Jesus did not come to replace the Jewish religion with one of His own. A careful reading of the Christian Testament reveals that the mission of Jesus was not to destroy the faith of His ancestors but rather to bring it to fulfilment. There is a continuity that goes right through the whole of the Bible from the Hebrew to the Christian Testaments. The New Covenant did not really replace the Old. Rather it was a natural development of it. What is sad is that the Jewish people have not been able to accept that. Yet, from our point of view, we can see that - as Jesus says in today's Gospel passage - His purpose was not to nullify the Law but rather to bring it to a deeper level. The Old Law tended to emphasise very much the external. Goodness involved doing and saying certain things and carrying out certain rituals and religious obligations. Jesus did not negate these things. He simply brought our service of God to the level of the heart. The emphasis was not on action or behaviour but on relationships. The heart of the Law, He said, was in total love of God and of the brother and sister, whoever they are and wherever we find them.