Homily 6th Sunday Ordinary A: The heart and spirit of the Law

Homily for 6th Sunday of Ordinary Time Year A 2017 

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, I would guess that you might not be too thrilled about the law at this moment.  But if the person who stole your car was recently apprehended and your property returned to you, you just might appreciate that the law is essentially a good thing. 

In fact, from ancient times civilized societies have been distinguished by their observance of "the rule of law."  Even all three Abrahamic faiths, Judaism, Christianity and Islam, contain this positive view of law, as something that contains the wisdom of God and his divine will for human beings. 

But as we heard in today's gospel, Jesus takes and raises this positive view of law to new heights.  He says: “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. 

Scripture and Theology 

Perhaps like some of you, I learnt how to type on a typewriter.  For those who were born in the 90s and after, 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 everywhere in unison shouted "Alleluia!"  Now they did not have fight with the keyboard; now they could correct mistakes more easily, 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.  Today, we use the computer to do everything the type-writer did and some.  The computer has taken the typewriter, improved and added to 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 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. 

In the passage that we just heard, Jesus provides 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.  Just in the last year, we have had two celebrity deaths in the Metro area, caused by road rage.  Jesus is extending the fifth commandment to include respect for the dignity and rights 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, 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 set a much higher bar of morality for Christians, by giving them new meanings and even expanding them to apply to new situations.  He has taken that old technology of the typewriter and morphed it into a computer with myriad functions. 

Christian Life 

And so, it could never be said of Jesus that he is a friend of lawlessness.  Jesus was no Hippie!  Jesus is a law and order man.  Jesus stands for the rule of law.  All he asks is that law must have a new heart and a new spirit.  Jesus invites 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 tells the disciples: "unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven."  For them rule of law only meant, fulfilling the letter of the law.  For Jesus, "rule of law" means observing its hear and spirit as well. 

Now how do we approach the law like Jesus taught that we should? 

One man who for me embodies best Jesus' attitude to the law is the late Archbishop Philip Hannan of New Orleans.  We probably know him best from the title of his book: "The Archbishop who wore combat boots," a reference to his time of service in the military as a paratrooper during World War Two.  In fact, he was also a strong supporter of the judicious use of nuclear weapons.  If you were looking for a law and order bishop, Philip Hannan was your man.   

And yet this rule of law man, was also a man with a big heart, a heart that cared for the little guy.  I will give three examples. 

• Archbishop Hannan never tired of fighting for the life of the unborn, calling out politicians who did not promote life, and doing this even in his 90s. 
• In the mid-seventies as the Vietnam war was winding down, Archbishop Hannan insisted that the Catholic Church in New Orleans should sponsor refugees from that country, who were fleeing persecution.  And indeed with his help thousands of Vietnamese boat people came to New Orleans, and not just Catholics, but Buddhists as well. 
• A third little known act of kindness from this man was during the days of integration in 1960s and 1970s.  When the City closed the public swimming pools rather than allow them to be integrated, Archbishop Hannan invited the children to use the swimming pool at Notre Dame Seminary, a practice that continued for many years even after he left. 

Conclusion 

And so, rule of law does not mean only observing the letter of the law; that is the old way that Jesus sought to change.  As Hannan teaches us, we can have rule of law, while also observing the spirit of the law, a spirit of love that always seeks to do good rather than merely observe the letter of the law.  That is what Jesus asks us to do, when he warns: "unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven."