoed the sentiment of his Savior who said, “ ‘Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets. I have come not to abolish but to fulfill. Not the smallest letter or the smallest part of a letter will pass from the law, until all things have taken place’ ” (Matthew 5:17, 18b). Those references to the concept of fulfillment suggest a term with layered meaning. In our day, fulfillment refers to the package and delivery of an e-commerce purchase as often as it does anything. Whether to reference effecting a cause, the notion of carrying out a mission, or the idea of satisfying a commitment or promise, we use the word in a great many ways. Jesus was a “fulfiller” of promises: he embodied love, and the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy rested with him. After the Resurrection, he spoke of both.

“Then the two recounted what had taken place on the way and how he was made known to them in the breaking of the bread. While they were still speaking about this, he stood in their midst and said to them, ‘Peace be with you.’ But they were startled and terrified and thought that they were seeing a ghost. Then he said to them, ‘Why are you troubled? And why do questions arise in your hearts? Look at my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Touch me and see, because a ghost does not have flesh and bones as you can see I have.’ And as he said this, he showed them his hands and his feet.

“While they were still incredulous for joy and were amazed, he asked them, ‘Have you anything here to eat?’ They gave him a piece of baked fish; he took it and ate it in front of them. He said to them, ‘These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the law of Moses and in the prophets and psalms must be fulfilled.’ Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures. And he said to them, ‘Thus it is written that the Messiah would suffer and rise from the dead on the third day and that repentance, for the forgiveness of sins, would be preached in his name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things’ ” (Luke 24:35-48). We share that joy, and we are witnesses to that fulfillment.