Homily for 6th Sunday of Ordinary Time Year A 2020
Sirach 15:15-20; 1 Corinthians 2:6-10 · Matthew 5:17-37
Introduction
When you hear the word "law," what emotions are stirred in your heart? Perhaps if you have recently paid a hefty speeding ticket from those traffic cameras, I would guess that you might not be too thrilled about the law at this moment. But if the person who broke into your car has been caught and punished, you just might appreciate that the law is essentially a good thing.
That is why Jesus in today's gospel has a rather positive view of the law, saying, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets. I have come not to abolish but to fulfill.” And fulfil the law, he does. How does he do it?
Scripture and Theology
Let me explain, using the image of a typewriter, on which I learnt how to type. For those who were born after 1990, a typewriter was this clunky machine used to type and type only; no internet, no email, no Facebook and certainly no twitter. And for the older manual typewriters, if you wanted your work to be legible, you had to strike those keys really hard. Moreover, if you made a mistake, you had to go back and cover the mistake with liquid paper and type over again.
Then came computers – and secretaries of the world with one voice shouted "Alleluia!" Now they did not have to fight with the keyboard; now they could correct mistakes more easily and probably make a few more in the process, and if truth be told, now when the boss wasn't looking, they could also play solitaire or update their Facebook page on the computer. My point is that today, we use the computer to do everything the typewriter did and some. Computer technology has taken the typewriter, added to it and so improved it to enable us do many and more wonderful things. I continue to use my typing skills on a computer, because the computer did not come to abolish them, but to fulfil them.
In the same way, Jesus came to improve and bring to fulfilment what God had already revealed to his people in the Old Testament Law and the Prophets. That is why he strongly reminds his followers that “until heaven and earth pass away,” that is, until the end of the world as we know it, “not the smallest letter or the smallest part of a letter will pass from the law.” In other words, he does not do away with the law, but only improves it, to serve God and his people better.
In the passage that we just heard, Jesus provided four examples of how he is not abolishing, but improving the laws against killing, adultery, divorce and swearing. Let us focus on the first two, the laws against killing and against adultery.
Quoting the fifth commandment, Jesus says: "You have heard that it was said to your ancestors, You shall not kill.” And then he goes on: “But I say to you, whoever is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment . . . and whoever says, ‘You fool,’ will be liable to fiery Gehenna.” For Jesus, it is not enough to avoid killing people, something few of us actually do. Rather he goes to the root of murder, things that leads people to commit murder, such as anger and the lack of civility in discourse. How many people have drawn their guns to shoot others due to road rage! Jesus is extending the fifth commandment to include respect for the dignity and life of every person. If we begin by cultivating in ourselves the virtue of respecting life, all life, then we do not ever have to worry about killing anybody, because respect for life will begin in our thoughts and in our words, a much firmer foundation than any written law.
The same principle applies to the 6th commandment which says: “You shall not commit adultery.” Jesus, however, says: “But I say to you, everyone who looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” Again Jesus is pointing to our basic attitude towards other people. We should not use another person just as an object of pleasure, like we do a toy, since when that happens both people are degraded. But real love, real respect, is concerned about the good of the other person. And so adultery is wrong not just because it is a sexual act outside marriage, but especially because it is a serious injustice to the innocent married partner and to the marriage relationship. Most of all, it is a serious breach of trust and fidelity. Again, if we cultivate that basic attitude of respecting other people’s bodies and our own, we have little to worry about ever falling into the temptation of adultery. The first step to avoiding adultery is avoiding even seemingly innocent flirtatious thoughts and words.
And so how is Jesus fulfilling, improving upon the fifth and sixth commandments against killing and adultery? He is showing what the core and starting point of these commandments is, namely, thoughts and attitudes. That is why at the beginning of Mass, when confessing our sins, we also confess those sins I have committed: "in my thoughts and in my words." Thus without abolishing the Ten Commandments Jesus has explained their true meaning and even expanded them to apply to new situations. He has taken that old technology of the typewriter and morphed it into a computer that can do even more things.
Christian Life
And so, it could never be said of Jesus that he is a friend of lawlessness. Jesus was no Hippie! Jesus was a law and order man. Jesus stood for the rule of law. But he asked that law must have a new heart and a new spirit. He invited his disciples to look beyond the letter of the law, and also observe its spirit, which is always love of God and neighbour. That is why Jesus told the disciples: "unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven." For the Pharisees and scribes, rule of law only meant, fulfilling the letter of the law. For Jesus, "rule of law" means observing, not just its letter, but its heart and spirit as well.
Now how do we approach the law like Jesus taught we should?
The other day I was having a debate with a friend on Facebook about the many Church laws and regulations, some big like the Sunday obligation and some small, like when the reader asked you to switch off your electronic devices at the beginning of Mass. Why Canon Law? My friend was suggesting that Jesus came to free us from all those laws and restrictions – so why do we have these laws? He was particularly miffed at the fact that his pastor told him that he just could not wear whatever he wanted to Mass; he had to be dressed decently.
I explained to him that Jesus does not come to abolish law, but fulfil it. I gave him the example of what Jesus did in the Temple driving out the merchants and money-changers, who were defiling his Father's house with their wares. Jesus made it clear that for Christians, there was to be no messing around with true worship of the Father; that is the core of any rules and regulations regarding church attendance, whether it is the Sunday obligation or our comportment.
That is when my friend called me a Pharisee, suggesting that in insisting on laws and regulations in Church, we are acting like Pharisees. Now I have been called many things that don't really bother; but I really take great exception to being called a Pharisee. You see the difference between the law-abiding Christian and the Pharisee is that the Christian observes the law by also fulfilling its spirit, making exceptions like Jesus did on the Sabbath, for those situations that call for observing the spirit of any law, the higher law of Love of God and neighbour. For the Pharisee, however, the law is rigid, never making exceptions to it, being concerned more about the letter of the law, rather than its spirit.
Perhaps the position of the Catholic Church in this country on immigration reform best exemplifies Jesus' attitude to law, which both upholds the principle of the law and order but also admits of legitimate exceptions to it. This approach supports the need for a robust immigration law that protects the security of the nation, while at the same time being open to receiving immigrants, especially refugees fleeing persecution, regardless of their country of origin or religion. This approach also considers the situation of those who are in the country illegally, that is, without documentation, especially those who were brought here as children and this is the only home they know. Like the Sabbath Law, the Catholic approach is they be treated with compassion and forgiveness, in this particular case.
Conclusion
Like the typewriter which we have taken and develop into a desktop computer, laptop computer, netbook computer, tablet computer, smartphone, smart watch and only God knows what Apple is coming up with next year, the law is only an instrument, a tool What we do with it, particularly our intention, is what really matters. Like technology, law is a good servant, but a bad master. Are we going to observe the laws of God, the law of the Church and the laws of the state in a manner that brings glory of God and does the greatest good for his people or are we going to observe simply the letter of the law?
Let us remember the warning of Jesus: "unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven."
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