God’s greatest commandment of love
February 15, 2026 – Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Readings: Sirach 15:15-20; Psalm 119, R. Blessed are they who follow the law of the Lord!; 1 Corinthians 2:6-10; Gospel – Matthew 5:17-37
“Jesus said to his disciples: ‘Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets. I have come not to abolish but to fulfill.’” (from today’s Gospel)
This statement of the Lord has been a source of clarifying questions for many. How do we reconcile this statement with Jesus’ conflict with the religious authorities over their being legalistic?
The key is in our understanding of the meaning of the law in Jews tradition. Our first point for reflection. The second point is to see the progression of Jesus’ raising of the bar of excellence in terms of living out the core ethical values of a Christian.
Then we look at how the Lord fulfilled the law and the prophets in His greatest commandment of love.
Reflecting on the meaning of the law
In Jewish tradition, the law and the prophets make up the twin pillars of their religion. The law is composed of the Ten Commandments and the first five books of the Old Testament, or the Pentateuch.
The law in this tradition was composed of basic principles of living an ethical life, which the religious authorities reduced to detailed legalistic rules. This was what the Lord condemned.
So part of Jesus’ fulfilling the law is to bring it back to its original essence—the basic core values and principles that defined a moral, ethical life. Of course, this is synthesized in the commandment of love, our third point for reflection.
Raising the bar
It is this bringing back of the essence of the law in the original intent of God that becomes the context or framework of Jesus’ raising the bar of moral, ethical excellence, now in the Christian sense.
And the preface to this is also a critique of the religious authorities of his time: “I tell you, unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.”
Then the examples that followed this statement were very concrete paths to holiness. It took on a deeper and more interior source of action or way of living. It fostered an alignment and deepening of the exterior action and the interior motivation that makes for greater integrity and holiness.
This is how we are to view these prescriptions of the Lord. There are descriptions of an ethical life lived with integrity and holiness.
The commandment of love
We come to the third and final point for reflection, the fulfillment of the law in the commandment of love. As Jesus stated (cf. Matthew 22:36-40), “Jesus said to him, ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment.’”
Then he proceeded to add the second greatest commandment: “And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.”
Love of God and love of neighbor became the greatest commandment. This was further made explicit by Jesus in his final discourse in John. “This is my commandment: love one another as I have loved you. No one can have greater love than to lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you.” (John 15: 12-14)
This is the fulfillment of the law. This is the Cross and Resurrection, Jesus’ perfect expression of his love for his Father and for us. This changes everything. This is the single greatest life-changing moment of grace for us Christians.
This is the fulfillment of the law, the lover of God that comes to us through Jesus perfect loving obedience that gave us the Cross and Resurrection.
And finally, this is a grace available to us for us to live our lives according to the pattern of the Cross and Resurrection that allows us to love one another as Jesus loved us.
