Christ said, "Do not think that I have come to abolish the law and the prophets. I have come, not to abolish them, but to fulfill them. Of this much I assure you: until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter of the law, not the smallest part of a letter, shall be done away with until it all comes true" (Mt. 5, 17-18).For scholars at the time of Christ and for those who have come after, it has been reasonably clear how the teachings of Christ simply carried on and built upon the law of the prophets. However, Monsignor Kevane's work, Jesus the Divine Teacher, makes the matter clear in a way which has not so far been achieved.
As a learned and recognized Rabbi of his time among the Israelites, Jesus had put Himself into a position where He could most effectively do precisely what He had come to accomplish: to fulfill the law. Jesus the Divine Teacher explains how Christ, in His Divine Wisdom, systematically explained the prophecies of old, built upon them, and gradually brought them to bear upon His basic mission which was to found His church against which the gates of Hell would never prevail.
This book, Jesus the Divine Teacher, is the next-to-last in the series of writings which Monsignor Kevane produced during his lifetime. Starting with the textbooks he authored for use at Heelan Catholic High School, Monsignor Kevane was a prolific writer: "The Lord of History," "Augustine the Educator," "Creed and Catechetics" - to name a few of his works. I believe there is a theme which lies at the foundation of all his writings and at the foundation of his own spiritual life, that God has been speaking to His people since the dawn of mankind, through His prophets, through His Divine Son, Jesus Christ, who came among us to fulfill the prophets, and through the Church which He founded to protect and pass on this Divine Message to His people until the end of time.