Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time – Sr. Sharon McMillan, SNDdeN February 15, 2026 Matthew 5: 17-37 From the beginning of Jesus’ public life, Matthew identifies Jesus as the Wisdom of God incarnate, the new Moses, the authentic teacher of God’s Law. After Jesus moves from Nazareth to Capernaum and then calls his first disciples, he immediately ascends the mountain and begins to teach his disciples with divine power and authority: “You have heard that it was said…but I say to you.” He reveals the new Law and the new Covenant for a new people. We know that Jesus was a thoroughly observant Jew who was devoted to keeping the Law. So Matthew assures us, at the very beginning of today’s Gospel passage, that Jesus has not come to abolish the Jewish law but to fulfill it. We see him deepen and radicalize Old Testament teaching, returning it to God’s original intention. Jesus dares to explicitly modify or correct what God had said through Moses. The traditional interpretations which Jesus repeats are presented as inadequate, not false. Jesus takes each teaching and then goes to its root meaning, never relaxing the Law but making it more demanding. For Jesus the goal […]