Jesus Didn't Abolish the Rules...He Raised the Bar

Chris Stefanick Catholic Show · Feb 14, 2026 · 11m

A lot of people think Jesus was anti-rules. He hated the Pharisees, dined with sinners—so He must be cool with whatever we want to do, right? In this Sunday's Gospel, Jesus says something that should stop us in our tracks: "Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets." And then He doesn't just uphold the moral law—He raises the bar. In this reflection, I dive into the difference between legalism and the moral law, why God's rules aren't arbitrary (they're more like the laws of gravity), and what Jesus actually wants from us: not behavior modification, but a complete…