Friday of the First Week of Lent
13. THE HEART OF THE MATTER (MT 5:17-37)
“The Christian life is the continuation and completion of the life of Christ in us. We should be so many Christs here on earth, continuing his life and his works, laboring and suffering…”
- St John Eudes
Matthew 5:17-37
‘Do not imagine that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets. I have come not to abolish but to complete them. I tell you solemnly, till heaven and earth disappear, not one dot, not one little stroke, shall disappear from the Law until its purpose is achieved. Therefore, the man who infringes even one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be considered the least in the kingdom of heaven; but the man who keeps them and teaches them will be considered great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you, if your virtue goes no deeper than that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never get into the kingdom of heaven.
‘You have learnt how it was said to our ancestors: You must not kill; and if anyone does kill he must answer for it before the court. But I say this to you: anyone who is angry with his brother will answer for it before the court; if a man calls his brother Fool he will answer for it before the Sanhedrin; and if a man calls him Renegade he will answer for it in hell fire. So then, if you are bringing your offering to the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your offering there before the altar, go and be reconciled with your brother first, and then come back and present your offering. Come to terms with your opponent in good time while you are still on the way to the court with him, or he may hand you over to the judge and the judge to the officer, and you will be thrown into prison. I tell you solemnly, you will not get out till you have paid the last penny.
‘You have learnt how it was said: You must not commit adultery. But I say this to you: if a man looks at a woman lustfully, he has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye should cause you to sin, tear it out and throw it away; for it will do you less harm to lose one part of you than to have your whole body thrown into hell. And if your right hand should cause you to sin, cut it off and throw it away; for it will do you less harm to lose one part of you than to have your whole body go to hell. It has also been said: Anyone who divorces his wife must give her a writ of dismissal. But I say this to you: everyone who divorces his wife, except for the case of fornication, makes her an adulteress; and anyone who marries a divorced woman commits adultery.
‘Again, you have learnt how it was said to our ancestors: You must not break your oath, but must fulfil your oaths to the Lord. But I say this to you: do not swear at all, either by heaven, since that is God’s throne; or by the earth, since that is his footstool; or by Jerusalem, since that is the city of the great king. Do not swear by your own head either, since you cannot turn a single hair white or black. All you need say is Yes if you mean yes, No if you mean no; anything more than this comes from the evil one.’
CHRIST THE LORD If any of Christ’s other claims to ultimate authority leave room for doubt, the one he makes here removes it completely.
The Jews are aware that they are God’s chosen people. Their individual and national identities stem from this acute awareness. They trace the origin of their uniqueness to the covenant God made with Moses: when God freed the ancient Hebrews from slavery in Egypt, he established them as the Chosen People, and through Moses he gave them the Law as a kind of identification card. The Law of Moses, then, was the mark of God’s unique relationship with the Jewish people. In this Sermon on the Mount, Jesus claims to bring that Law to its fulfillment. In other words, he asserts himself to be higher than the Law, and therefore able to explain the full meaning behind it – a meaning that the Jewish people had previously failed to apprehend.
If Christ puts himself above the Law, and the Law is God’s own message to Israel, then clearly Jesus Christ is claiming to have divine authority. Anyone who says otherwise has not understood the Gospel, or is trying to falsify it. Our Lord is also our God.
CHRIST THE TEACHER Each of the lessons taught in this passage could be expanded into an entire book. The core of them all, however, is in the heart. Our exterior behavior must follow God’s will (“Do not think I have come to abolish the law…”), but that is not enough. For a citizen of Christ’s Kingdom, the attitudes and desires of the heart must also be pleasing to God (“I have come…to fulfill…”).
Friendship with God (which is what Jesus offers) requires a union of hearts. If God “wills all men to be saved” (1Timothy 2:4), how can my friendship with him be complete when I harbor resentment against some people, or hold them in contempt, or tarnish their good name by spreading rumors about them or speaking ill of them? Christ is explaining the Law from this perspective when he explains the true meaning of sinful anger, lust, and lying. How can I live in intimacy with a God who loves every man and woman as a father loves his children, when in my heart I desire to use some of them only as objects for my pleasure and self-indulgence? How can I be a true friend of God, when I make promises that I don’t intend to keep? (Some Jews had developed the habit of swearing oaths in the name of God if they meant to keep them, and swearing on something else if they meant to break them.) Other people may be satisfied with exterior success, with a hefty “bottom line”; Christ is interested in every line.
CHRIST THE FRIEND The Greek word Jesus uses for “hell” is “Gehenna.” Gehenna was Jerusalem’s garbage dump. It had been the valley where unfaithful Jews in past centuries offered human sacrifices to foreign gods. When the nation reformed and such practices were stopped, they decided to use Gehenna as an open-air incinerator. Thus, the ever-smoldering and worm-infested valley became a symbol for the place where people who reject friendship with God suffer eternal frustration: hell.
Christ’s frequent mention of hell in the Gospels has caused some critics to accuse Christianity of manipulating weak and superstitious people by instilling fear. Nothing could be less accurate. Christ’s warnings are those of a friend. If you were in the car with a friend and saw that he was about to collide with an oncoming eighteen-wheeler, you would try to get him to turn out of the way. Jesus knows that we can only reach lasting happiness through friendship with God, and he wants us to be happy, so he warns us about everything that could damage or destroy that friendship. The truth is that eternity spent without God will be indescribably painful, because the human person was created to live in union with God. Since Christ loves us, he tells us the truth - even the tough truth.
CHRIST IN MY LIFE You care about what happens in my mind and my heart – where only you and I can see. Help me look there now; show me what is pleasing to you and what is not, and then change what is not. Please, Lord – you know I can’t do it on my own. You know how self-centered and wounded I am. If you don’t change my heart, it will never change. Jesus, meek and humble of heart, make my heart more like yours…
Why do you give so much importance to such little things? A false promise here, a lustful fantasy there, an angry or spiteful word now and then…Lord, why don’t you teach us about political systems and economic justice – the big picture? Somehow, the little picture of each soul matters more to you. Make me wise, Lord; teach me to follow you…
Some aspects of your will are harder for me to follow than others. Some of the Church’s teachings I understand easily – others not so much. It doesn’t matter, Lord. What matters is that I know it comes from you, my Creator and Redeemer. I want to do your will, no matter how hard. Increase my weak faith; Jesus, I trust in you…
QUESTIONS FOR SMALL GROUP REFLECTION
1. What struck you most in this passage? What did you notice that you hadn’t noticed before?
2. What helps does the Church offer us to grow in our friendship with Christ, to make sure that our faith doesn’t get reduced to a superficial, empty routine?
3. What has helped you most to grow in your friendship with Christ?
4. Christ links the action of murder with the attitude of anger and condemns them both as sinful. He does the same with the action of adultery and the attitude of lust. What does this teach us about human behavior?
Cf. Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1033-1037 on the reality and nature of hell; 577-582 on Jesus and the Law
“The Christian life is the continuation and completion of the life of Christ in us. We should be so many Christs here on earth, continuing his life and his works, laboring and suffering…”
- St John Eudes
Matthew 5:17-37
‘Do not imagine that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets. I have come not to abolish but to complete them. I tell you solemnly, till heaven and earth disappear, not one dot, not one little stroke, shall disappear from the Law until its purpose is achieved. Therefore, the man who infringes even one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be considered the least in the kingdom of heaven; but the man who keeps them and teaches them will be considered great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you, if your virtue goes no deeper than that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never get into the kingdom of heaven.
‘You have learnt how it was said to our ancestors: You must not kill; and if anyone does kill he must answer for it before the court. But I say this to you: anyone who is angry with his brother will answer for it before the court; if a man calls his brother Fool he will answer for it before the Sanhedrin; and if a man calls him Renegade he will answer for it in hell fire. So then, if you are bringing your offering to the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your offering there before the altar, go and be reconciled with your brother first, and then come back and present your offering. Come to terms with your opponent in good time while you are still on the way to the court with him, or he may hand you over to the judge and the judge to the officer, and you will be thrown into prison. I tell you solemnly, you will not get out till you have paid the last penny.
‘You have learnt how it was said: You must not commit adultery. But I say this to you: if a man looks at a woman lustfully, he has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye should cause you to sin, tear it out and throw it away; for it will do you less harm to lose one part of you than to have your whole body thrown into hell. And if your right hand should cause you to sin, cut it off and throw it away; for it will do you less harm to lose one part of you than to have your whole body go to hell. It has also been said: Anyone who divorces his wife must give her a writ of dismissal. But I say this to you: everyone who divorces his wife, except for the case of fornication, makes her an adulteress; and anyone who marries a divorced woman commits adultery.
‘Again, you have learnt how it was said to our ancestors: You must not break your oath, but must fulfil your oaths to the Lord. But I say this to you: do not swear at all, either by heaven, since that is God’s throne; or by the earth, since that is his footstool; or by Jerusalem, since that is the city of the great king. Do not swear by your own head either, since you cannot turn a single hair white or black. All you need say is Yes if you mean yes, No if you mean no; anything more than this comes from the evil one.’
