Daily Reflection, July 5, 2026

Reflection

When you understand the context of Matthew’s Gospel, there is a great richness added to the meaning of these verses, whose origins were probably Jesus’ response to his being rejected by the scribes and the Pharisees – the learned and the clever – in their failure to accept him as the Messiah.

Matthew was a Jew and was writing his Gospel for a community of predominantly Jewish Christians living outside of Israel, perhaps near Rome. His Gospel was written some 60 years after Jesus, and probably after the fall of Jerusalem after the Jewish revolt against the Roman occupation.

So his community have lost their Jewish heritage and are grieving. They have lost the Temple worship and have been kicked out of the synagogues and perhaps out of the homes of their families or origin for believing that Jesus was indeed the Messiah and Son of God.

Matthew writes his Gospel for them in essence saying to them that they don’t need the temple or the synagogue law tradition because they have something so much better in Jesus. Matthew presents Jesus to them as the new Moses giving them the new law of love. He is saying to his community, that they are in good company for experiencing rejection by the scribes and the Pharisees and considered sinners, just like Jesus, because they have believed in Him.

They are the ones who are blessed because God has hidded the truth of who Jesus really is from the scribes and Pharisees, who think they know God’s law, and instead has revealed this truth to them.

The Rabbis spoke of the yoke of the law. They taught that if the people wanted to be holy, they must keep all these laws and precepts strictly. By the time of Jesus there were 613 laws, plus the 10 commandments, that had to be kept on a daily basis. These covered everything – cooking, eating, skincare, working, clothing. There was no relief even from small details of the law.

Because most of the people found it impossible to keep all the laws as they were taught, they were immediately classed as sinners. Those who labour and are heavy burdened, therefore, were the people who found the law too burdensome to bear, too difficult to keep.

But Jesus’ law of love is the yoke they are invited to bear. The yoke of the law of Jesus is not complicated like the law expounded by the scribes and Pharisees, but is summed up in this sentence: You shall love your neighbour as yourself.

Fr. Ray Sanchez CP is the leader of the Oxley community and is responsible for Parish Missions and Retreats throughout Australia and NZ.