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"In sum, . . . Jesus wholeheartedly affirmed the validity and continuing authority of the Law and the Prophets; that is, the Hebrew Bible. He was saying that we are obligated to obey them to the letter (Mt 5: 17-20) and are called to be 'perfect' in our righteousness (Mt 5:48) -- but not in the way that the scribes and Pharisees defined authority, obedience and righteousness. It was a clash of interpretive grids – -- Jesus, on his own authority, on the basis of his prophetic reading of Scripture, against the reigning casuistic legalism of the major interpretive tradition of his day. He claimed authority to see meanings in the Scripture that this tradition and its authorized interpreters were not seeing, and these interpreters in their turn perceived Jesus' claim as a radical abrogation of Scripture and tradition, and a radical challenge to their own authority" (94 f.).

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