Fulfillment of the Law

Jesus said that it was completed after he was given vinegar to drink (John 19:28). What was finished? His fulfillment of the Old Testament. He said this after Psalm 69:21 was fulfilled. It was almost that Jesus had a list of Scriptures he needed to fulfill and once the last one was done, then he could let himself die.

But Jesus’ fulfillment of the Hebrew Bible isn’t just as the Bible as prophecy. He didn’t just see the book as a bunch of texts about the future that was going to be fulfilled in his life. Rather, he saw the Hebrew Bible as expressing three lives—the sacrificial life, the moral life and the national life, and he fulfilled both of these. The sacrificial life is the life of the anawim, suffering and being condemned and then being raised from the dead. The moral life is the life of love and generosity and of speaking the truth. The national life is the kingdom of God in crisis, but remaining submissive, remaining moral, continuing to trust in God, no matter what. In this last hour, Jesus fulfilled all of these. In Matthew, we have a number of Scriptures that were fulfilled as the sacrificial one. In Luke, we have Jesus concerned for the pregnant in the future Jerusalem as he was being attacked. In John, we have Jesus fulfilling his responsibility as a son to provide for his aged mother. In Luke again, we have Jesus speaking blessing to the thief next to him. In Matthew again we have Jesus knowing that he can destroy those around him, but chooses to be destroyed himself. Jesus fulfilled all these roles perfectly, and when he had done he knew he could rest and so he set aside his work by saying, “It is finished.”