Mt. 5:17-37
Dear Friends, In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus is inviting us to totally change our value system. He is calling us to a conversion that embraces his gospel vision. He is insisting that we go deeper into life to experience the presence of God in our relationships and responsibilities. He is laying fourth the great gift of the Jewish law and teachings free from the burden of human compromise and distortion. It is a pathway into God’s wisdom and truth. It is a true guide in the darkness of our broken world.
Matthew is emphatic that Jesus is not breaking away from the Old Testament. Jesus brings us to greater depth and clarity in the Torah, the teachings of the Old Testament. He is clearly showing the true meaning of the teachings that had not matured sufficiently. He is inviting us to go deeper to find the true meaning in all the wisdom and beauty God’s message in the Old Testament. Jesus is emphasizing the importance of the heart as the source of interpretation that moves beyond a rigid and legalistic observance.
In today’s selection from Matthew, there are four of six statements that begin, “you have heard it was said…but I say…”. They all deal with Jesus bringing us to a much more challenging understanding of the Old Testament teaching. They all deal with human relations. The four statements of today’s Gospel are murder, adultery, divorce and oaths. Next week, we will have the other two: revenge and love of enemies.
When I was a young priest, I was a firebrand for racial justice. I was abundantly blessed with the youthful gift of enthusiasm and cursed with an abundance of youthful self-righteousness. One day, one of my older and wiser Carmelite brothers told me I would be more effective if I worked at calling forth and not putting down people. Since the log in my eye was of the XXXL size it took me quite a while to grasp the wisdom of my brother’s advice. Slowly, it began to take focus. To call forth and not put down simply means to give due recognition to the human dignity of the other.
Jesus had a clear handle on the process. All six of his statements are a beautiful expressions of celebrating the people’s human dignity.
Here’s a thought on just one of Jesus teachings in today’s Gospel selection. In talking about, “You shall not kill” Jesus says, “whoever says,’ you fool’ will be liable to fiery Gehenna’”. (Mt 5:22)
Just think how important names and labels are in any movement of a group seeking freedom and dignity. We went from Colored to Negroes to Blacks to African Americans. We went from fruits to fags to queers to gays to one with a different sexual orientation to LGBTQ and, apparently, we ae not finished yet. Each of these changes was difficult, and often painful, because it slowly surfaced a deeply engrained prejudice. Each change was a step closer to the gospel challenge to recognize the basic human dignity of the “other”.
Today we can use the term illegal alien or one seeking the American Dream. Only one of these labels identifies the human dignity of God’s child.
The Gospel has a perfect example of this recognition of human dignity in the story of the Prodigal Son. In our common sense view of reality, the father would have been totally justified in angrily calling the son, “You fool”! (Mt 5:22)
The Gospel story tells us the father gave no such expression. His response was much more elegant and joyful. He commanded the servants to get ready for the party to celebrate because “This son of mine was dead and has come to life again; he was lost and has been found”. (Lk 15:23)
Jesus understood the Torah as the true path to a meaningful relationships with God and with our brothers and sistersGod wants his followers to see the Torah’s beauty and power. Jesus was not rejecting God’s revelation. He was reforming the distorted practice that had evolved. All of his gospel message is rooted in this gift to the Chosen People. The Sermon on the Mount is a call to wholeness and holiness.
Jesus is inviting us to ponder the depth of the power of the names we use for others. They need to express and celebrate the human dignity of the other. They need to lead us to call forth and not put down if we “are to be perfect just as our heavenly Father is perfect”. (Mt 5:48)
