“I’m not here to demolish but to complete. I am going to put it all together, pull it all together in a vast panorama.”
I just checked. I currently have only three panorama pictures on my phone. Only three panoramas out of 7,069 pictures and 626 videos are currently stored in my photos application. That’s not many! The truth is that I’m not very good at taking panorama pictures, so I usually don’t.
To prove it, below, you can see the last panorama picture I took. It was on a hike with some friends around Crater Lake in Oregon - it’s not a great picture. You can see my finger, the bright glare of the sun, and a lot of blur.
As we continue to move through Jesus’ sermon on the mount in Matthew 5-7 we come to this passage in Matthew 5:17 where Jesus says:
“Don’t misunderstand why I have come. I did not come to abolish the law of Moses or the writings of the prophets. No, I came to accomplish their purpose.
The message version of the bible puts it this way:
“Don’t suppose for a minute that I have come to demolish the Scriptures—either God’s Law or the Prophets. I’m not here to demolish but to complete. I am going to put it all together, pull it all together in a vast panorama.
Jesus takes a blurry picture of God’s attempt at redeeming humanity (at least it was blurry to those he was addressing at the time) and makes it crystal clear - he says if you want to understand what God has been trying to do, look at me - I am the answer. Jesus brings into focus his ministry using the law and prophets as his panorama as it were. He helps his listeners understand the broader context of his ministry and how He brings God’s plan into focus. God’s plan is the saving and redeeming of his creation. God wants to “put things back to rights” as author N.T. Wright likes to say - and the culmination of that plan is Jesus.
Then Jesus ends by saying something that would have blown the minds of those immediately around him. He reframes for his listeners what the plan is - not perfect keeping of the 613 laws, but a transformed and changed heart. How is your heart these days? Is it soft to the unfolding grace of God in your life?
I want to encourage you to watch this video by the bible project to help you put into context what Jesus came to do - it will give you an understanding of the panorama of God’s grace throughout the work of human history - and right to your heart!
Resources:
Book: The Day the Revolution Began - NT Wright
Website: Learn the Law - The Bible Project
Article: What was the Purpose of the Law? - Timothy Tennet