Gospel in Art: I have come not to abolish the Laws, but to fulfil them

Tulip from Tulip book 1643. Some paintings in the book were by Judith Jans Leyster, but some are of unknown authorship © Frans Hals Museum, Haarlem

Source: Christian Art

Gospel of 10 June 2026
Matthew 5:17-19

At that time: Jesus said to his disciples: 'Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfil them. For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished. Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.'

Reflection on the watercolour

Again and again, Jesus uses images of newness to describe the Kingdom He was bringing into the world: new wine needing new wineskins; new cloth that cannot simply be patched onto an old garment; the promise of a new covenant. There was something fresh, life-giving, and transformative about His ministry that could not simply be contained within old habits and rigid structures. Jesus knew that the coming of the Kingdom demanded renewal. Hearts had to change. Ways of seeing had to change. But...

Yet, Jesus never presented Himself as someone who had come to sweep everything away and begin from nothing. In today's Gospel of Matthew, He says very clearly: "I have come not to abolish the Law and the Prophets, but to fulfil them." Jesus stood deeply rooted in the Jewish tradition that had formed Him. The Scriptures of Israel nourished His prayer and shaped His language. He honoured what had come before Him, but sought to bring it to its fullness, ... a bit like a seed finally blossoming into flower. There is an important lesson here for us. The Christian life is not about rejecting tradition, nor about clinging to it so tightly that it can no longer breathe. Rather, the Holy Spirit continually renews the Church from within, drawing out ever more deeply the beauty and truth already planted there by God.

Maybe the image of a seed is helpful here. It is like a seed planted deep in the earth. At first, so much of its beauty remains hidden: its colour unseen, its fragrance still locked within it, its full shape not yet revealed. And yet everything is already there in mystery, waiting patiently for the right moment to unfold. When the flower finally blossoms, it does not reject the seed from which it came. Rather, it reveals the hidden potential that was there from the very beginning. The Law, the prophets, the prayers and hopes of Israel were like seeds carrying within them the promise of something greater still to come. In Jesus, that hidden beauty bursts into full bloom.

So for today, we look at a simple flower in full bloom, a tulip from 1643. At first glance, it seems such a simple image: a single tulip rising against an empty background. And yet the flower possesses an extraordinary dignity. The petals curl gently outward, streaked with deep crimson flames against soft white, while the green stem gently bends. There is no clutter, no distraction, nothing to pull our attention away from the fragile beauty of this one flower. Painted during the height of the Dutch fascination with tulips, when certain bulbs became immensely prized, our artist Judith Leisters had a fascination with tulips and painted a whole book filled with these beautiful flowers. Living in the heart of the Dutch Golden Age, she became one of the very few successful female painters of her time, admired enough to join the Haarlem Guild of Saint Luke and even take on apprentices. Yet after her death, many of her paintings were wrongly attributed to male artists such as Frans Hals, and her name was largely forgotten for centuries before finally being rediscovered.

LINKS

Christian Art: https://christian.art/
Today's reading: https://christian.art/daily-gospel-reading/matthew-5-17-19-2026-2/
Video: How art called me to the priesthood: www.indcatholicnews.com/news/55096