CHRIST THE LORD If any of Christ’s other claims to ultimate authority leave room for doubt, the one he makes here removes it completely.
The Jews are aware that they are God’s chosen people. Their individual and national identities stem from this acute awareness. They trace the origin of their uniqueness to the covenant God made with Moses: when God freed the ancient Hebrews from slavery in Egypt, he established them as the Chosen People, and through Moses he gave them the Law as a kind of identification card. The Law of Moses, then, was the mark of God’s unique relationship with the Jewish people. In this Sermon on the Mount, Jesus claims to bring that Law to its fulfillment. In other words, he asserts himself to be higher than the Law, and therefore able to explain the full meaning behind it – a meaning that the Jewish people had previously failed to apprehend.
If Christ puts himself above the Law, and the Law is God’s own message to Israel, then clearly Jesus Christ is claiming to have divine authority. Anyone who says otherwise has not understood the Gospel, or is trying to falsify it. Our Lord is also our God.
CHRIST THE TEACHER Each of the lessons taught in this passage could be expanded into an entire book. The core of them all, however, is in the heart. Our exterior behavior must follow God’s will (“Do not think I have come to abolish the law…”), but that is not enough. For a citizen of Christ’s Kingdom, the attitudes and desires of the heart must also be pleasing to God (“I have come…to fulfill…”).
Friendship with God (which is what Jesus offers) requires a union of hearts. If God “wills all men to be saved” (1Timothy 2:4), how can my friendship with him be complete when I harbor resentment against some people, or hold them in contempt, or tarnish their good name by spreading rumors about them or speaking ill of them? Christ is explaining the Law from this perspective when he explains the true meaning of sinful anger, lust, and lying. How can I live in intimacy with a God who loves every man and woman as a father loves his children, when in my heart I desire to use some of them only as objects for my pleasure and self-indulgence? How can I be a true friend of God, when I make promises that I don’t intend to keep? (Some Jews had developed the habit of swearing oaths in the name of God if they meant to keep them, and swearing on something else if they meant to break them.) Other people may be satisfied with exterior success, with a hefty “bottom line”; Christ is interested in every line.
CHRIST THE FRIEND The Greek word Jesus uses for “hell” is “Gehenna.” Gehenna was Jerusalem’s garbage dump. It had been the valley where unfaithful Jews in past centuries offered human sacrifices to foreign gods. When the nation reformed and such practices were stopped, they decided to use Gehenna as an open-air incinerator. Thus, the ever-smoldering and worm-infested valley became a symbol for the place where people who reject friendship with God suffer eternal frustration: hell.
Christ’s frequent mention of hell in the Gospels has caused some critics to accuse Christianity of manipulating weak and superstitious people by instilling fear. Nothing could be less accurate. Christ’s warnings are those of a friend. If you were in the car with a friend and saw that he was about to collide with an oncoming eighteen-wheeler, you would try to get him to turn out of the way. Jesus knows that we can only reach lasting happiness through friendship with God, and he wants us to be happy, so he warns us about everything that could damage or destroy that friendship. The truth is that eternity spent without God will be indescribably painful, because the human person was created to live in union with God. Since Christ loves us, he tells us the truth - even the tough truth.
CHRIST IN MY LIFE You care about what happens in my mind and my heart – where only you and I can see. Help me look there now; show me what is pleasing to you and what is not, and then change what is not. Please, Lord – you know I can’t do it on my own. You know how self-centered and wounded I am. If you don’t change my heart, it will never change. Jesus, meek and humble of heart, make my heart more like yours…
Why do you give so much importance to such little things? A false promise here, a lustful fantasy there, an angry or spiteful word now and then…Lord, why don’t you teach us about political systems and economic justice – the big picture? Somehow, the little picture of each soul matters more to you. Make me wise, Lord; teach me to follow you…
Some aspects of your will are harder for me to follow than others. Some of the Church’s teachings I understand easily – others not so much. It doesn’t matter, Lord. What matters is that I know it comes from you, my Creator and Redeemer. I want to do your will, no matter how hard. Increase my weak faith; Jesus, I trust in you…
QUESTIONS FOR SMALL GROUP REFLECTION
1. What struck you most in this passage? What did you notice that you hadn’t noticed before?
2. What helps does the Church offer us to grow in our friendship with Christ, to make sure that our faith doesn’t get reduced to a superficial, empty routine?
3. What has helped you most to grow in your friendship with Christ?
4. Christ links the action of murder with the attitude of anger and condemns them both as sinful. He does the same with the action of adultery and the attitude of lust. What does this teach us about human behavior?
Cf. Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1033-1037 on the reality and nature of hell; 577-582 on Jesus and the Law